Hi friends, 

I lived in Pakistan in 2011. At that time, major bombings were a daily occurrence in that country. I remember thinking 'How can people proceed with their lives like this is normal and everything is okay?' until eventually I realized, like everyone else, that there is often no alternative than to go about your life and routines and do your best within the things that you can control.  

I hope for everyone involved that the violence in Ukraine ends soon. 

Today's Contents:

• Good Reads: Emerging Trends
• Good Reads: Sensible Investing
• Weekly Song: How's It Going To Be?

Good Reads: Emerging Trends

Re-Imagining the Next Generation of Workplace Collaboration Tools. Here. TL/DR: More effective collaboration tools will be needed to manage co-worker communications, promote productivity, and preserve sanity in the hybrid workplace of the 2020s. 

What the Remote-Work Revolution Means for Cities. Here. H/T Tom Goodwin. 

“The number of person-days in the office is never going back to pre-pandemic average, ever,” Bloom told me. After two years of working from home, he said, employees don’t just prefer it. They also feel like they’re getting better at it. Despite widespread reports of burnout, self-reported productivity has increased steadily in the past year, according to his research.

Crisis Breeds Innovation: Pandemic Pods and the Future of Education. Report here from the Center for Reinventing Public Education. I wrote in August 2020 that 'everyone who can is starting an education pod."

My belief is that this is a big phenomena that is here to stay. Why? Parents, generally, like them. Teachers love them. They work for students. 



Additionally, families of color felt they have much more information influence over learning in pods. This will have large political implications in the years ahead.

Good Reads: Sensible Investing

LP Expectations and VC Reality. Here. TL/DR: The power law is now extremely in play for venture capitalists. However, for founders to have life-changing money, it is probably better that you raise less and play it safer. 

Berkshire Hathaway Annual LP Letter. Here. 

11 Impressions from EthDenver. Here. Am honest take from the event. Below is one from the 'not so good' list: It was striking how often the phrase “coordination problems” was used to describe the fact that people have different values, desires, and goals, and that political and social systems are built along those differences.

Cryptonomicon here in Harpers. Well-written parody of everything crypto. H/T Alf Garcia

I raised the subject of cryptocurrency with my father, who admitted he didn’t understand it. (He’s not alone: more than 60 percent of those familiar with the concept admit to having little to no sense of what it means.) He cited a rule he’d picked up from reading Peter Lynch, a once-legendary Fidelity mutual-fund investor: Never invest in something you don’t understand. It seemed like sensible advice. The sort of advice my father and Peter Lynch and many others in their respective generational cohorts had used to construct relatively functional lives. I ignored it.

Weekly Song: How's It Going To Be?

I like this song because, yes, it's from my formative years. I have shout-sung this song while on a highway with the windows down. I have several friends who have whole playlists devoted to these types of songs (yes, that means you, JAB!). 

It's also a song about prediction - emotional prediction for how you are going to feel in the future. I could use the question across a range of life categories, but it's easier to talk big picture. I am wondering today: How's it going to be in a world post-Putin? How's it going to be in a week's time?

How's It Going To Be? by Third Eye Blind
I wonder how's it going to be
When it goes down
How's it going to be
When you're not around

How's it going to be
When you found out there was nothing
Between you and me
'Cause I don't care
How's it going to be

Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.

As always,
Katelyn