Playing With Networking (Weekly Recap 3/28/2025)

Truth Speakers: The (Real) Magic of Artistic Creation

I got caught in Bob Lefsetz's net this week, pulled into his boat by his ruminations on Holly Brickley's latest book (and stuck on a sailor/sea metaphor somehow?). It left me gasping for air in cool seafoam air in the best possible way, matey. Some truth stuff from: Artists are truth speakers; everyone else is just remixing someone else's truth.

Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "Artistic expression is speaking the truth to see if you can find that harmony. It's not to be difficult or contrarian (exclusively, at least), but it's because that's what we're here for. That's the highest calling of creative work. In a world of hipsters and critics, be the one who makes, who reveals, who speaks – not just from nerd math, but from necessity."

The Analog Rebellion: Finding Wholeness in a Fractured Digital Age

Ever caught yourself standing at the kitchen counter, half a peanut butter sandwich dangling from your mouth, scrolling mindlessly during what's supposed to be a lunch "break"? My wife's greatest hits collection includes gems like, "If there's not a book or a guitar in your hands, it's not really a break." Matt Reustle and John Candeto reminded me about this, and a whole lot more, with our JUST PRESS RECORD revolving around ideas like this: you have to spare your own spare time. This one is also a short standalone essay, just FYI.

Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "The most effective analog rebellion isn't a form of rejection – it's a form of integration. The rebellion is almost more of a productive ADHD. It's seeding opportunities to embrace moments of distraction. It's finding some abstraction, with an anchor, to something else we love, so it deepens a new experience."

The Art of Time's Filter: How Music Endures Beyond Logic

Last week I found myself trying to connect with the new Playboi Carti album, until I hit a track sampling William Bell's "I Forgot To Be Your Lover" and instinctively retreated to the original (sorry Playboi Carti, but I’m not your target audience, clearly). That invisible force – the one that sorts through human creation and preserves what sticks to our hands (yes, like peanut butter, call back points!) – was also at the center of my conversation with Matt Reustle and John Candeto.

Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "Time is one of the best filters we have," John told us, dropping what might be the most elegant framing of wisdom I've heard in I don't even know how long. We started the conversation talking about bedtime stories for kids but somehow found ourselves excavating deeper truths about the endurance of meaning across generations and geography."

Good To Great Math: The Combinatorial Magic of Skills

The path to greatness isn't always what you think. Sometimes it's not about becoming exceptional at one thing – it's about being pretty good at two complementary things. Marc Andreessen's math spells it out: if you're 90th percentile in each of two domains, you're 99th in joint probability space. It's the secret sauce behind so many of the most interesting careers. Special h/t to Kris Abdelmessih for this one.

Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "Many of the world's most interesting people aren't specialists so much as they're combinatorial tinkerers. I was always good at music but not great, good at writing but not great, and good at finance but not great. You put those things together, and - combined - I'm a halfway decent blogger and podcaster."

Taste Requires Empathy: A Critical Connection

"Taste requires empathy." Max K. dropped this, all casual like, in a group thread we’re on recently. When we talk about someone having "good taste," we're not just talking about preferences, we're talking about the ability to curate emotional inspirations without drowning them in our own ego. Let that sink in. He wrecked the whole friend chat with it too, it’s ok.

Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "When we say a person has good taste in music, or art, or even food, we're saying they're good curators of emotional inspirations. When we say a person has bad taste, in any area, we're saying they're unreliable curators of inspiration, and mostly because they interject too much of themselves into the experience."

Sunday Music: "Praise" By Panda Bear

From the first dubby drums to the childlike scales, Panda Bear's "Praise" transported me back to age six, watercolors in hand, aka all over everything, with a smock protecting my clothes from the beautiful mess of creation in front of me. There's music that demands academic study, there's music that states its case plainly, and then there's this - a cluttered, confused feelings pop that wraps you in unexpected warmth. h/t Daniel C.

Quote from the (Personal) Archive: "Sometimes you just want a stick of bubblegum to take a walk with until the flavor runs out. Sometimes you want to embrace the part of the masters you can imitate, without reaching any farther than your natural limitations. Let that sink in. I need to write that reminder somewhere I can see it."

Other Places I Showed Up This Week

Spreading ideas, making friends, and collecting new combos of them both:

Chris Broadhead had me on his Ultra High Net Worth Clients podcast. You can watch it here or listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is probably more for my finance industry friends, but we talk about a lot of broader business building and marketing/branding topics too:

Personal Archive Prompts (for you): Who do you know this reminds you of, and/or what do you think about...

• The courage required to speak your truth versus safely repeating others'?

• The deliberate integration of analog experiences in our increasingly digital lives?

• How time mysteriously filters what matters from what doesn't?

• The combinatorial approach to becoming exceptional at what you do?

• The relationship between taste, criticism, and empathy in your creative life?

• The moments when embracing your limitations actually sets you free?

As always, I did my part, now it's your turn to write some reflections in your own Personal Archive.

(then, be sure to let me know where you're keeping it, I'm in search of the others too)