Ordinary Tuesdays
The essays.
Follow a question from work into the kitchen, onto a ferry, or somewhere neither of us expected.
Originally published on LinkedIn. Collected here for easy reading.
The weekly publication
Ordinary Tuesdays
Start here: essays about work and trust
Essay archive
Stewardship & service
This Essay Is Not About Elon
What is competence for? On stewardship, usefulness, and who is better off because we were here.
Calm & trust
The Tale of the Headless Chicken
Calm can reduce uncertainty for others when you make the plan behind it visible.
Attention & standards
How Good Can We Make It?
Attention creates choices. It does not make every improvement an obligation.
Recovery & agency
The Graveyard Is Part of the Board
Recovery begins by playing from the position that actually exists.
Reliability & refinement
Rolex, Unfortunately
The watch stayed recognizable. The work kept happening underneath.
Curiosity & judgment
The Three Thousand Seven Hundred Forty-Five Whys
A reasonable assignment. Several thousand questions. An emotional estimate.
Memory & responsibility
Carlo Went Back
Capability can expand responsibility without making a person limitless.
Parenthood & standards
The Bedtime City League Guillotine
What happens when making something better makes it worse for the person it was for.
Trust & repair
Balancing the Ledger
Every interaction moves the balance. Repair begins by bringing the ledger.
Work & judgment
John Daly Sells Canned Fish
What we sell, what people need, and the work of making complexity usable.
Attention & ordinary life
The Week Has Stopped Introducing Itself
A Tuesday, and the questions that keep following us home.
From the writing desk
Coming soon.
Beginnings & commitment
The Other Ninety
Ten query letters should be manageable. It is the ninety still unsent that make the first ten feel enormous. An essay about knowing yourself well enough to see where a small project could lead, and finding a way to begin anyway.
Judgment & responsibility
Observe and Report and Chokeholds
One of Paolo’s first jobs in the United States came with a uniform and a deceptively simple instruction: observe and report. A story about helping, overstepping, and learning what a situation actually asks of you before deciding what you can do.
Attention & expertise
The World Changes After You Learn to Care
Knowledge changes what you notice. Expertise can teach you where to look, and caring changes what becomes visible.
Parenthood & learning
Teach a Kid to Whistle
Julián asks his father to teach him to whistle. His father can do it, so this should be straightforward. A story about the distance between having a skill and explaining it, and helping someone learn something you cannot remember learning.