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Wisdom

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As We May Think by Vannevar Bush

Takeaways

I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (36 min. read time)

“The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.” — Vannevar Bush (1945)

The human mind: “It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature.” — Vannevar Bush (1945)

Computer idea before computers: “Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, ‘memex’ will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.” — Vannevar Bush (1945)

Knowledge management’s infancy and future: “Presumably man’s spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems. He has built a civilization so complex that he needs to mechanize his records more fully if he is to push his experiment to its logical conclusion and not merely become bogged down part way there by overtaxing his limited memory. His excursions may be more enjoyable if he can reacquire the privilege of forgetting the manifold things he does not need to have immediately at hand, with some assurance that he can find them again if they prove important.” — Vannevar Bush (1945)

My two cents: To even try and fathom that this piece was written in 1945…talk about prescient. FYI I just learned the definition of prescient from a new friend (S/O Michael — this piece was also recommended to me by him). I can’t deny that bits and pieces of this essay went over my head, but certain sections read as if Vannevar Bush had a crystal ball. I hope to curate similar pieces like this in the future to highlight special thinkers that were making predictions without advertently doing so.

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Wealth

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The Rise of Platform Brands by Nick deWilde

Takeaways

I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (11 min. read time)

“Instead of leveraging outsiders to build their brands, a crop of forward-thinking companies have started partnering with a new set of stakeholders: their own employees.” — Nick deWilde

The flywheel of platform branding: “By attracting and cultivating strong audience builders, companies like Morning Brew, Gong, On Deck, and Fast have increased the surface area of their brands. This, in turn, helps them gain prestige that they can use to retain audience-builders and attract new ones– setting in motion the virtuous flywheel of platform branding.” — Nick deWilde

Blurring of internal/external company culture: “As employees take a larger role in speaking to prospective customers, the line between external brand and internal culture will only blur. Companies that can build attractive cultures that retain top talent are likely to have the most success leveraging their employees to grow the next generation of iconic platform brands.” — Nick deWilde

Framing of implementation: “To demonstrate the difficulty of getting that value elsewhere, these organizations enhance the reputations of their superstars by: Giving employees leverage (in the form of resources, labor, and expertise) to build their personal brands, granting them explicit permission to spend time creating and sharing content during work hours, and featuring employees in company content and promoting them through corporate channels.” — Nick deWilde

My two cents: I don’t think there’s a clearer flywheel than the platform branding flywheel that Nick describes. To play devil’s advocate, though — I’m curious how this affects employees in the long-term. When personal branding becomes closely tied to and “blurred” with company branding, I feel like there’d be this “always performing” mentality that doesn’t have a beneficial off switch. Maybe this is just the tradeoff of personal/company audience building success?

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As We May Think by Vannevar Bush

The Rise of Platform Brands by Nick deWilde

how to avoid half-heartedness by Ava Huang