Long Games

Visakan Veerasamy ebook. If you really care about something and you expect to care about it for the rest of your life, it makes sense to strategize somewhat. (real world game)

ie, if you've had 100 conversations about X, and you're likely going to have 1,000 more, you might as well write a blogpost about it. Write at n=5

quietly, steadily building a networked body of work and playing the long game

change is possible. it will seem improbable until it becomes inevitable. persist. figure out what matters. articulate your talking points. when people resist, argue & misunderstand you, write it down. account for their misunderstandings in your arguments. keep records. Persist.

Think long term. working backwards from the outcome you want. ask yourself, what needs to happen in order for this to change?

the cool calm confidence of playing long games for their own sake

anything that is built over many years is necessarily built from many different angles, frames of reference, through thick and thin, is robust, lasting, valuable

If you play longer games you trade the short term satisfaction of arguing unproductively with people for the long term satisfaction of getting outcomes you want

this does require taking the time to articulate what you want

If you want to lead people you have to understand that you will have to manage tensions between people, and this almost definitely requires tact, sensitivity and grace. Blurting out a source of tension and asserting a clunky solution is a strong signal of inept leadership.

“I don’t want to be a leader I just wanna talk shit” ok, have fun and carry on. This is not for you.