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balioc · 5 years ago

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A Taxonomy of Magic

This is a purely and relentlessly thematic/Doylist set of categories.

The question is: What is the magic for, in this universe that was created to have magic?

Or, even better: What is nature of the fantasy that’s on display here?

Because it is, literally, fantasy. It’s pretty much always someone’s secret desire.

(NOTE: “Magic” here is being used to mean “usually actual magic that is coded as such, but also, like, psionics and superhero powers and other kinds of Weird Unnatural Stuff that has been embedded in a fictional world.”)

(NOTE: These categories often commingle and intersect. I am definitely not claiming that the boundaries between them are rigid.)

I. Magic as The Gun That Can Be Wielded Only By Nerds

Notable example: Dungeons & Dragons

Of all the magic-fantasies on offer, I think of this one as being the clearest and most distinctive. It’s a power fantasy, in a very direct sense. Specifically, it’s the fantasy that certain mental abilities or personality traits -- especially “raw intelligence” -- can translate directly into concrete power. Being magical gives you the wherewithal to hold your own in base-level interpersonal dominance struggles.

(D&D wizardry is “as a science nerd, I can use my brainpower to blast you in the face with lightning.” Similarly, sorcery is “as a colorful weirdo, I can use my force of personality to blast you in the face with lightning,” and warlockry is “as a goth/emo kid, I can use my raw power of alienation to blast you in the face with lightning.”)

You see this a lot in media centered on fighting, unsurprisingly, and it tends to focus on the combative applications and the pure destructive/coercive force of magic (even if magic is notionally capable of doing lots of different things). It often presents magic specifically as a parallel alternative to brawn-based fighting power. There’s often an unconscious/reflexive trope that the heights of magic look like “blowing things up real good” / “wizarding war.”

II. Magic as The Numinous Hidden Glory of the World

Notable examples: Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, H.P. Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle

The point of magic, in this formulation, is that it is special. It is intrinsically wondrous and marvelous. Interacting with it puts you in a heightened-state-of-existence. It is -- ultimately -- a metaphor for The Secret Unnameable Yearnings of Your Soul, the glorious jouissance that always seems just out of reach.

It doesn’t so much matter how the magic actually functions, or even what outcomes it produces. The important thing is what magic is, which is...magical.

This is how you get works that are all about magic but seem entirely disinterested in questions like “what can you achieve with magic?,” “how does the presence of magic change the world?,” etc. One of the major ways, anyway.

The Numinous Hidden Glory fantasy often revolves around an idea of the magic world, the other-place where everything is drenched in jouissance. [Sometimes the magic world is another plane of existence, sometimes it’s a hidden society within the “real world,” doesn’t matter.] The real point of magic, as it’s often presented, is being in that magic world; once you’re there, everything is awesome, even if the actual things you’re seeing and doing are ordinary-seeming or silly. A magic school is worlds better than a regular school, because it’s magic, even if it’s got exactly the same tedium of classes and social drama that you know from the real world.

Fantasies of this kind often feature a lot of lush memorable detail that doesn’t particularly cohere in any way. It all just adds to the magic-ness.

III. Magic as the Atavistic Anti-Civilizational Power

Notable examples: A Song of Ice and Fire, Godzilla

According to the terms of this fantasy, the point of magic is that it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense within the logic of civilized human thought, anyway. It is nature and chaos given concrete form; it is the thing that tears away at the systems that we, in our [Promethean nobility / overweening hubris], try to build.

There’s not a baked-in value judgment here. This kind of magic can be presented as good, bad, or some of both. Same with civilization, for that matter.

It’s often presented as Old Myths and Folkways that have More Truth and Power Than Seems Reasonable. Narratively, it often serves as a dramatized version of the failure of episteme, and of the kind of entropic decay that in real life can take centuries to devour empires and ideologies.

This kind of magic is almost always the province of savages, actual inhuman monsters, or (occasionally) the very downtrodden.

(I think it is enormously telling that in A Song of Ice and Fire -- a series that is jammed full of exotic cults and ancient half-forgotten peoples, all of whom have magic that seems to work and beliefs that at least touch on mysterious truths -- only the Westerosi version of High Medieval Catholicism, the religion to which most of the people we see notionally adhere, is actually just a pack of empty lies.)

IV. Magic as an Overstuffed Toybox

Notable examples: Naruto, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Or, sometimes, we care about what magic actually does. More than that -- sometimes we want to see magic doing really interesting things, and then other magic intersecting with it in ways that are even more interesting.

The fantasy here, in simplest terms, is “magic can achieve any arbitrary cool effect.” There doesn’t tend to be an overarching system that explains how it’s all supposed to come together, or if there is, it tends to be kind of lame and hand-wavey -- a rigorous system of Magic Physics, delineating the limits of the possible, would get in the way of all the cool effects we want to show!

Once again, this shows up a lot in combat-heavy narratives. Less with the genericized D&D-style “magic is a fist that can punch harder than your regular meat fist,” and more with people throwing weird and wacky powers at each other in order to show how those powers can be used creatively to overcome opposition. Sometimes, instead of combat, you get magicians using their cool-effects magic to MacGuyver their way out of problems or even trying to resolve large-scale social problems. Issues of magic usage within the narrative being “fair” or “unfair” or “cheesy” are important here in ways that they generally aren’t elsewhere, since the fantasy on offer comes close to being a game.

(Ratfic often falls into this category.)

V. Magic as Alternate-Universe Science

Notable examples: the Cosmere books

This covers most of what gets called “hard fantasy.” The fantasy on offer is a pretty straightforward one -- “magic has actual rules, you can learn them, and once you’ve learned them you can make predictions and achieve outcomes.” It’s puzzle-y in the way that the previous fantasy was game-y. It’s often a superstimulus for the feeling of learning a system in the way that video game grinding is a superstimulus for the feeling of rewarding labor.

The magic effects on offer tend to be less ridiculous and “broken” than toybox magic, because any logic you can use to achieve a ridiculous effect is going to influence the rest of the magic system, and special cases that aren’t grounded in sufficiently-compelling logic will ruin the fantasy.

Not super common.

VI. Magic as Psychology-Made-Real

Notable examples: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Persona

This kind of magic makes explicit, and diagetic, what is implicit and metatextual in most fantasy settings. The magic is an outgrowth of thought, emotion, and belief. Things have power in the world because they have power in your head. The things that seem real in the deepest darkest parts of your mind are actually real.

