I asked ChatGPT to evaluate my blog. Creators of blogs, podcasts, and other forms of digital content will need to be thinking about how their content will resonate with the AIs. What will they find interesting? What appeals to them? Here’s ChatGPT’s response:As a digital content analyst, I have examined bradyhelps.com, a personal blog authored by David Brady. The site serves as a platform where Brady shares his insights on leadership, self-improvement, and various cultural topics. His writings reflect his experiences as a customer success leader, musician, and thinker — ​source.The blog features a diverse range of categories, including leadership, creativity, empathy, and self-effectiveness. For instance, in his post “Leadership thought - performance reviews,” Brady critiques traditional performance evaluations, advocating for more consistent and meaningful manager-employee interactions. He suggests that effective managers engage regularly with their teams, providing ongoing feedback rather than relying solely on infrequent reviews — ​source.In another entry, “Be Direct with Respect,” Brady emphasizes the importance of honest and respectful communication in leadership. He argues that direct feedback, when delivered with care, fosters trust and strengthens workplace relationships — source.Brady also reflects on personal development topics. In “Stop Saying ‘Should’,” he discusses how the word “should” can create false expectations and hinder progress. He encourages readers to accept their current state and proactively create paths toward their desired outcomes — source.The “Now” page offers a glimpse into Brady’s current endeavors, such as building the Customer Success function for Expertise.com and residing in West Allis, Wisconsin. He shares his current reading list, including titles like “The Red Queen” and “Mostly Harmless Econometrics,” and mentions his interest in podcasts like “Conversations with Tyler” and “The Knowledge Project” — source.Overall, bradyhelps.com provides thoughtful perspectives on leadership and personal growth, drawing from Brady’s diverse experiences. The blog’s content is reflective and encourages readers to consider alternative approaches to common challenges in both professional and personal contexts.

I realize that I am late to the game watching “My Octopus Teacher.” Wow, though. The biggest takeaway for me: eventually, you need to die, so make your life’s work about something that matters and serves a greater good. If you are like me, and late on watching that movie, you might enjoy it as much as I did. Check it out.

Between persisting and quitting..My belief is that it requires an understanding of tradeoff. What more can I create that benefits and helps make better the lives of those I seek to serve vs the marginal costs of persisting one more minute, hour, gig, day, meal, etc. Simultaneously I believe my belief is a bit too reductionist. The perceptions and realizations of gains and cost can be manipulated. I can create a false sense that my gains are greater or lesser than they are through self-reinforcing stories. I can do things that lower the cost of persisting — stress management, walking, re-framing, etc. I suppose I come back to the ultimate cliche conclusion: none of it matters — all you can do is what you can do now. And as much as it is cliche, it may be true. Because consider that any intervention I make to alter my perception of cost or gain is something I do after I realize a cost or a gain. If I get stressed out on a gig, and I later decide to walk it off, the stressful event is in the past. In a way, I’m engaging in a kind of revisionism. And, because my memory of events isn’t always perfectly accurate (ask anyone that works with me), I even more wonder if I can truly make decisions based on my priors. Therefore, at least for now, I believe that the best thing I can do when evaluating a decision to take stock of the way things are now — my options, my stock of energy, my desire, my interest, my hopes, my goals, etc — and then decide with what I have in front of me. I guess more ultra cliche: stay flexible.

Someone asked me which school of life philosophy I subscribe to. I don’t know enough to subscribe to any… but… if I had to make a statement:“Pragmatically powered in an absurdly existential way… I’m like Sisyphus, but with purpose.”I think that kind of playfully captures my life philosophy. Have you thought about yours?

