A couple bandwagons to jump on

Sneaking this in as May slips from our grasp because I wanted to let you know that alongside New York Tech Week, I'm working with Playlab to run a little pop up experience on Wednesday, June 3 at 4pm. It's an experiential workshop where we'll do some reflection, some futurecasting, and some concept prototyping. If you're in NYC use this link to RSVP and come join us (or if you know someone who ought to be).

I also wanted to share the 2nd episode of the Read Me Like A Book Gameshow. My word, these are so much fun. Unsurprisingly, when I get to sit down with some of my favorite people and talk about books, I really dig it. As a delightful unintended consequence, it's also so good for my To Read list. I already finished 1 book that Donnell Cannon recommended in this episode, and I'm about a quarter way into one that Kwasi recommended. But no spoilers here, so I won't tell you which ones.

Some of you who know me well might be sending a little bit of side eye after reading about the pop up event, because you're thinking "What a fortuitous coincidence that you're going to be in New York at the very same time that your beloved New York Knicks are playing in their first NBA finals of your adult life." Cross my heart and hope to die - this trip was on the books before the Knicks even started on their current 11 game win streak. 

I would love to see the Knicks win it all, but just being on this journey with the team has been a joy all on its own. To have a team that we can love as much as we love this team is something that was unimaginable even 10 years ago. I also have to confess that when they originally signed Jalen Brunson, I was skeptical. I think we all were; we had been so conditioned to distrust the team leadership. My earliest inclination that I may have been wrong also happens to be my favorite Knicks moment ever that didn't happen on the basketball court (and I've watched the Bing Bong video at least a hundred times). It was a moment of joy that was fun in the moment and has only grown in significance over the years, and I'm so happy that it was caught on film:

The video captures the moment when Jalen Brunson found out that the Knicks had acquired Josh Hart. If you don't follow basketball, first I'm surprised that you're still reading this, but it's worth pointing out that Josh Hart - who, btw, is my favorite member of this current team - has never made an All-Star team and probably never will. In fact, he's never won any NBA accolades...but there's Jalen Brunson reacting like the Knicks just acquired another megastar to pair with him. Why is he (and everyone around him...also notable) so hyped up?

Because the team that he had joined less than a year earlier had found a way to unite him with his best friend. 

And that's a big part of why we love this team, because it's so obvious how much they love to play, how much they love to play together, and how much they appreciate the support from the fans. 

In honor of that, a few links related to some thing that I now see that the Knicks front office understands:

• Why Suno Won't Produce the Next Charlie Parker - the argument here is relevant to so much more than just music: yes, sure there's some amount of expertise that can emerge out of just having access to the right tools, but deep expertise and genius emerge from a scene that builds up around that expertise (a la Brian Eno's scenius). Can it come from the lone genius honing their craft in private? It's not impossible, but it wouldn't be the bet I'd make. On the other hand, putting together a group of people who care deeply about the same thing but come at it with a diversity of viewpoints, skills, and experiences related to that thing is a bet I would absolutely take. 
  • Related: I recently watched Piece by Piece - the Pharrell Williams Lego documentary, and the first half of the movie is about the scene he grew up around in Virginia Beach and how it shaped him. It's the best part of the movie.

• Seeing Like a Spreadsheet - the history of the spreadsheet here is interesting enough, but what elevates this essay to be really worthy of attention is the focus on the way that the spreadsheet shaped the culture of optimization, the way that led to a focus on factors that can be articulated clearly enough to be optimized, and that led to elevating those factors and their outcomes as the definition of success. Sport has always been resistant to this oversimplification: the nature of sports leagues is that they produce a singular winner, so analytics are a powerful tool to help a team become successful...but there are also intangibles that are difficult to define or measure, much less optimize. Those often end up being the thing that makes the difference. Also, this supremely awkward image of Bill Gates.

• The Most Radical Act In An Age of Outrage Is To Play - slightly mixed feelings on this essay...if this is your jam, then just go straight to the source and read The Grasshopper by Bernard Suits. But pulling this whole newsletter together, what makes Read Me Like A Book fun for me is the joyful connection with other people. It deepens my capacity to care about other peoples, it deepens my curiosity, it deepens my sense of engagement with the world. It's the antidote to despair for me and why connecting people through play was one of my major themes for this year (maybe for my life?). Professional basketball is a form of play, but it's one where the stakes are high; the players on the Knicks aren't just doing it for the fun of it...but sometimes, in the best way possible, it feels like they are. They relish playing the game of basketball and being really good at and most of all doing it together. And when I watch them play, I experience a fair share of that myself. 

That's it for this month...let's see what June brings!