This is where you get inner demons manifested as actual demons (servile or hostile or anything in between), swords forged from literal hope, dungeons and labyrinths custom-tailored to reflect someone’s trauma, etc.

The fantasy, of course, is that your inner drama matters.

My personal favorite.

VII. Magic as Pure Window Dressing

Notable examples: later Final Fantasy games, Warhammer 40K

This one is weird; it doesn’t really make sense on its own, only metatextually. I think of its prevalence as an indicator of the extent to which fantasy has become a cultural staple.

The fantasy on offer in these works is that you are in a fantasy world that is filled with fantasy tropes. And that’s it.

Because the important thing here is that the magic doesn’t really do anything at all, or at least, it doesn’t do anything that non-magic can’t do equally well. It doesn’t even serve as an indication that Things are Special, because as presented in-setting, magic isn’t Special. Being a wizard is just a job, like being a baker or a tailor or something -- or, usually, like being a soldier, because the magic on offer is usually a very-simple kind of combat magic. And unlike in D&D, it’s not like magic is used only or chiefly by a particularly noteworthy kind of person. It’s just...there.

The great stories of the world, in these works, don’t tend to feature magic as anything more than a minor element. The point is to reassure the audience that this is the kind of world, the kind of story, that has magic.

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Thoughts? Critiques? Other categories to suggest?

#media analysis

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sagittree · 7 years ago

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|Dead poetry|

Summary: When the day in which Y/N has to face her soulmate comes, will everything go as she thought it would? Soulmate!AU

Pairing: Bucky BarnesxReader

Words: 3,089

Warnings: A bit of drinking involved, some swear words here and there. I hope that's all. My rusty writing also present, as always.

A/N: This is my entry for @sgtjbuccky 3K celebration writing challenge. The prompt this fic is based on is ´“I never stood a chance, did I?” “That’s the sad part. You did once”´. I’m very grateful that I could participate in this challenge, so thank you so much for this opportunity, Salina! Massive congrats to this amazing sweetheart, you deserve this and so so much more ❤️ I’d like to thank everyone for reading this fic. It really means the world to me. I’m very sorry for my rusty writing, I’m trying to get back to it. Please bear with me. I also apologize for my grammar or any mistakes, English is not my first language. Please feel free to correct me. Thank you so much for reading. It means the world. Lots of love ❤️

Since the beginning of time, the infinite pathways of our universe have been overflowing with countless ideas, dreams and sometimes even unexplainable mysteries, some of which were predestined to make the universe a better, brighter place, while others have been waiting in the dark shadows for their opportunity to thrust the world into its decadence. Many were created by the brightest of minds, and even if they might outnumber the drops of water on this planet, there still are things even the greatest of scientists can't seem to understand, therefore provide an explanation for.

One of these things is something people have been failing to understand throughout hundreds of centuries, and after deep consideration of what this thing might even mean, have come up with the simplest of names for such a revolutionary matter. A soulmate is what they decided to call it.

Though the existence of soulmates has been waving with the world for decades, an explanation still hasn't been provided, and so people grew so desperate to understand this concept that even the simplest stories seemed to satisfy their need. Then again, what even is a world without stories?

Some legends told the story of a time when the body of a person, or rather two people, consisted of two heads and two pairs of limbs. After some time, however, they have become too powerful, selfish and greedy, for there was nothing they were missing in their lives, as they were already connected to the person they were always meant to be with. So the mighty Zeus decided to divide them into two separate beings condemned to roam the planet utterly alone, with loneliness burning their souls until they found their one true love.

While some people believed these legends, others believed that the cause of this all was that the atoms that were the closest to each other when the world was created will forever find their way back together, thus explaining the existence of soulmates.

Though no one completely knew why or how this was possible, they were still certain it was true, for every person saw their soulmate in each and every one of their dreams. The sad thing about this though is that the longer it takes someone to find their soulmate the less they remember until they forget their soulmate completely.

Even though this all was a knowledge carved into the very point of the existence of mankind, Y/N desperately wanted not to believe it, because she didn't want her existence to depend on someone else. She wanted to be her own person, be in charge of her own life and fate. Or at least that was what she told herself. What the reality truly held, however, was fear.

Y/N has always been frightened of the idea because while there were people who could clearly see who their soulmate was, she has always only seen their outline. And the more she thought about it, the more time she spent on trying to figure out who they are and find them only to fail miserably, the deeper the knife in her heart sunk. She feared that she'd end up like one of those people who never find their soulmate, and in time forget them. And when the pain of it becomes too much to bear, they spend their life with someone who doesn't belong to them instead. And there's no greater pain than that.

She desperately wanted to be angry and yell her lungs out into the world. Angry at herself, because how could she not recognize the face of the one who was supposed to love her unconditionally until the end of time? Angry at the universe, because how could it be so cruel and deny her even one glimpse of the one her life was supposed to consist of?

The anger, however, didn't last long and was soon replaced by utter loneliness and confusion. She felt confused, for how could she miss and long for someone she has never met? Lonely because the desire of her heart and soul was never fulfilled, leaving her more empty each passing day.

She tried to talk about it in hope that someone out there might understand and maybe even help, but those words burned. The way they sounded petrified her, for they seemed to dissolve through the air like liquid poison. She tried to bleed her heart out and watch the paper consume her pain and rid her of it while making it its own, but all she ended up with was more pain burning her soul, and an empty paper staring right back at her in an almost mocking way. She tried anything she could think of in hope of clouding the dull ache rooted deep within her soul but nothing seemed to work. And when another day full of failed attempts and disappointment has passed, she found herself seated on a wooden stool of a perhaps too empty bar, trying to defeat one poison with another.

„The usual?“ the tall bartender, whose name she has learned was Steve, asked with a worried smile while drying a cup with his apron. She winced at the thought that she had been there so often, that she had sunk so low as to be associated with ´her usual´. She couldn't divert her gaze from her hands, so she only nodded, heat spreading through her cheeks.

„Still haven't figured out who they are?“ Steve attempted to start a conversation again.

There were days when Y/N wished he'd just leave her alone with the bitter taste of alcohol on her tongue distracting her from the troubles of the world, despite knowing he only meant well. But then there were days like this one when she'd do anything for even a small exchange of words, even though she knew they only came from pitty, but anything was better than the agonizing pain crushing her bones.

„No“ she let out a shaky breath „What am I doing wrong?“ she asked with her voice breaking mid-sentence as she let out a dry laugh while running her shaky fingers through her hair.

„I don't think you're doing anything wrong. Perhaps it's meant to be this way. Maybe this is the way the universe wants it to be“ he tried to reason after contemplating the matter, but failed at making her feel better.

