Dear wonderers,
You’ll probably notice that (2) in the subject line and wonder where’s (1), right?
Well, I’ve been doing some “house cleaning” on my old blog, and brought all the good ones (I think so, but you’re the better judge ^^) here. On Substack. So, here’s the first selection of meaningful conversations. I did it about a year ago.
And now I’m back with another one.
It’s been a hectic period (still is, tbh), and one of my coping mechanisms and ways of invoking the creative muse is to listen to smart, wise people talk… or write.
With a twist of my own.
I’ve just finished reading Different. A great conversation starter if you take the “parting from the crowd” lens — or as the subtitle goes, escaping the competitive herd — which I’ll be applying to my list:
Without any more explanations, below are 3 conversations that made me stop and ponder on embraced difference.
Brene Brown & Adam Grant
In a world where everyone has strong opinions and convictions — cause that’s how you make decisions and make sense of each day (or is it?) — Grant asks us to rethink everything that’s meaningful to us:
So, when I’m thinking like a preacher, I believe that I found the truth, and my job is to proselytize it. When I’m thinking like a prosecutor, I think my job is to win my argument or prove my case and that means somebody else is wrong.
&
Well, this is something that I’ve started rethinking just in the past couple weeks. I’m especially excited to get your take on this because I think you’re one of the people who could and should challenge the way that I talked about this. But I’ll start with what I was trying to get at, which is I think that thinking like a scientist, it’s not about walking around in a lab coat or carrying a bunch of test tubes. It’s about saying if your mindset is to be a scientist, then your goal is not to be right or wrong in a given conversation. Your goal is not to sort of trump at the party line of your tribe. Your goal is to get closer to the truth, to discover knowledge…
Apart from the big ideas that invite you to hit pause and note everything down, it’s such a refreshing and open conversation. Haven’t listened to something like this in a while.
Sarah Lewis & Brene Brown
Another episode of Brene Brown’s podcast, yes! On creativity as a process of surrender. Talking about thinking differently! You would think creativity is a process you’re in control of, not one you surrender to.
Well, Sarah Lewis said it better - and made me realize that I’m at my best, creatively, when I surrender":
…what a brilliant term for what so many people are duped by, counterfeit control. I mean, that’s it. How much of surrender is about giving that up? I think everything. And here we’re getting to kind of the magic, I think, of the beauty of what makes this truly my favorite concept in the book. Once you give up that counterfeit control, you’re really then finally in the true driver’s seat of the creative process. You’re finally living out what that co-creation can feel like.
Bo Burnham’s Inside
A conversation with an absent public. A conversation turned on itself. A metaconversation with our society, our media culture, our superficiality.
You can look at it from so many perspectives — and, of course, it’s a comedian that does it (funny how I started with a Carlin reference… I think he would approve).
It’s the most different thing I’ve seen/listened to/read this year: