Tags as frames
approaches to your life, work and the world
I have this obsessive need to make sense of my life through special tags.
Over the time I have collected three of them from different places.
Think of these as the frames with which I would like to approach life, work and the world.
This might become extremely narcissistic by end. I apologise now itself and request you to skip this one if you are looking to read about agriculture, logistics or product. I will be back with them in subsequent posts.
Tag 1
The first time a tag really resonated was that of “greaterfool”.
I was just about to graduate college having spent a lot of time watching Aaron Sorkin’s Newsroom.
Spoiler alert. The main protagonist, Will Mackavoy gets his big magazine profile written with a title, ‘Greater Fool’. It is a post written by a writer who mocks everything Will is trying to do different as a news anchor on his show. The show is produced by his just returned ex, Mackenzie. It just happens that the writer is an ex of Mackenzie.
Will attempts suicide by overdosing after reading the of a post. The whole episode is spent showing his recovery and continued pursuit of his quest which he started with Mackenzie. The final sermon is delivered to him by an another character, who plays the role of an economist and sheds light on definition of greater fool.
The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool— someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.
It’s an economic term representing how a certain amount of disbelief and optimism is required for overall betterment of people around you at the cost of self.
I liked the phrasing but never headed to it until I started work. I started work with an inkling to become an entrepreneur. It was seeped into my psyche. It just happened that it took 4 years before I finally turned into an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship fits with this tag as you navigate the uncertainty surrounding your business.
Being a “greaterfool” is my schtick to the dismay of the people who listen me talk. Honestly, who in their right mind would have thought the entire produce markets will shift to trade with grade. Especially, when it is coming from a guy who has no background in agriculture. It did though in what ever little scale we implemented.
Most times in my life, I caught the hot potato or people went for my chair. But, you continue to march on and keep calm.
On a side note. If you are a subscriber, you know that this newsletter is inspired from an another phrase of the Newsroom show, On the side.
Tag 2
In the pursuit of entrepreneurship. I had become a dull person. My ambition and goal morphed into becoming an entrepreneur and making the startup a success. The pandemic was when my desire to be more than work crept in for the first time. It morphed into a whole part in me by the end of the startup journey.
Visa phrased a tag, “F.A.N - Friendly Ambitious Nerd”. I started following him in late 2021 and started vibing with his twitter threads. He wrote a book titled ‘Friendly Ambitious Nerd’ and wrote a 1-page summary for the people who are unperturbed with reading his book.
Parsing few phrases that help us move my narrative forward.
FRIENDLINESS is about being a nourishing presence. It's about becoming somebody who people (including yourself!) love and enjoy. It's about creating supportive, encouraging spaces where people can feel comfortable sharing their honest feelings. ………To be a great friend, I believe that it's necessary to learn to address your own neediness and insecurities, and to cultivate an abundance mindset in relation to other people.
Being friends with people is such a tough job compared to making friends. As a young working professional who aspired to find true purpose in their work. I dropped the ball on maintaining friendships and relationships from college days.
My solace was obviously my partner who happens to be my best friend. I didn’t really appreciate what a privileged life I lucked into so young.
My in-famous spiel of Twitter being responsible for my break. An extended version of it is reaching to folks online has become my medium of finding F.A.Ns.
Being friendly for me was being an extrovert at social gatherings. My interactions with people in such settings have been shallow and boring at best. Because the small talk really takes the energy out of me.
I don’t know, what is it with asking “How I am?“ in Hindi and “Are you well?” in Telugu. My well-being need not be a requisite for us to have a conversation. It’s like when foreigners ask us “How is the weather?”.
I had some great conversation with people when the context is set as to why we are meeting. Especially with strangers I have met online. The small talk is bypassed at the start to make an entry at the end where you awkwardly struggle to put an end to conversation.
This brings me to the ambition part of it. Visa mentions something that is true for many growing up. Ambition is often associated with money and power but it is more intimate.
AMBITION is about daring to dream bigger. It's about realizing that you can live a much "larger" life.…. Ambition to me is about wanting to do more, be more, see more, learn more, know more.
Sharing and envisioning your ambition to become a better version is the topic of discussion with friends, leading to some engaging conversations.
The third aspect, geeking out about a topic of interest, is being a nerd. Visa captures the essence, though.
NERDINESS is about cultivating taste and curiosity. It's about developing the courage to be honest with yourself about what you find interesting…………By doing the nerd's work, you will develop a healthy, rigorous and honest regard for your own opinions. You'll find, delightfully, that others start valuing your thoughts more, too!
Finding people who like the same topics you have interest and being a friend to them is the way forward for me.
I also realised the pure joy it gives me to see people succeed when you play a role of ambitious friend to them.
All in all, if you are someone who likes the stuff I write here and interested to be an F.A.N. DM me on Twitter.
Tag 3
Envisioning the future for me after having spent the better part of a decade establishing myself as a professional.
“Honest Broker” framed by Ted Gioia started resonating with me.
Playing the long term game with the reputation of doing it in the best interest of people is a key principle I practice and preach.
…..Honest Brokers play a hidden but vital role in communities without a history of legal protections and stable institutions. Their influence and power is built solely on a reputation for straight talk and trustworthy dealings. “They are true brokers, intermediaries between others. …. “And they do this for a very simple reason: their prestige is enhanced by making these connections. In many cases, they don’t even want to be paid. Or let me put that differently—you repay them by becoming a trusted contact for them in future dealings. The Honest Broker may help you for free right now, but don’t be surprised to get asked for assistance on something completely different months or even years later. You Yanks have a hard time grasping it, and are always looking for shortcuts. But the Honest Broker plays the long-term game, mate.
My current phase of being a community member in the agri-space with agripreneurs has me leaning very heavily on this frame.
It is highly conflicting for me to arrive at this stage. I hated the term broker and as fate may have it. I am turning into one. At least, now I know that the brokers I met were not honest.
Summarising
All these tags when internalised provided me a frame to approach different facets of my life.
If you come to think of it, these are the frames that help you view your own contributions across the years.
It's like seeing the old photo in the photo-frame and reminiscing all the things that happened in your life.
Visa has this famous tweet ayy lmao which talks about the basic tenet of philosophy.
These frames when it comes to work and life help me stay steadfast even during the tumultuous phase of life.
Signing off till next time,
Vivek, absolutely done tripping about himself.