„Then the universe is pretty sadistic“ she lamented as she sipped on her drink, the liquid burning its way down her throat. She couldn't decide whether the disgusting taste was more bitter than her feelings.

„Or empathetic. Maybe this is the best way for you. Maybe your soulmate is someone bad that would only ruin your life and the universe is just trying to protect you“ he sang out, optimism lighting up his eyes as he refilled her cup.

„It's a soulmate. Isn't their purpose to make you the best version of yourself? To make your life the best it can be?“ she asked, amusement being the clearest component of her voice while leaning back in her chair, her arms crossing across her chest.

„Ah, that's probably true“ Steve mumbled, his cheeks tinted in the softest shade of pink, as he mimicked her actions while leaning against the counter.

Y/N only smiled at this, her mind swirling with an endless spiral of thoughts

„Have you met your soulmate?“ she blurted out without thinking, instantly regretting it when she saw the sad smile that graced Steve's lips. She watched him breathe deeply, clearly contemplating his answer.

„I have,“ he decided to answer after a while, swallowing dryly before continuing. “Her name was Peggy. And she was the most beautiful being I've ever seen. Life with her was just worth it no matter how bad it got. She always believed in me and saw my potential. Way before I became the person I am today,“ Steve's smile never left his lips when he spoke, though Y/N wasn't sure whether he was still there with her, or whether he has left her to run around in his thoughts

„Was?“ another regretted question left her mouth, though she couldn't stop herself, the alcohol already clouding her judgment. Steve only smiled so sweetly it almost made her sick.

„I um… We weren't together for long before… before the world got in the way in dire need of help. And when I came back, it was too late. And the loss… the loss nearly tore me apart. And I can't help but think about how things could have been if I had never met her. That's why I think that not meeting your soulmate is often the better option. Because if you never meet them, you just forget them after some time, and then you just get to live your life as if nothing ever happened. But when you do meet them and the universe decides to take them away from you, you can't ever escape the pain that comes with that. And it just... tears you apart. And you have to find a way to live with that, to wake up, collect your shattered pieces from the floor and glue them back together only for them to fall apart once again when the sun sets at night. That pain is just unbearable.“ Steve mourned, tears glistening in his eyes as his breathing became more uneven with each sentence.

„I'm sorry“ Y/N knew these words weren't enough, but there wasn't anything else she could offer. Steve only shook his head and provided her with another sweet smile.

„Don't be. Once you learn how to live with it, the world becomes bearable again“ he tried to reassure her, before making his way to his next customer, who she hasn't even noticed before.

She took her time to think about what he said to her. And maybe Steve was right. Maybe it truly was possible to live without your soulmate. He himself was a living proof of that after all. And so after deep consideration, Y/N decided to leave this part of her life behind, and rather to chase after what the pressure of society was telling her to do, she'd try to live for what her heart was telling her instead.

She smiled to herself as she got off the stool and turned towards the door, ready to walk through them and start a new chapter of her life, only to be met by the icy blue eyes she knew way too well.

She froze in her spot, a high pitched ringing resonating in her ears as the room suddenly began spinning. The air seemed too thick for her to breathe, her heartbeat too rapid for her to bear.

It was him, the man of her dreams, the same dark brown hair laminating his jaw, the too familiar icy blue eyes sending chills down her spine. An unexplainable feeling suddenly overcame her, and it seemed as if all the poetry and declarations of love in the world finally made sense to her.

The saltiness of her hot tears stung her eyes, and she let out a shaky breath through her smile. But her heart shattered again when he only gave her a cold, determined stare before turning around and running out the door. She didn't know how to react, too shocked to even breathe. And before she could register what was happening, she was already running out the door after him, the cold night air brushing past her.

„Wait!“ she yelled after him, in a voice perhaps too desperate, and the world felt like a dream, like when no matter how fast you're trying to run, you're still glued to the same spot.

„Wait, please!“ she pleaded, and she wasn't sure what made him stop, but once he turned to face her again, his cold stare made her wish he never did.

„What? What do you want?“ he barked in a voice so rough she could feel it scratching at her skin.

„I.. it- it's you. You're the one. You belong to me“ she laughed out, a smile too bright gracing her lips, and when she got close enough to be able to take in every detail of him, she wasn't able to do anything else but let out a soft gasp. And for a split second, she thought she saw his features soften, something similar to relief reflecting in his eyes. But before she could even blink again, his eyes changed back to their seemingly permanent frozen stare, his features as stern he seemed to be made of stone. And with another disgusted stare sent towards her, he took a step back from her.

„I'm not a thing to belong to someone. I'm not anyone's property“ he stated in a shallow voice as he turned away from her once more. „No that...that's not what I meant. What I meant is that you're my soulmate. We were destined to be together“ she whispered, her eyebrows furrowing as she silently followed him. She felt sick and she wanted to laugh at how pathetic she sounded, at how she surely must have looked like a lost puppy.

„Are you even hearing yourself? You sound ridiculous. Do you honestly believe these stories?“ he barked, abruptly turning around, which almost made her collide with his chest.

„What do you… Have you never seen me in your dreams?“ she shuddered, eyebrows furrowing once more as she shook her head in confusion.

„No“ he hissed, his voice so sharp it could cut through steel, as he turned around to walk away again.

„I don't believe you! That's not how it works“ she cried out as she clenched her fists, heat spreading through her cheeks, suddenly feeling infuriated with the situation.

„What the hell do you want me to say? I don't give a goddamn crap about this shit. Just stop yelling and leave me alone“ he seethed, quickly looking back at her over his shoulder.

„Leave you alone? You're honestly just going to walk away from me? I've been waiting my entire life for you! I deserve at least an explanation! Why are you acting like such an ass?“ she could feel her blood boiling in her veins, but the pain of that didn't even come close to the one of her whole world falling apart under his harsh stare.

„I don't owe you anything! I don't even know you, do you honestly think I care for you? I don't want anything to do with you“ he barked as he turned to face her once more, instant regret washing over him as his eyes met hers, and he saw something inside her break.

„Look, I'm sorry,“ he started, and Y/N let out a soft scoff as she bit her lip, looking everywhere else but him as she desperately tried to hold her tears in.

„I never stood a chance, did I?“ she said in a voice almost too quiet even for her to hear as she looked at the ground, hot tears leaving salty trails on her cheeks. She bit on the inside of her cheek as she sniffled, her lungs suddenly too tight for her to be able to breathe.

„That's the sad part. You did once“ he let out through shaky lips as he reached towards her to cup her cheek in his hand. Y/N closed her eyes at the sensation, breathing out a teary breath to try and steady herself so she could continue.

„What do you mean?“ she looked him in the eyes, and when she saw his tear stained cheeks, all the things she thought she understood suddenly made no sense at all.

„There… there used to be a time, a long time ago, when I would dream of you every night. And I'd wake up in the morning desperately wishing to find you. I longed to be with you, and the longer I was without you, the harder it was for me to live. But then some.. bad people got to me. And they did terrible things to me, things that made me do unimaginable things. And once I broke from their grasp, I couldn't live with myself, I couldn't live with the horrible person I've become. So I vowed to myself that I'd never try to find you again, that I'd keep myself as far away from you as possible. And it was working, until now. I don't know how I found you, but I honestly didn't mean for this to happen. And I wish I could take this moment back. As much as I long to be with you, I know I'm no good for you. I've done horrible things in my life. I don't deserve to be with you“ he tried to reason with her, his voice breaking as he spoke, the agonizing pain of the moment too much for him to handle.

„You're my soulmate. We're meant to be together. If you didn't deserve me, you'd be destined to be with someone else“ she desperately tried to explain, to make him see that she'd love him through everything, but he only shook his head as he stepped away from him once more, the newly created space between them so cold it made her shiver.

„Perhaps you're right. But I can't be with you. I don't want to. Not anymore, not when I know that you can live a better life without me. I’m sorry it had to happen like this, but you deserve better.“ he stated, taking a step back with each word, and when he saw how his words wounded her, it made him hate himself even more, for he hurt the one thing he'd love until the end of time. What made him able to continue though was the knowledge that he was only doing this for her own good. Y/N knew there wasn't anything in the world she could do or say that would make him stay, she saw it in his eyes, his soul. So she only nodded her head, and despite her whole world crumbling to dust around her, she knew she had to let him go.

„What even is your name?“ she whispered into the night, hoping her voice would reach him.

„Bucky“ he answered in a soft voice, and it was the last thing she ever heard from him.

Hot tears stained down her cheeks as she hugged herself tightly, hoping her arms would be enough to contain her breaking pieces. And as she watched him disappear into the night, she knew that without him, all the poetry within her was dead.

#sgtjbuccky3kcelebration #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagines #marvel imagine

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personalcoachingcenter · 5 years ago

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How great Industrial leaders inspire action

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/how-great-industrial-leaders-inspire-action/

How great Industrial leaders inspire action

How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example: Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, they’re more innovative than all their competition.

And yet, they’re just a computer company. They’re just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? He wasn’t the only man who suffered in pre-civil rights America, and he certainly wasn’t the only great orator of the day.

Why him? And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded — and they didn’t achieve powered man flight, and the Wright brothers beat them to it.

There’s something else at play here. About three and a half years ago, I made a discovery. And this discovery profoundly changed my view on how I thought the world worked, and it even profoundly changed the way in which I operate in it.

As it turns out, there’s a pattern. As it turns out, all the great inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it’s Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers, they all think, act and communicate the exact same way.

And it’s the complete opposite to everyone else. All I did was codify it, and it’s probably the world’s simplest idea. I call it the golden circle. Why? How? What? This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren’t.

Let me define the terms really quickly. Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it, whether you call it your differentiated value proposition or your proprietary process or your USP.

But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by “why” I don’t mean “to make a profit.” That’s a result. It’s always a result. By “why,” I mean: What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? As a result, the way we think, we act, the way we communicate is from the outside in, it’s obvious.

We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations — regardless of their size, regardless of their industry all think, act and communicate from the inside out.

Let me give you an example. I use Apple because they’re easy to understand and everybody gets it. If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this: “We make great computers.

They’re beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. Want to buy one?” “Meh.” That’s how most of us communicate. That’s how most marketing and sales are done, that’s how we communicate interpersonally.

We say what we do, we say how we’re different or better and we expect some sort of a behavior, a purchase, a vote, something like that. Here’s our new law firm: We have the best lawyers with the biggest clients, we always perform for our clients.

Here’s our new car: It gets great gas mileage, it has leather seats. Buy our car. But it’s uninspiring. Here’s how Apple actually communicates. “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.

We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?” Totally different, right? You’re ready to buy a computer from me.

I just reversed the order of the information. What it proves to us is that people don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it. This explains why every single person in this room is perfectly comfortable buying a computer from Apple.

But we’re also perfectly comfortable buying an MP3 player from Apple, or a phone from Apple, or a DVR from Apple. As I said before, Apple’s just a computer company. Nothing distinguishes them structurally from any of their competitors.

Their competitors are equally qualified to make all of these products. In fact, they tried. A few years ago, Gateway came out with flat-screen TVs. They’re eminently qualified to make flat-screen TVs.

They’ve been making flat-screen monitors for years. Nobody bought one. Dell came out with MP3 players and PDAs, and they make great quality products, and they can make perfectly well-designed products — and nobody bought one.

In fact, talking about it now, we can’t even imagine buying an MP3 player from Dell. Why would you buy one from a computer company? But we do it every day. People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe. Here’s the best part: None of what I’m telling you is my opinion.

It’s all grounded in the tenets of biology. Not psychology, biology. If you look at a cross-section of the human brain, from the top down, the human brain is actually broken into three major components that correlate perfectly with the golden circle.

Our newest brain, our Homo sapien brain, our neocortex, corresponds with the “what” level. The neocortex is responsible for all of our rational and analytical thought and language. The middle two sections make up our limbic brains, and our limbic brains are responsible for all of our feelings, like trust and loyalty.

It’s also responsible for all human behavior, all decision-making, and it has no capacity for language. In other words, when we communicate from the outside in, yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information like features and benefits and facts and figures.

It just doesn’t drive behavior. When we can communicate from the inside out, we’re talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do.

This is where gut decisions come from. Sometimes you can give somebody all the facts and figures, and they say, “I know what all the facts and details say, but it just doesn’t feel right.” Why would we use that verb, it doesn’t “feel” right? Because the part of the brain that controls decision-making doesn’t control language.

The best we can muster up is, “I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right.” Or sometimes you say you’re leading with your heart or soul. I hate to break it to you, those aren’t other body parts controlling your behavior.

It’s all happening here in your limbic brain, the part of the brain that controls decision-making and not language. But if you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you ever get people to vote for you, or buy something from you, or, more importantly, be loyal and want to be a part of what it is that you do.

The goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not just to hire people who need a job; it’s to hire people who believe what you believe.

I always say that, you know, if you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money, but if they believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.

Nowhere else is there a better example than with the Wright brothers. Most people don’t know about Samuel Pierpont Langley. And back in the early 20th century, the pursuit of powered man flight was like the dot com of the day.

Everybody was trying it. And Samuel Pierpont Langley had, what we assume, to be the recipe for success. Even now, you ask people, “Why did your product or why did your company fail?” and people always give you the same permutation of the same three things: under-capitalized, the wrong people, bad market conditions.

It’s always the same three things, so let’s explore that. Samuel Pierpont Langley was given 50,000 dollars by the War Department to figure out this flying machine. Money was no problem. He held a seat at Harvard and worked at the Smithsonian and was extremely well-connected; he knew all the big minds of the day.

He hired the best minds money could find and the market conditions were fantastic. The New York Times followed him around everywhere, and everyone was rooting for Langley. Then how come we’ve never heard of Samuel Pierpont Langley? A few hundred miles away in Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright, they had none of what we consider to be the recipe for success.

They had no money; they paid for their dream with the proceeds from their bicycle shop. Not a single person on the Wright brothers’ team had a college education, not even Orville or Wilbur. And The New York Times followed them around nowhere.

The difference was, Orville and Wilbur were driven by a cause, by a purpose, by a belief. They believed that if they could figure out this flying machine, it’ll change the course of the world. Samuel Pierpont Langley was different.

He wanted to be rich, and he wanted to be famous. He was in pursuit of the result. He was in pursuit of the riches. And lo and behold, look what happened. The people who believed in the Wright brothers’ dream worked with them with blood and sweat and tears.

The others just worked for the paycheck. They tell stories of how every time the Wright brothers went out, they would have to take five sets of parts, because that’s how many times they would crash before supper.

He could have said, “That’s an amazing discovery, guys, and I will improve upon your technology,” but he didn’t. He wasn’t first, he didn’t get rich, he didn’t get famous, so he quit.

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe. But why is it important to attract those who believe what you believe? Something called the law of diffusion of innovation, if you don’t know the law, you know the terminology.

The first 2.5% of our population are our innovators. The next 13.5% of our population are our early adopters. The next 34% are your early majority, your late majority and your laggards. The only reason these people buy touch-tone phones is because you can’t buy rotary phones anymore.

I love asking businesses, “What’s your conversion on new business?” They love to tell you, “It’s about 10 percent,” proudly. Well, you can trip over 10% of the customers. We all have about 10% who just get it.

That’s how we describe them, right? That’s like that gut feeling, “Oh, they just get it.” The problem is: How do you find the ones that get it before doing business versus the ones who don’t get it? So it’s this here, this little gap that you have to close, as Jeffrey Moore calls it, “Crossing the Chasm” — because, you see, the early majority will not try something until someone else has tried it first.

And these guys, the innovators and the early adopters, they’re comfortable making those gut decisions. They’re more comfortable making those intuitive decisions that are driven by what they believe about the world and not just what product is available.

These are the people who stood in line for six hours to buy an iPhone when they first came out, when you could have bought one off the shelf the next week. These are the people who spent 40,000 dollars on flat-screen TVs when they first came out, even though the technology was substandard.

And, by the way, they didn’t do it because the technology was so great; they did it for themselves. It’s because they wanted to be first. People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe.

In fact, people will do the things that prove what they believe. The reason that person bought the iPhone in the first six hours, stood in line for six hours, was because of what they believed about the world, and how they wanted everybody to see them: they were first.

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. So let me give you a famous example, a famous failure and a famous success of the law of diffusion of innovation. First, the famous failure. It’s a commercial example.

As we said before, the recipe for success is money and the right people and the right market conditions. You should have success then. Look at TiVo. From the time TiVo came out about eight or nine years ago to this current day, they are the single highest-quality product on the market, hands down, there is no dispute.

They were extremely well-funded. Market conditions were fantastic. I mean, we use TiVo as verb. I TiVo stuff on my piece-of-junk Time Warner DVR all the time. But TiVo’s a commercial failure.

They’ve never made money. And when they went IPO, their stock was at about 30 or 40 dollars and then plummeted, and it’s never traded above 10. In fact, I don’t think it’s even traded above six, except for a couple of little spikes.

Because you see, when TiVo launched their product, they told us all what they had. They said, “We have a product that pauses live TV, skips commercials, rewinds live TV and memorizes your viewing habits without you even asking.”

And the cynical majority said, “We don’t believe you. We don’t need it. We don’t like it. You’re scaring us.” What if they had said, “If you’re the kind of person who likes to have total control over every aspect of your life, boy, do we have a product for you.

It pauses live TV, skips commercials, memorizes your viewing habits, etc., etc.” People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it, and what you do simply serves as the proof of what you believe.

How do you do that? Well, Dr. King wasn’t the only man in America who was a great orator. He wasn’t the only man in America who suffered in a pre-civil rights America. In fact, some of his ideas were bad.

But he had a gift. He didn’t go around telling people what needed to change in America. He went around and told people what he believed. “I believe, I believe, I believe,” he told people.

And people who believed what he believed took his cause, and they made it their own, and they told people. And some of those people created structures to get the word out to even more people. And lo and behold, 250,000 people showed up on the right day at the right time to hear him speak.

How many of them showed up for him? Zero. They showed up for themselves. It’s what they believed about America that got them to travel in a bus for eight hours to stand in the sun in Washington in the middle of August.

It’s what they believed, and it wasn’t about black versus white: 25% of the audience was white. Dr. King believed that there are two types of laws in this world: those that are made by a higher authority and those that are made by men.

And not until all the laws that are made by men are consistent with the laws made by the higher authority will we live in a just world. It just so happened that the Civil Rights Movement was the perfect thing to help him bring his cause to life.

We followed, not for him, but for ourselves. By the way, he gave the “I have a dream” speech, not the “I have a plan” speech. Listen to politicians now, with their comprehensive 12-point plans.

They’re not inspiring anybody. Because there are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to.

We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And it’s those who start with “why” that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.

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rahulrevne · 6 years ago

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How great leaders inspire action

How do you explain when things don't go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example: Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, they're more innovative than all their competition. And yet, they're just a computer company. They're just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? He wasn't the only man who suffered in pre-civil rights America, and he certainly wasn't the only great orator of the day. Why him? And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded --and they didn't achieve powered man flight, and the Wright brothers beat them to it. There's something else at play here.

About three and a half years ago, I made a discovery. And this discovery profoundly changed my view on how I thought the world worked, and it even profoundly changed the way in which I operate in it. As it turns out, there's a pattern. As it turns out, all the great inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it's Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers, they all think, act and communicate the exact same way. And it's the complete opposite to everyone else. All I did was codify it, and it's probably the world's simplest idea. I call it the golden circle.

Why? How? What? This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren't. Let me define the terms really quickly. Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it, whether you call it your differentiated value proposition or your proprietary process or your USP. But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by "why" I don't mean "to make a profit."That's a result. It's always a result. By "why," I mean: What's your purpose? What's your cause? What's your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? As a result, the way we think, we act, the way we communicate is from the outside in, it's obvious. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations -- regardless of their size, regardless of their industry -- all think, act and communicate from the inside out.

Let me give you an example. I use Apple because they're easy to understand and everybody gets it. If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this: "We make great computers. They're beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. Want to buy one?" "Meh."That's how most of us communicate. That's how most marketing and sales are done, that's how we communicate interpersonally. We say what we do, we say how we're different or better and we expect some sort of a behavior, a purchase, a vote, something like that. Here's our new law firm: We have the best lawyers with the biggest clients, we always perform for our clients. Here's our new car: It gets great gas mileage, it has leather seats. Buy our car. But it's uninspiring.

Here's how Apple actually communicates. "Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?" Totally different, right? You're ready to buy a computer from me. I just reversed the order of the information. What it proves to us is that people don't buy what you do; people buy why you do it.

This explains why every single person in this room is perfectly comfortable buying a computer from Apple. But we're also perfectly comfortable buying an MP3 player from Apple, or a phone from Apple,or a DVR from Apple. As I said before, Apple's just a computer company. Nothing distinguishes them structurally from any of their competitors. Their competitors are equally qualified to make all of these products. In fact, they tried. A few years ago, Gateway came out with flat-screen TVs. They're eminently qualified to make flat-screen TVs. They've been making flat-screen monitors for years.Nobody bought one. Dell came out with MP3 players and PDAs, and they make great quality products,and they can make perfectly well-designed products -- and nobody bought one. In fact, talking about it now, we can't even imagine buying an MP3 player from Dell. Why would you buy one from a computer company? But we do it every day. People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.

Here's the best part: None of what I'm telling you is my opinion. It's all grounded in the tenets of biology. Not psychology, biology. If you look at a cross-section of the human brain, from the top down, the human brain is actually broken into three major components that correlate perfectly with the golden circle. Our newest brain, our Homo sapien brain, our neocortex, corresponds with the "what" level. The neocortex is responsible for all of our rational and analytical thought and language. The middle two sections make up our limbic brains, and our limbic brains are responsible for all of our feelings, like trust and loyalty. It's also responsible for all human behavior, all decision-making, and it has no capacity for language.

In other words, when we communicate from the outside in, yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information like features and benefits and facts and figures. It just doesn't drive behavior. When we can communicate from the inside out, we're talking directly to the part of the brainthat controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do. This is where gut decisions come from. Sometimes you can give somebody all the facts and figures, and they say, "I know what all the facts and details say, but it just doesn't feel right." Why would we use that verb, it doesn't "feel" right? Because the part of the brain that controls decision-making doesn't control language. The best we can muster up is, "I don't know. It just doesn't feel right."Or sometimes you say you're leading with your heart or soul. I hate to break it to you, those aren't other body parts controlling your behavior. It's all happening here in your limbic brain, the part of the brain that controls decision-making and not language.

But if you don't know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you ever get people to vote for you, or buy something from you, or, more importantly, be loyaland want to be a part of what it is that you do. The goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not just to hire people who need a job; it's to hire people who believe what you believe. I always say that, you know, if you hire people just because they can do a job, they'll work for your money, but if they believe what you believe,they'll work for you with blood and sweat and tears. Nowhere else is there a better example than with the Wright brothers.

Most people don't know about Samuel Pierpont Langley. And back in the early 20th century, the pursuit of powered man flight was like the dot com of the day. Everybody was trying it. And Samuel Pierpont Langley had, what we assume, to be the recipe for success. Even now, you ask people, "Why did your product or why did your company fail?" and people always give you the same permutation of the same three things: under-capitalized, the wrong people, bad market conditions. It's always the same three things, so let's explore that. Samuel Pierpont Langley was given 50,000 dollars by the War Departmentto figure out this flying machine. Money was no problem. He held a seat at Harvard and worked at the Smithsonian and was extremely well-connected; he knew all the big minds of the day. He hired the best minds money could find and the market conditions were fantastic. The New York Times followed him around everywhere, and everyone was rooting for Langley. Then how come we've never heard of Samuel Pierpont Langley?

A few hundred miles away in Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright, they had none of what we consider to be the recipe for success. They had no money; they paid for their dream with the proceeds from their bicycle shop. Not a single person on the Wright brothers' team had a college education, not even Orville or Wilbur. And The New York Times followed them around nowhere.

The difference was, Orville and Wilbur were driven by a cause, by a purpose, by a belief. They believed that if they could figure out this flying machine, it'll change the course of the world. Samuel Pierpont Langley was different. He wanted to be rich, and he wanted to be famous. He was in pursuit of the result. He was in pursuit of the riches. And lo and behold, look what happened. The people who believed in the Wright brothers' dream worked with them with blood and sweat and tears. The others just worked for the paycheck. They tell stories of how every time the Wright brothers went out, they would have to take five sets of parts, because that's how many times they would crash before supper

And, eventually, on December 17th, 1903, the Wright brothers took flight, and no one was there to even experience it. We found out about it a few days later. And further proof that Langley was motivated by the wrong thing: the day the Wright brothers took flight, he quit. He could have said,"That's an amazing discovery, guys, and I will improve upon your technology," but he didn't. He wasn't first, he didn't get rich, he didn't get famous, so he quit.

People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe.

But why is it important to attract those who believe what you believe? Something called the law of diffusion of innovation, if you don't know the law, you know the terminology. The first 2.5% of our population are our innovators. The next 13.5% of our population are our early adopters. The next 34% are your early majority, your late majority and your laggards. The only reason these people buy touch-tone phones is because you can't buy rotary phones anymore.

