Fire and Knowledge

Contrary to popular belief, water is an awful choice [to try and land on when falling from a plane]. Like concrete, liquid doesn’t compress. Hitting the ocean is essentially the same as colliding with a sidewalk, Hamilton explains, except that pavement (perhaps unfortunately) won’t “open up and swallow your shattered body.”

—How to Fall 35,000 Feet—And Survive

The world you inhabit is the world you make. Your reputation precedes you, biasing the way new colleagues deal with you. Your first moves, friendly or hostile, tip the balance for future interactions. When you exhibit trust, you will most often find trustworthiness. When you are selfish, you will most often find selfishness. When you compete, others must resort to competition. If you choose to play the game strictly for your own advantage, your attempts at collaboration will indeed be, [as Thomas Hobbes said], “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

—Rodd Wagner & Gale Muller, The Power of 2 (2009), p. 95

A man ought to be a friend to his friend and repay gift with gift.
People should meet smiles with smiles and lies with treachery.

—Edda, a 13th century collection of Norse epic poems, as quoted in Rodd Wagner & Gale Muller, The Power of 2 (2009), p. 94

A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.

—John D. Rockefeller, as quoted in Rodd Wagner & Gale Muller, The Power of 2 (2009), p. 35

The polymath is a myth. It contradicts reason, the latest research on genetic inheritance, human nature, and even the Bible (which speaks of “diversities of gifts” among different people). Da Vinci was an incredible artist and thinker, but he often struggled to finish his work. For all his talents, Jefferson was horrible at handling money, dying deeply in debt. He seemed organically incapable of the kinds of constructive confrontations that were welcomed by his sometime collaborator John Adams. And fictional characters such as James Bond are just that — fiction.

—Rodd Wagner & Gale Muller, The Power of 2 (2009), p. 23

The more good partnerships you have in your life, the more likely you are to say that you experienced the feeling of enjoyment much of the day yesterday, that you recently learned something interesting, and that you’ve been doing a lot of smiling and laughing — all key measures of your happiness. Even having one strong partnership markedly increases your well-being over those who have none.

In the workplace, employees with just one collaborative relationship are 29 percent more likely to say they will stay with their company for the next year and 42 percent more likely to intend to remain with their current employer for their entire career, compared to those with no partnerships. Those who feel well-teamed with one or more colleagues are substantially more engaged at work. They generate higher customer scores and better safety, retention, creativity, productivity, and profitability for the business — and a greater level of happiness for themselves.

—Rodd Wagner & Gale Muller, The Power of 2 (2009), p. 4

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

—Epictetus

When I was young I read a lot of books, observed people around me, and came to the conclusion that most people’s lives are completely boring. So I made a rule for myself — find out what most people are doing, and do something else.

—Paul Lutus, Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor