Weekend Building Blocks - 09 MAR 2018


There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome!
You haven't seen Weekend Building Blocks in a while for reasons I've stated before: There is a lot of crap out there. Barely worth sharing. However, this was a good week!

  1. Repetitio est mater studiorum - aim to frame the game before playing. Jussi Jaakonaho wrote this piece, integrating: John Boyd, Albert Einstein, Amos Tversky, Dave Snowden, Fred Leland, Daniel Kahneman, Gary Klein, and others. Not going to sugar-coat it: This was a challenging read; not emotionally, but technically/grammatically/structurally. Pound through it. It's got nuggets for us complexity folk who talk in terms of OODA, Cynefin, non-linearity...
  2. Redefining Wrong in Poker, Politics, and Beyond. Annie Duke is a poker player. She talks about how we should adjust the way we look at decision-making. This was a good read, despite a couple of angles I felt needed to be addressed: finite vs infinite games; open-loop vs closed-loop. Tell me if I am being too critical of this...
  3. Why I was drawn to Agile: Impermanence and Boundaries. Stacia Heimgartner opens up to share how Agile/Scrum has changed her life. I connected with this piece because of a similar journey when I started down the path of adaptability (via CrossFit; via Fred Leland; via Henk Iverson; etc). I'm most always a fan of people who are willing to be vulnerable...
  4. What do I mean by Skin in the Game? My Own Version. Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a new book on systems and the people inside them. He argues, "Systems learn at the collective level by the mechanism of selection: by eliminating those elements that reduce the fitness of the whole, provided these have skin in the game." People who do not have skin-in-the-game do not deserve the same voice as those who do. As such, he rightly challenges journalists, policy folk, and academics...
  5. Chaos & Order: A Beautiful Narrative. Thomas Keene posted a short excerpt from Stephen R. Donaldson's book Chaos and Order. It touches upon learning, growth, systems, predictability, and tension. Read it. Twice. 

Secondly, I published two (2) blog posts this week:
  • Probing Comlexity. I first learned of Cynefin while I was still assigned to the SWAT team. I found the definitions of complexity and complication valuable. I really connected to his concept of probing, especially as it related to tactical operators entering a building.  
  • Presentation Hack: The Looping Intro Slideshow. I'm a stickler when it comes to slide design in presentations. For as much smack-talking as I do, there is at least one (1) valuable tactic of PowerPoint / Keynote that I most always use in classes, presentations, and workshops. And it's simple to implement! 
Lastly, keep an eye out for my upcoming events. Most of them are police related topics, restricted to sworn officers only. I'm trying to expand....but need help.

I appreciate you allowing me to make these recommendations to you.
    ***

    Lou Hayes, Jr. is a police training unit supervisor in suburban Chicago. He studies human performance & decision-making, creativity, emotional intelligence, and adaptability. Follow him on Twitter at @LouHayesJr or on LinkedIn. 

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