What signs of investment-worthiness do you look for in people at age 25, 35, 45, 55 before investing time/energy/attention in them? (need not be younger than you)
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Mine:
25: Raw energy, quick study, aware of off-script world, art > craft sensibility
35: Groks off script, control over energy (is not all burst/spike/binge), has interesting opinions, has shit together
45: Not ground down, can still cut loose
55: At top of personal game
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For older folks, that they're not condescending. Like to be taught but also want a teacher that can figure out quickly what I do/don't know and not serve warmed over advice
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Agnostic to the demographic here, I think what transcends them all is a strong bias for action when no data exists to support nor if its their “job” to get something done. High indicator of success for me.
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Have never been able to look at interactions with people as investments. Also have never found a person not worthy of my attention.
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I set up culture keys for hiring/partnerships:
1-Ethical Compass
2-Communication Fidelity
3-Impact
4-Self Awareness
5-Swiss Army Knife
6-Security and Humility
Set up to be high trust working relationship and complete information, repeated games. Keeps assholes out.
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It's an interesting question.
I think there is something to be learned from just about anybody, given some time with them. They might be worse than me at doing 100 different things, but there's usually at least 1 at which they are better, so if I'll see if I can find it.
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Making such decisions is unavoidable. There's no All-7.6-billion-people option. Choosing becomes a skill. I spend less time on, eg. those who develop "zombie armies",
who aren't willing to get better at selecting or discarding "cheap tricks" in the Tempo sense, who are cruel.
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And I apply a sort of individual person version of this Lois McMaster Bujold quote. Scaled down, not as grand as destiny.
"A false destiny may be spotted by the fact that it consumes without transforming, without giving back the enlarged self."
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But what do I actually look for? I'll have to think about that. I'm not sure it changes by age group though. I often think of people more in terms of expertise.
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