We all sit at various places at various times on this scale, but what the law of diffusion of innovation tells us is that if you want mass-market success or mass-market acceptance of an idea, you cannot have it until you achieve this tipping point between 15 and 18 percent market penetration, and then the system tips. I love asking businesses, "What's your conversion on new business?" They love to tell you, "It's about 10 percent," proudly. Well, you can trip over 10% of the customers. We all have about 10% who just "get it." That's how we describe them, right? That's like that gut feeling, "Oh, they just get it."

The problem is: How do you find the ones that get it before doing business versus the ones who don't get it? So it's this here, this little gap that you have to close, as Jeffrey Moore calls it, "Crossing the Chasm" -- because, you see, the early majority will not try something until someone else has tried it first. And these guys, the innovators and the early adopters, they're comfortable making those gut decisions. They're more comfortable making those intuitive decisions that are driven by what they believe about the world and not just what product is available. These are the people who stood in line for six hours to buy an iPhone when they first came out, when you could have bought one off the shelf the next week. These are the people who spent 40,000 dollars on flat-screen TVs when they first came out, even though the technology was substandard. And, by the way, they didn't do it because the technology was so great; they did it for themselves. It's because they wanted to be first. People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe. In fact, people will do the things that prove what they believe. The reason that person bought the iPhone in the first six hours, stood in line for six hours, was because of what they believed about the world, and how they wanted everybody to see them: they were first. People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

So let me give you a famous example, a famous failure and a famous success of the law of diffusion of innovation. First, the famous failure. It's a commercial example. As we said before, the recipe for success is money and the right people and the right market conditions. You should have success then.Look at TiVo. From the time TiVo came out about eight or nine years ago to this current day, they are the single highest-quality product on the market, hands down, there is no dispute. They were extremely well-funded. Market conditions were fantastic. I mean, we use TiVo as verb. I TiVo stuff on my piece-of-junk Time Warner DVR all the time.

But TiVo's a commercial failure. They've never made money. And when they went IPO, their stock was at about 30 or 40 dollars and then plummeted, and it's never traded above 10. In fact, I don't think it's even traded above six, except for a couple of little spikes.

Because you see, when TiVo launched their product, they told us all what they had. They said, "We have a product that pauses live TV, skips commercials, rewinds live TV and memorizes your viewing habits without you even asking." And the cynical majority said, "We don't believe you. We don't need it. We don't like it. You're scaring us."

What if they had said, "If you're the kind of person who likes to have total control over every aspect of your life, boy, do we have a product for you. It pauses live TV, skips commercials, memorizes your viewing habits, etc., etc." People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it, and what you do simply serves as the proof of what you believe.

Now let me give you a successful example of the law of diffusion of innovation. In the summer of 1963,250,000 people showed up on the mall in Washington to hear Dr. King speak. They sent out no invitations, and there was no website to check the date. How do you do that? Well, Dr. King wasn't the only man in America who was a great orator. He wasn't the only man in America who suffered in a pre-civil rights America. In fact, some of his ideas were bad. But he had a gift. He didn't go around telling people what needed to change in America. He went around and told people what he believed. "I believe, I believe, I believe," he told people. And people who believed what he believed took his cause, and they made it their own, and they told people. And some of those people created structures to get the word out to even more people. And lo and behold, 250,000 people showed up on the right day at the right time to hear him speak.

How many of them showed up for him? Zero. They showed up for themselves. It's what they believed about America that got them to travel in a bus for eight hours to stand in the sun in Washington in the middle of August. It's what they believed, and it wasn't about black versus white: 25% of the audience was white.

Dr. King believed that there are two types of laws in this world: those that are made by a higher authority and those that are made by men. And not until all the laws that are made by men are consistent with the laws made by the higher authority will we live in a just world. It just so happened that the Civil Rights Movement was the perfect thing to help him bring his cause to life. We followed, not for him, but for ourselves. By the way, he gave the "I have a dream" speech, not the "I have a plan" speech.

Listen to politicians now, with their comprehensive 12-point plans. They're not inspiring anybody.Because there are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority,but those who lead inspire us. Whether they're individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And it's those who start with "why" that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.

Thank you very much.

Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action/transcript

via Blogger http://bit.ly/2WdZhNT

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essayyard-blog · 7 years ago

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Philosophy Question Description Write a philosophical analysis paper of 1000-1500 words on the

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Philosophy Question Description Write a philosophical analysis paper of 1000-1500 words on the

