| Sunday, 08 December 2024 |
A community-powered Sunday newsletter on mental models, self-reflection, learning, growth, photos, books, and more Subscribe here
Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning! We have just two more editions of First Principles left for the year! This was our first full year together, as a community (we started in May 2023). I can’t speak for all of you, but I’ve absolutely loved our Sundays (and some Mondays and Tuesdays) together.
We did many music playlists (in fact, we have a new Christmas playlist in today’s edition). We embarked on “quests” for Fitness, Parenting, and even Gifting. We talked about so many interesting ideas around growth, self-discovery, and careers.
What should we do in 2025? Tell us by writing to [email protected].
Personally, 2024 was the year I rediscovered Malayalam movies and music after a few decades. My top five songs of the year from Apple Music captures it, well, rather starkly. 🤷🏾♂️
2024 was also Bribo’s first full year. The indefatigable chap sends his love from the boarding kennel at Cartman Hospital, where he’s recuperating. I met him on Friday morning, en route to the office, with duck jerky treats. He engaged in a bit of a barking match with the Alsatian in the enclosure next door, as if showing me, “Look! I am not scared. I am feeling strong!”.
If you’d like to adopt him once he’s done with his recovery and treatment, please write to me. He will make for a loving, happy and faithful companion.
We don’t have our usual books section in this edition, but here’s everything else we have for you this week.
1. Most Favoured Employee
2. Thank God it’s Christmas! 🎄🎵
3. Beyond just vacations 📸
4. Two by Two: The Mystery of Usury
1. Most Favoured Employee
Earlier this week, an article was going around in which Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO, defended bosses having favourite employees.
Bosses need to do that to be effective leaders, Chesky told Fortune last month. Those people can be top performers who set the quality of work standards on their teams, or quickly find and solve problems, he said.
“The favorites have to be [picked] on fair criteria … but if you can’t say this is a high performer and this is what excellence looks like, then you’re going to be in big, big trouble,” said Chesky. “That is just not good leadership.”
I won’t lie. My first thoughts were, yes, of course they do. We’re all human. Don’t we have favourite friends, favourite colleagues, favourite teachers, or favourite bosses?
Of course we do.
But it is also a reality that one of the reasons people leave companies is perceived favouritism.
I enjoy reading The Ken because it is informative, the articles are well researched, well written, without the spin and bias. I admire The Ken team for their dedication to getting closer to the true picture.
Hari Buggana
Chairman and MD, InvAscent
Transparent, Honest, Detailed. To me, The Ken has been this since the day I subscribed to them. The research that they put into each story and the way it is presented is thoroughly interesting. Personally, I’ve always had a great time interacting with the publication and reading the stories.
Harshil Mathur
CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay
The Ken has proven naysayers wrong by successfully running a digital news publication on a pure-subscription business model in India. They have shown that discerning readers are willing to pay for well-researched, well-written, in-dept news articles.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited
As a designer, it’s easy to get lost in the craft of building products. As a business owner however, keeping up with a rapidly changing landscape is key to saying relevant. The Ken doesn’t just help me stay on top of what’s happening in India(and beyond), but makes it fun to do so.
Rahul Gonsalves
Co-founder and CEO, Obvious Ventures