Scott Berkun
@berkun.bsky.social
Author and speaker. Books include: How Design Makes The World, The Myths of Innovation, Making Things Happen & The Year Without Pants. Seattle, WA scottberkun.com/about/
“Almost nothing important that ever happens to you happens because you engineer it. Destiny has no beeper; destiny always leans out of an alley with some sort of 'psst' that you usually can't hear because you're in a rush to something important you've tried to engineer.” ―David Foster Wallace
Join me tomorrow for a fun chat about what's coming next. I'll share some big news and then it's Q&A/AMA. Hope to see you.
Scott Berkun@berkun.bsky.social · last mo.I have big news coming: new book, new website and new brand. You're invited for a sneak peak and chat about what I'm up to next. Tuesday July 14th, at 1pm PST. Will be fun and interactive, but you can just lurk and watch if you like. 20 mins + Q&A/AMA. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
I have big news coming: new book, new website and new brand. You're invited for a sneak peak and chat about what I'm up to next. Tuesday July 14th, at 1pm PST. Will be fun and interactive, but you can just lurk and watch if you like. 20 mins + Q&A/AMA. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
I wish American holidays all had a ritual of learning something rather than just eating certain foods. For example, for July 4th we all should read the Constitution. It's short enough to read with a beer while waiting for food to cook on the grill.
Beyond AI there are always these questions: - Is this a good decision? - Do we have wise goals? - Should we prioritize long term or short? - Are the right people involved? - Is good work happening? - Are customers and staff happy? - Is this good for the world?
Last chance to vote on the cover design for my next book rulestolive.substack.com/p/vote-on-co...
Vote on cover design concepts for How To Live
Help me decide the face of this book!
rulestolive.substack.com
I hate how in sports if someone makes a mistake at the end of game everyone blames them for the loss and completely forgets all of other, often larger, mistakes that were made by other players much earlier. These are team sports.
It is a mistake to think that moving fast is the same as actually going somewhere. - Ursula K. Le Guin
“If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology and you don’t understand your problems.” - Bruce Schneier
One of my hotter academic takes is that every college degree should include a class in the first month where the new students have to engage with the most boring parts of the ideal job associated with the degree *before* spending many thousands of dollars
Celebration time: It's the 20th anniversary of my author career. And book #10 is on the way. Thanks for following me making all this all possible. I had a party here in Seattle. I even wore a tie! If you're a local fan LMK and I'll put you on the list for the next book party.
I asked 120 people to explain their life rules and philosophy. The results are fascinating! So many surprises. I'll be sharing the highlights live on Wednesday at 11am PST. This is research for my next book on how to live well. open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE SOON: Research report: What rules for life do 100+ people have?
Starting May 6 at 2:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
I asked 120 people to explain their life rules and philosophy. The results are fascinating! So many surprises. I'll be sharing the highlights live on Wednesday at 11am PST. This is research for my next book on how to live well. open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE SOON: Research report: What rules for life do 100+ people have?
Starting May 6 at 2:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
"Any time I hear the term self-help I think of George Carlin’s mockery of the whole idea: “If you’re looking for self-help, why would you go read a book written by someone else?” There’s something backward about these books that sets us up to fail." rulestolive.substack.com/p/why-self-h...
Why self-help rarely works
And what to do instead
rulestolive.substack.com
benches, buses, and bathrooms. they should be everywhere
rom comrade@savasavasava.myatproto.social · 4mo agoit is devastating to notice how few benches there are in the world and how some benches have been replaced by weird "leaning" things. the world is incredibly cruel to disabled, elderly, poor, pregnant, tired, homeless, and all people. there should be benches fucking everywhere for everyone
“The trouble with people is that they’re busy fixing things they don’t even understand. We’re always fixing things, aren’t we? It never strikes us that things don’t need to be fixed. This is a great illumination. They need to be understood. If you understood them, they’d change.” - Anthony de Mello
Rule to live by #24: Wake UP Waking up means facing a truth you have avoided or did not know was there. It’s a paradox: we hate waking up, but when we do, we are transformed for the better. rulestolive.substack.com/p/rule-24-wa...
Rule #24: Wake Up
We can't grow if we stay asleep
rulestolive.substack.com
Are you a fan of my work? I need your help to shape my future. After 9 books and 20 years I'm coming up with a new plan! Your input will shape my future - you can tell me about what I've done that you value and what you'd like to see in the future. Thanks! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Berkun 2.0: help shape my future
After 20 years, it's time to set new goals for my author life. If you are here it means you value what I have done so far and have insight into where I should head next: What value do I give you? What...
docs.google.com
Are you a fan of my work? I need your help to shape my future. After 9 books and 20 years I'm coming up with a new plan! Your input will shape my future - you can tell me about what I've done that you value and what you'd like to see in the future. Thanks! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Berkun 2.0: help shape my future
After 20 years, it's time to set new goals for my author life. If you are here it means you value what I have done so far and have insight into where I should head next: What value do I give you? What...
docs.google.com
The AI Novelty Cycle is the realization that what you are using is far less useful than you believed and in order to actually do your job or make progress on important work you will need to do it in a more conventional way. biblioracle.substack.com/p/the-ai-nov...
The AI Novelty Cycle
What Sora has to do with Chuck Berry's ding-a-ling.
biblioracle.substack.com
Preach @berkun.bsky.social - "Our culture rewards us with status for never having time for things. We admire busy... When we see a silly video on social media, we often judge the creator by saying, “Well, that’s someone with too much time on their hands.” This is just Puritanical bullshit;
feeling compelled to post this new yorker reject from years ago, for some reason
Hallucinations compound: 1) A worker uses an LLM to generate a report. 2) A manager uses an LLM to extract insights from the report. 3) An exec uses an LLM to turn the insights into a memo. 4) Another manager uses an LLM to summarize the memo. Each person human-washes the text for the next person.
What rules do you live by? I want to know. This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be help you. Thanks. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
I want YOUR life philosophy. Will you share it with me? This is research for my next book. You get a chance to win $500 worth of prizes and signed books. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬. And the questions may be useful to you. Thanks. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #rulestolive
What rules do you live by? Book research
Share you personal philosophy and get a chance to win $500 in prizes and signed books. I'm author Scott Berkun, and my tenth book is about what rules and wisdom help people live well. I want to lea...
docs.google.com
