4 ms·

According to my own findings, there is minimal intersection between the group of cool people and the group of people who read coolness research.

gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
The first rule of cool is don't care about cool. The second (for experts) is that you can care if you don't show it. The third is that you can read research about cool and yet not care (God level cool) That said, I think coolness research can help uncool people fight uncool shit like this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44478115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44478115
HSO 1y ago
well, you said "minimal", so not strictly empty right? ;) """ But Bezos was dissatisfied with that simplistic conclusion and applied his usual analytical sensibility to parse out why some companies were loved and others feared. Rudeness is not cool. Defeating tiny guys is not cool. Close-following is not cool. Young is cool. Risk taking is cool. Winning is cool. Polite is cool. Defeating bigger, unsympathetic guys is cool. Inventing is cool. Explorers are cool. Conquerors are not cool. Obsessing over competitors is not cool. Empowering others is cool. Capturing all the value only for the company is not cool. Leadership is cool. Conviction is cool. Straightforwardness is cool. Pandering to the crowd is not cool. Hypocrisy is not cool. Authenticity is cool. Thinking big is cool. The unexpected is cool. Missionaries are cool. Mercenaries are not cool. On an attached spreadsheet, Bezos listed seventeen attributes, including polite, reliable, risk taking, and thinks big, and he ranked a dozen companies on each particular characteristic. His methodology was highly subjective, he conceded, but his conclusions, laid out at the end of the Amazon.love memo were aimed at increasing Amazon's odds of standing out among the loved companies. Being polite and reliable or customer-obsessed was not sufficient. Being perceived as inventive, as an explorer rather than a conqueror, was critically important. "I actually believe the four 'unloved' companies are inventive as a matter of substance. But they are not perceived as inventors and pioneers. It is not enough to be inventive-that pioneering spirit must also come across and be perceivable by the customer base," he wrote. "I propose that one outcome from this offsite could be to assign a more thorough analysis of this topic to a thoughtful VP," Bezos concluded. "We may be able to find actionable tasks that will increase our odds of being a stand out in that first group of companies. Sounds worthy to me!" """ from B. Stone. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. Little, Brown & Co., 2013.
- RankingMember 1y ago
  Seems he lost interest in that pursuit similar to Mr. Burns losing interest in Frank Grimes once the next interest came along.
torginus 1y ago
According to my experience, cool people put in an absolutely inordinate amount of research, time and effort in order to appear as if they don't even have to try.
burnt-resistor 1y ago
Cool cannot be described or quantified, so they're just milking some funders for sweet, sweet grants.

gsf_emergency_2 1y ago

The first rule of cool is don't care about cool. The second (for experts) is that you can care if you don't show it. The third is that you can read research about cool and yet not care (God level cool) That said, I think coolness research can help uncool people fight uncool shit like this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44478115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44478115

HSO 1y ago

well, you said "minimal", so not strictly empty right? ;) """ But Bezos was dissatisfied with that simplistic conclusion and applied his usual analytical sensibility to parse out why some companies were loved and others feared. Rudeness is not cool. Defeating tiny guys is not cool. Close-following is not cool. Young is cool. Risk taking is cool. Winning is cool. Polite is cool. Defeating bigger, unsympathetic guys is cool. Inventing is cool. Explorers are cool. Conquerors are not cool. Obsessing over competitors is not cool. Empowering others is cool. Capturing all the value only for the company is not cool. Leadership is cool. Conviction is cool. Straightforwardness is cool. Pandering to the crowd is not cool. Hypocrisy is not cool. Authenticity is cool. Thinking big is cool. The unexpected is cool. Missionaries are cool. Mercenaries are not cool. On an attached spreadsheet, Bezos listed seventeen attributes, including polite, reliable, risk taking, and thinks big, and he ranked a dozen companies on each particular characteristic. His methodology was highly subjective, he conceded, but his conclusions, laid out at the end of the Amazon.love memo were aimed at increasing Amazon's odds of standing out among the loved companies. Being polite and reliable or customer-obsessed was not sufficient. Being perceived as inventive, as an explorer rather than a conqueror, was critically important. "I actually believe the four 'unloved' companies are inventive as a matter of substance. But they are not perceived as inventors and pioneers. It is not enough to be inventive-that pioneering spirit must also come across and be perceivable by the customer base," he wrote. "I propose that one outcome from this offsite could be to assign a more thorough analysis of this topic to a thoughtful VP," Bezos concluded. "We may be able to find actionable tasks that will increase our odds of being a stand out in that first group of companies. Sounds worthy to me!" """ from B. Stone. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. Little, Brown & Co., 2013.

RankingMember 1y ago
Seems he lost interest in that pursuit similar to Mr. Burns losing interest in Frank Grimes once the next interest came along.

torginus 1y ago

According to my experience, cool people put in an absolutely inordinate amount of research, time and effort in order to appear as if they don't even have to try.

burnt-resistor 1y ago

Cool cannot be described or quantified, so they're just milking some funders for sweet, sweet grants.