My First Newsletter

Dear Friends!

Welcome to my very first newsletter. I am prototyping this way of sharing things I read, watch or listen to, that deeply resonate with me and hopefully with you as well.

As most of you know, my mission in life, for decades, has been to inspire organizations to find their "purpose bigger than their product". I believe passionately in "servant leadership" and that our job here on earth is to try to be as "useful" as we can to others. Or as I sometimes say: our most important job is to make our jobs more important. While I primarily am focused on inspiring the world of business to take on this longer term and more holistic and interdependent view, it is also abundantly clear that Politics, Health Care, Education and many other societal institutions would benefit from a similar elevation.

A core theme you can expect are articles and conversations that are slightly uncomfortable insofar as they challenge what you currently believe is the conventional wisdom. I believe that one of our greatest dangers right now is a strong tendency for binary bias. Everything seems to be either black or white, left or right, equal or unequal, capitalist or socialist. The world isn't just that simple. Media and certainly social media has amplified a more narrow and simplistic view that is not helpful to our overall understanding of the world. We need more nuance and we need to get much better at understanding a more elevated perspective.

Robert Frost wrote a short poem called "The Secret Sits" which is instructive.

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

My wish for this newsletter is that it helps you see something from an angle you haven't seen things from before. Like a new lens. It helps you better understand the choices, complexities and nuances that we all face and therefore ultimately make us more willing to engage, embrace and encounter people and ideas different from our own.

The Coronavirus pandemic has of course revealed the many imperfections of our various institutions. This little invisible organism is showing so clearly how connected we all are to each other. I am hopeful, that longer term, we might use this experience to design the kind of society we all want to live in. That is the only way we can turn the current pain and suffering into something meaningful. So let's do just that. Together.

Despite these very challenging times I remain a human optimist. During the last few weeks I have witnessed more goodness and human "can do" spirit and have been reminded of how good most human beings truly are. While most of us have been isolated physically, I feel we have been more connected to our humanity than in a long time. Perhaps this was the wake-up call we needed to awaken our desire and strengthen our resolve to improve the many things that clearly were imperfect long before this virus entered our lives.

Lastly, I am doing this to be helpful. If it isn't helpful I will stop. And the only way I will know if it is helpful is if you will let me know. Either indirectly by inviting your friends to subscribe to the newsletter, by liking and engaging with the content in ways that you see fit, or by simply sending me a note with feedback of any kind.

Thank you for being you and for all that you are doing!

Mats

CORONA VIRUS- A Different Perspective

Obviously, top of all of our minds are how we best overcome this pandemic. I have been personally concerned about the narrative most of media are showcasing daily. I think this crises has revealed and amplified our binary bias for short-term action over long-term outcomes and for fixing symptoms over causes. This interview with David Katz is probably the best one I have found recently. The idea that since vaccines will take long time AND the cost (in both livelihoods and lives) we actually have to develop herd immunity and the way to do that is to aggressively protect the vulnerable. He also discusses the importance of lifestyle as medicine. Since they mention Sweden I am also linking you to an interview here where you can learn more about Sweden's approach. I tend to agree most with Dr Katz on both the fear and hope of the Swedish approach. 

Tim Ferriss + Ester Perel 
I love how Tim Ferriss typically interviews people and tries to unpack the reasons for their success. I am also a big fan of Esther Perel. She has a unique ability to articulate the intricacies and mystery of relationships. These trying times we need that voice more than ever. Really enjoyed and was moved by much of what she had to say here. This virus is helping us realize that we are all connected and whether we like it or not, our behaviors affect each other in dramatic ways. Hopefully we can redesign our society with more empathy, compassion and awareness knowing that we are all in this together. If you liked this you can also watch this video from NYT. The thought that still reverberating in my soul is that "social distancing" is NOT the right idea. Physical distancing perhaps. But social meaning!

Positive News
For a long time I have been concerned about the media, particularly the negative bias of the media. We report mainly what is wrong with the world and not so much what is right. It affects all of us. It's a form of spiritual pollution. What if we all came home everyday and focused only on what had gone wrong? How much love would we experience? It's really about time we had a more balanced form or reporting celebrating the best of humanity. This was an inspired talk by Photographer Dewitt Jones. Thank you Michael Bronner for sending it my way.

Dr Peter Attia - what is wrong with Covid-19 Models

Like many of you I am trying to read and watch as much as I can to learn about Corona and what our options are. One of the doctors I have followed for a long time is Peter Attia. I find him squarely in the "middle" of being sufficiently challenging and provocative relative to the status quo and at the same time committed to scientifically proven outcomes and not willing to "buy" any new idea that comes along. As you know I am super concerned about the state of our health care system and we need doctors to challenge new paths particularly when it comes to eating and lifestyle choices. This article is a really thoughtful (albeit nerdy!) analysis on where we stand today on Corona and what we need to do to reduce risks going forward. 

Dov Seidman - Thomas Friedman in New York Times

As many of you know, Dov is one of my dearest and closest friends. I am lucky to have a moral philosopher as a guide at my side. I am also honored to serve on the board of directors of LRN. In this piece in NYT Dov and Thomas Friedman discusses the kind of leadership this moment requires and what we should expect of leadership going forward. I particularly love the specifics around humility. That we want leaders who make themselves smaller. "They know that they alone cannot fix everything. So they create space for others to join them and to rise to do big things - together". Love that. It's an invitation for all of us to lean in and join the work ahead on making our world better. And as if this wasn't enough, Dov also published a deeper dive into moral leadership in this editorial in Fortune on Friday.