ML121: Venkatesh Rao on Leveraging the Power of Dialectic and Lessons from the Creative Process
Discover the conditions needed to generate insight from conversation, lessons about the creative process from years of writing on two of the internet's most popular blogs and why dialectic is the driving force of any good relationship and a healthy society.
Venkatesh Rao is an author, consultant and the founder of the hugely popular blogs Ribbon Farm and Breaking Smart. Ribbonfarm is a multidisciplinary blog focused on strategy and decision-making, while Breaking Smart is devoted to in-depth explorations of the emerging digital economy.
He’s also the author of the highly acclaimed book on decision-making, Tempo, and offers consulting services in organisational development, strategy and executive coaching, working with a number of prestigious clients like famed VC firm Andreesen Horowitz. In this episode we discuss:
- Venkat’s lessons about the creative process from years of writing on his blogs
- The conditions needed to generate insight from conversation and how Venkat works with the likes of Marc Andreesen from Andreesen Horowitz
- Why dialogue is the driving force of any good relationship and a healthy society
This conversation was a lot of fun to record and it was great to chat to Venkat while he was visiting here in London. Whether you want to have more insightful conversations or know what it takes to run a hugely popular blog, this episode has you covered.
Show Notes
- Introducing Venkatesh [00:33]
- What was school like for Venkatesh? [02:29]
- How did Venkatesh categorise teachers growing up? [03:01]
- What was Venkatesh’s experience exploring the job market? [04:31]
- Where did the idea and inspiration for Ribbonfarm come from? How often would Venkatesh blog in the beginning? [05:36]
- What does the writing process look like for Venkatesh? How does he pick out the topic that he wants to write about? [08:40]
- Why do we need dialectic especially with the status of public discourse today? [13:53]
- How do we maintain a healthy dialectic? What should we keep in mind when engaging with someone who has a differing view? [15:12]
- What is conversational sparring? How does a consultation session with Venkatesh usually go? [18:55]
- How much personal context does Venkatesh need when doing business consultations? What metaconversations does Venkatesh pay attention to? [24:28]
- How do our own inferences of other people affect the way we interact with them? Why is dialectic like playing a game? [29:25]
- Why is it important to explore the shadows, or the dark side, in an organisation? Do individual beings have control over them? [33:11]
- When does Venkatesh decide to disconnect from tech? What is his current relationship with it? [39:12]
- How important is self-awareness in having meaningful relationships? [42:24]
- Why does Venkatesth think that all beliefs should be questioned? [44:27]
- What is one question that Venkatesh gets asked too often? [44:57]
- Closing remarks [46:09]