Being Quitty vs Gritty, How to Sound Smarter, Mid-century Street Lingo, and More
Bring Ambition Newsletter - July 8, 2021
Hi friends and welcome aboard new subscribers
In the Bring Ambition Newsletter, I share 3-5+ things that are fascinating me lately in the world of professional and personal development, performance optimization, psychology, creativity, and more. You'll receive unconventional resources, practical advice, and other inspiring content.
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1.) Being Quitty vs Gritty
Annie Duke visited my organization recently for a virtual Fireside Chat, and she was exceptional. Duke is a former world-class poker pro, an expert on decision-making, a best-selling author, and a phenomenal storyteller.
Duke discussed her recent book on decision-making, How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices (which I promptly purchased after her talk).
One of my favorite takeaways from the conversation was Duke's idea of being "Quitty vs Gritty."
Most people believe perseverance is a virtue and quitting is a vice. This view is not only falsely binary, but detrimental. Take the case of Sears, for example.
The story of Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. started as a successful mail-order catalogue. But with the advent of American urbanization and mass adoption of the automobile in the early 20th century, Sears established a brick-and-mortar business that quickly exploded in popularity.
This is notable for two reasons:
First, it suggests one complete rotation of a giant economic cycle. Companies like Sears were compelled to move from remote merchandising via mail order catalogues to brick-and-mortar retail. Now, in a complete reversal, physical stores are hemorrhaging money and jumping clumsily and desperately into the e-commerce space while web-first retailers (e.g. Amazon) grow exponentially.
Second, it was an astute commercial decision from an organization that would eventually become infamous for poor decision-making.
Sears expanded nationwide and began diversifying. They created now-ubiquitous brands like Allstate Insurance Company, Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, and more. They launched a financial services arm that included the likes of Dean Witter, Coldwell Banker, and the Discover credit card.
But the company began struggling in the late 1980s. In a fit of panic, Sears divested itself of many non-retail entities. It slowed but couldn’t stop the hemorrhaging. In 2018, Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and since then has endured "a slow motion liquidation."
The endowment effect & cognitive entrenchment
Sears tried to persevere through their financial woes when they should have simply cut their losses. It was the endowment effect in-action — they doubled down on a business that, from the outside looking in, was totally undesirable. There was such a deep psychological investment in the brick-and-mortar business that they sacrificed valuable, sustainable business units in an attempt to resuscitate it (e.g. Allstate alone currently has a market cap of almost $40B).
But what if they reframed the decision, and asked themselves:
"If we didn't already own this asset, would we sacrifice these business lines to acquire it?"
Faced with that question, no rational person would have made the same decision. Variations of this questions are key to overcoming the endowment effect and cognitive entrenchment. "If I didn't already have this, what would I sacrifice to acquire it?" is a good prompt to help you decide when to cut your losses, whether to commit to an opportunity, or even whether to throw out that old shirt in the back of your closet.
In the end, Sears chose to be double down when they should have folded. They were Gritty when they should have been Quitty. And for that mistake, the 129 year-old, world renowned brand is in its death throes while many of the businesses it spun off flourish.
2.) In case you missed it
Hopefully you've had a chance to read my latest article, "The Dokkodo: Miyamoto Musashi's 21 Rules for Life."
Here are a few of my favorite rules from Musashi’s list (check out the article for explanations / analysis):
3.) Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling
4.) Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world
15.) Have trust in yourself and avoid superstitious beliefs
21.) Never stray from the Way of strategy
3.) How to sound smarter
Recent research suggests that no matter how good your content or presentation skills, lower quality audio makes listeners view you and your work significantly less favorably.
This is a huge deal in the age of Zoom, podcasting, and remote working. Audio quality alone can make or break your pitch, presentation, interview, or talk.
Fortunately, it also works in the other direction. When a speaker's audio quality is higher, their content will be judged more favorably, and the speaker themselves will be regarded as more competent, likable, and intelligent. For example, in one experiment a physicist's talk was played twice: the same content, but in higher vs lower quality audio. Participants rated the higher quality talk as 19.3% better, despite the content itself being identical.
This resonated with me. A few months ago I invested in a cheap USB microphone (this one), and despite the price, it's had a surprisingly significant impact on my audio quality. It absolutely trounces my laptop's microphone, and there isn't a noticeable difference in raw audio quality vs more expensive mics I own. This, in turn, helps me maintain participants' engagement when I facilitate a training or workshop, and helps ensure I have a voice at the (virtual) table in meetings, however large or small.
[Big shout out to fellow Substack newsletter Ariyh for sharing.]
4.) Your guide to midcentury “Street Lingo”
“Raymond Chandler’s Guide to Street, Hoodlum, and Prison Lingo.” After losing his job as an oil exec during the Great Depression, Raymond Chandler tried his hand at writing “hard-boiled” detective fiction. While he received mixed critical reception during his lifetime, Chandler became a best-seller, an Oscar nominee, and an inspiration to countless writers, including fellow legend Ian Fleming (who we’ve discussed before).
This article provides a fascinating look at Chandler’s note-taking routines, complete with an extensive list of “hard talk,” “pickpocket lingo,” and “jailhouse slang” he collected for his stories over the years.
Enjoy! I’m gonna go grab some eel juice and dip the bill.
That’s a wrap for this week’s newsletter!
I’d love to hear your feedback — What did you enjoy? What stunk and needs to be fixed ASAP? You can reply here or reach me via any of the links below.
Have a great weekend!
Jon D'Alessandro
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