The title of this post comes from Padgett Powell’s, “The Interrogative Mood.” I love questions — and the more absurd and paradoxical a question could be, the more I enjoy it. And, this book is full of nothing but questions. The entire book is questions. No sentences. Is there a narrative? Absolutely, yes. Questions invite an answer, and for someone to answer a question they must play it out in their heads before they speak — more often than not. And so, in a sense, you are the narrative. “Could you lie down and take a rest on a sidewalk?” I imagine what would need to be true for me to want to do that. My hunch is that I might do that if I am sufficiently tired; or perhaps just to experience what it would be like. Perhaps people would look at me funny; but more funny than they might look at me now? Maybe not. The police might stop me. Perhaps they’re not accustomed to seeing people rest on the sidewalk in my neighborhood. It’s not something someone would do… but why? Resistance is futile. How do you read a book that consists of nothing but questions without trying to answer at least one? Some questions from the book that I might use at work:“Do you have a headache?” — I ask a version of this in interviews.“Why won’t the aliens step forth to help us?” — that could be an interesting discussion.“If you could design the flag for a nation, what color or colors would predominate?” “Should a tree be pruned?” — you know, I am very curious about that… what happens if you don’t? Who loses out? Does the tree even care?Interestingly, as I’m writing this, I’m finding that my curiosity is elevating my mood. Perhaps this book, for me, is the right tonic for ending a busy day. Why not try it out?

I’m teaching myself Bayesian statistics.The basic idea is to update your beliefs about the world as you gather new evidence. Mathematically, we’re solving for P(H|D,X) - the probability (P) of your hypothesis (H) being true, given some data (D) and your background knowledge (X).Example:I see bright lights outside my window at night. What’s going on?Initial Hypothesis (H1)H1: Those lights are from UFOs. My prior belief the probability (P) of the light being from UFOs (H1) is very low based on my experience (X).After looking outside, I see police cars. I update my belief: The probability (P) of UFOs (H1) given the police lights (D) and my experience (X)drops to nearly zero.New Hypothesis (H2)H2: There’s crime in my neighborhood. The probability (P) of crime in my neighborhood (H2) given the police lights (D) my experience (X) seems moderate to low. But wait! I spot a fire truck too. New data therefore an update.The probability (P) of crime in my neighborhood (H2) given the police car and the fire truck (D) and my experience (X) decreases. And now there’s a new hypothesis — there’s a fire. Through each observation, my beliefs evolve. That’s Bayesian updating at work.The ShiftHowever, a subtle shift in reasoning can lead you astray. You’ve seen this before. You might know someone who might think: “I see police cars outside, and I read about rising crime on social media, therefore P(rampant crime in my neighborhood) is high.” While I never hear someone say assert “P”, I hear people make conclusions and seeking confirming evidence rather than objectively update beliefs based on what’s available.Simple IdeasWhat you see is not all there is.Life is emergent, not all at once.Better to let life get ahead of you.Don’t fool yourself.

I am re-reading my notes from “The Prince.” The ones that resonated with me are below.Teams choose to follow those who will make their life better. Look out for individual contributors who appear to offer your team some relief, they may be leveraging any harms you create to backstab you.If you acquire teams that operate differently from yours, draw bright line. It’s always easier to assimilate groups and teams that operate similarly. To hold on to the new and different groups, you must metaphorically kill their old culture/SOP. Take care of the people who can do you the most damage. The people who are able to hurt you or your customers the most need your attention. Protect and take care of the people who can and do provide you with the most benefits.It’s not a virtuous win if you had to hurt others to win. Though, there may be occasions when a leader must harm in order to win; that win is never a victory. In fact, you may have led that team to their demise. Beware the scars you leave.I really think Machiavelli gets a bad rap. When I read his words, I see cautionary tails versus a playbook. Perhaps, in an esoteric meta way, that’s the point.

It’s hard to understand things that are happening around us. How I see things in the world is not always what things are. Which is ironic as I often write to see life as it is. During moments like that, I am trying to live by a few principles:Watch for how things wash out in the end. Read lots of history. And read all kinds of history — even the history you find reprehensible. However you think it is, you are likely wrong — and that’s fine. Better to remain skeptical about your thoughts than allow yourself to get fooled. Being Curious > making claims. I prefer to be curious about a thing than make claims about a thing (see rule #3).

I’m reminded of this quote from “Why Bad Behavior Becomes a Pattern in a Relationship.”“The rules in any relationship are negotiated and affirmed every day through the actions each party accepts.“Remember: this applies to your relationship with yourself as much, if not more than, your relationship with others.

I am trying to take stock of what all is going on in my life. There’s nothing dire or crazy; but the pressure of things (that are rather light) feels heavy and onerous. This pain in the ass feeling rears it’s ugly head every now and then. I usually have to over-intellectualize myself to work through it. Odd… it’s not an over analysis that gets me into the weirdness, it’s the over analysis that gets me out of it.