Magic that can't be taught 💎 Issue #53
Plus: storytelling at Airbnb and movies that surprised me.
Happy Friday 👋
What’s up? 🎬
When someone asks me for a movie recommendation (just like that) I can’t give one without knowing more of what they like or without a more interesting trigger. If the question is rephrased to “what movie last surprised you?” then I might be able to help you.
This question came up the other day, at work, in our virtual water cooler conversations, and before answering, I had to make two disclaimers. I only consider movies that I had no expectations for and were way more entertaining than they should (category 😮), and movies surrounded with hyped that over-delivered (category 🤯).
At the time I quickly came up with two, one in each category, but here I will leave you with ten.
1917🤯
It should be enough for two weeks since there will not be a new issue of This Week’s Worth next Friday.
And now on to what were the best things I found on the Internet this week.
New to me 💡
Building Products at Airbnb | 12 min read
🏩 Last week we had the experience of Facebook’s way of building products and now it’s Airbnb’s turn. I think it’s, in equal parts, fascinating and surprising how much influence telling a good story has on what makes its way into Airbnb. That you want to help deliver a memorable stay to whoever checks in at one of these places is a no-brainer. You are helping those guests tell a great story to their friends and potential customers. The great reveal for me was the highlight placed in the diplomacy and back-channeling inside the company to explain, convince, influence, and sell on your ideas for the product. That’s another layer of storytelling that goes on and that, more often than not, we miss.
The Part Time Creator Manifesto | 11 min read
🎨 This article is for everyone who has the itch to create something (could be a painting, an operative system, a new sourdough recipe, a YouTube channel, etc.), but struggles to see how to find the time for it. Epic or tiny, the size of the challenge shouldn’t make you consider abandon other dreams or quit your job, because there are 24 hours in a day for everyone, but especially for those who know what they want to create and prioritize accordingly.
What defines a great company culture? | 2 min read
🧫 There are so many definitions around of what is a company’s culture, or what makes one great, that I’m starting to consider that you shouldn’t pay too much attention to what everybody is saying and take it more as a challenge to come up with your own definition and add it to the pile. Take the challenge or see what you can take from this experience of Amazon’s and Facebook's “strong” cultures.
The Mystery of Magic’s Greatest Card Trick | 10 min read
🃏 We are used to hearing about magicians not revealing the secrets of their tricks, but one telling us that he can’t explain it is something new. Picture this scenario: you pick a card and a number between 1 and 52. Then this guy tells you to open a random drawer and pull the deck of cards inside. You open the deck, count the cards until you get to the number you chose, and, to your astonishment, you find your card. How?
Please help me grow this newsletter! I’d love if you shared it with your more curious friends.
A most literary tweet 📚
This week in a gif 🏐
High note ⚡
This issue cover picture comes from here.
Last issue most clicked link was 12 Life Lessons From Mathematician and Philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota.
I hope you enjoyed these last minutes as much as me putting this together.
You can also show some love by clicking that tiny ❤️ at the top of the email. It would help spread the word. Or you can provide candy bars 🍫.
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Until next week,
Filipe