Just finished the audiobook biography of President-elect Biden by Evan Osnos. He has a simple and clear delivery style that reminds me of John Dickerson who did the Whistlestop podcast, which I listened to regularly before Trump and the romance of past presidents was gone for me. The Osnos bio is short, and good reading as the Biden presidency is about to begin. #If you grew up with parents who acted crazy, having Trump as president seems somewhat familiar, even comforting. It could be worse, you think. It's a dysfunctional feeling, one you can spend years in therapy to uncover, because you bury it so well, as a child. You come to see things from the parent's point of view. You're a bad kid for thinking that your parents are wrong. Even when they were most definitely wrong. #
A fallout is that if Biden wants to gain our confidence, he has to first deal with the fact that a substantial number of people, even those who voted for him, are unfamiliar with the idea of a family that is based on love and a feeling that justice is normal or even possible. We may believe we feel this way, but that's intellectual, at a subconscious level, it just doesn't seem normal, like something you can trust. It'll be as if we're saying to the president, "Look that's very nice, but no one believes you're actually trying to help us. That's just hype. We weren't born yesterday." It seems as if Biden may actually be someone who isn't totally corrupt. If so, how's he going to get anyone to believe that. A frontal assault is not likely to work. This may be why I'm reluctant to write about Biden, or even listen to him. It was okay when he was just one candidate, or just one senator, or even the vice president. But it's hard to see him as president. It's hard to trust that. #
Last week I asked for recommendations for great audiobook listens, and got these titles from Seth Godin: 1. On Immunity. "Important, timely and beautifully read." 2. The two David Deutsch physics books on infinity. 3. Just Kids by Patti Smith. 4. The Art of Possibility by Roz and Ben Zander. The last two Godin calls "the best two audio books ever."#
I've created a few standards in my career. These are the rules I've learned. Why we create standards, and how to make them do their work. #