Description Write a philosophical analysis paper of 1000-1500 words on the essay at the following link:http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/crito.htmlHere is the basic idea: First, read the assigned article several times. When you think you understand it, select an aspect of the article that you find particularly interesting, troubling, exciting, confusing, or problematic. “An aspect of the article” does not necessarily mean a particular section of it; it means a claim or set of claims to which the author is committed, either by explicitly arguing for them, or implicitly presupposing them. Your paper will introduce the reader to the point you will be making, carefully reconstruct and explain the aspect of the article you will be focusing on, and make an argument that evaluates that aspect of the article. The conclusion of your argument is your thesis and is the point you are making with the paper. See below for more details about each of these parts of your paper. Writing StyleYour analysis should be concise and thorough. Do not engage in:- Unnecessary editorializing- Pointless repetition- Personal attacks on the author or questioning of the author’s psychological motives- Complaining about the author’s writing style or choice of words Ideally, every word of your essay should contribute to establishing your thesis. In short, always strive to express yourself in the simplest, clearest, and most precise terms possible. All direct quotations must, of course, be identified as such with a citation. However, in general, an essay of this type should make minimal use of direct quotations. As a rule, one should only quote an author if the precise way in which he or she has chosen to express something figures essentially into your analysis. Never simply substitute a quotation for your own summary of what the author is saying. FormatYour analysis must contain the following three sections, in this order:- Introduction- Summary- Critique Be sure to identify each section. In other words, at the top of the introduction write the word “Introduction,” etc. A Conclusion section may be added, but this is optional. The critical part of your analysis should demonstrate an awareness of other relevant readings assigned in the course (this won’t be much of an issue for the first paper, but will be for later papers). You should be careful when you are reproducing criticisms that are made by other authors we have read. Be sure to attribute those criticisms to their sources and to reference them with proper citations. You should be careful to include or consider important criticisms made by other authors when they are clearly relevant to your own concerns. Follow these specific instructions for each section, to the letter: IntroductionThis section must accomplish the following tasks in the following order, preferably by devoting a single short paragraph to each task. Identify the article, and describe in one or two sentences what problem(s) it addresses and what view(s) it defends. State precisely which aspect(s) of the article your analysis will address and precisely what you intend to accomplish. This must not be a vague statement like “I will evaluate the author’s views…” or “I will show where I agree and where I disagree….”. Rather, it must be a very specific and concise statement of the case you intend to make, and the basic considerations you intend to employ in making it. (You will probably find it impossible to write this section before your analysis has gone through the rough draft phase.) SummaryThe rules for constructing a summary are as follows: For the most part, you should summarize only those aspects of the article that are relevant to your critique. If you summarize more than that, it should only be because anything less will not provide the reader an adequate understanding of the author’s basic concerns. Do not produce an unnecessarily lengthy or detailed summary. As a general rule of thumb, the summary and critique will usually be roughly equal in length. The summary must present the author’s views in the best possible light. It must be a thorough, fair, and completely accurate representation of the author’s views. Misrepresentation of the author’s views, especially selective misrepresentation (i.e., misrepresentation for the purpose of easy refutation) is EVIL and will be heavily penalized. The summary must contain absolutely no critical comments. (This restriction does not prevent you from expressing some uncertainty about what the author is saying, however.) The summary should be organized logically, not chronologically. Each paragraph in the summary will ordinarily present argument(s) the author makes in support of a particular position. This means that, depending on the organization of the article itself, a single paragraph from the summary may contain statements that are made in very different places in the article. The summary itself should be organized in a way that makes the author’s views make sense. Under no conditions are you to simply relate what the author says the way that s/he says them. A summary that goes something like: “The author begins by discussing…..Then s/he goes on to say……then, etc.,” while not evil, is VERY BAD. CritiqueIn this section you will present an argument that in some sense evaluates what you summarized in the previous section. Your critique should be organized in a way that reflects the structure of your summary. This is easy to do since you have selected for summary only those aspects of the article about which you have something to say. Be sure your critique obeys the rules laid out in the Writing Style section above. Here are three different approaches to doing a critique (select only one method to write your analysis).1. Define your project in terms of arguments and views that you find problematic. In your critique show how the author’s conclusion does not follow, either because(i) the author’s reasons are false, or (ii) the author’s reasoning is mistaken, or (iii) the author has failed to make other important considerations that tend to undermine the conclusion.2. Define your project in terms of arguments and views that you basically agree with. In your critique, consider ways in which the author’s views might reasonably be criticized. Then attempt to strengthen the author’s position by showing how these criticisms can actually be met. If you use this technique, be sure you don’t consider criticisms that the author actually does respond to in the context of the article (unless, of course, you think that the author has failed to answer the objections effectively).3. Define your project in terms of arguments and views that you find interesting, but which you are currently disinclined to either fully accept of fully reject. Carefully articulate the strongest considerations in favor of the view and the strongest considerations against the views. Then carefully explain why you remain undecided and indicate precisely what sort of information or arguments would be required for you to be able to make up your mind. ConclusionIf your analysis is sufficiently complicated, it may help the reader to briefly recapitulate the steps you have taken in reaching your conclusions. The conclusion should be very short and it should contain no new information or claims. This restriction prevents you from making closing comments which are not sufficiently articulated in the body of the paper.

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modern-gaming-rogue · 7 years ago

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The Crash Course On Nevermore

This year with Unrivaled T.S. there are two games that they decided to sanction for a second year. One of these games I have a close relationship with. Last year I qualified for Las Vegas in two games. The one I chose was King of Tokyo, while the close second option was Nevermore. The only reason I chose King of Tokyo was because I had a better winning percentage, compared to Nevermore, but this year if I qualify for Nevermore again I will probably take it without second thought.

Your Foundation

Nevermore is a drafting style game based off of Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven. The game revolves around the raven itself, and asks the question how the raven came to be. You are in combat with your opponents, where the defeated don’t die but are turned into ravens themselves……Possibly forevermore.

Like most drafting games the goal is pass cards amongst your opponents so you have the best hand possible for completing one of these actions.

· Attacking: If you lose all 5 health you’ll become a raven.

· Healing: Explains itself

· Radiance: Allows you to collect light magic cards, which will give you advantages during the game.

· Victory Points: First to get 6 points wins.

· Ravens: We’ll get to that……That’ll require a space for itself.

The game ends when either all but one player is turned into a raven, or someone collects 6 victory points. I LOVE this game. The only downside is that the game can be a little complicated to explain. That’s why I thought this game was worthy of a crash course! I not only want people to get comfortable with this game, but I want to help them appreciate it as much as I do. Below you will find two links. One will give you a copy of the rules. The other is a video showing some sample play. For the sake of this game I am going to recommend that you start by taking a look over these. My plan is to talk less about how this game is played, and more about important routes to know for victory. Once you have a general idea come on back, and we’ll dig a little deeper.

Oh, Look Rules!

Dang! That Is Some Killer Gameplay.

Caught up? Think you got everything under control? Awesome! Let’s get started.

Let’s Talk Ravens….

I made you wait enough, and I wanted to get this straightened out first. The raven is one of the more interesting mechanics. It is one of those cards where it is the simplest way to backstab someone. On the other hand, if you give them too many, they could easily end your game. Let’s clarify how this works first.

1. Ravens cancel out cards in your hand one-to-one. Ravens cannot cancel out other ravens.

2. In the event you’ve canceled out all of your cards, and you still have ravens left over, you get shadow magic cards equal to the number of leftover ravens. These are known as skulking ravens. Shadow magic cards are more powerful than light magic, and will give the player a major advantage.

3. If you get 5 Ravens you trigger a conspiracy. The round will immediately end, everyone else will take one damage, you’ll get one victory point, and one shadow magic card.

Ravens can be a weapon for your use against opponents, and equally to aid you in your ventures. One question I had when starting was when to push for a conspiracy. Everyone has their own opinion for this one, but I personally don’t consider it unless my starting hand for the round has at least 3 ravens. If so I’ll pass 3, and keep the ravens. If my updated hand continues to increase the number of ravens THEN I would invest in a conspiracy. This route works well for many reasons. If you are primed for conspiracy one of two things will happen. Hopefully a conspiracy will happen, but if it fails then you’ll at least get a few shadow magic cards out of it.

Your Primary Route

It’s safe to say you know the best strategy, but probably haven’t thought about it. Your clearest route to victory is collect victory points. The reason why I say this is because of a few key reasons. For starters, think about this. How many ways can you turn people into ravens? Perhaps four in total. To be specific attack cards, some light/shadow magic cards, and the conspiracy. Compare this to points. Every route in the game has potential to give you points. Victory point cards, some light/shadow magic cards, the combo for healing, the combo for radiance, the conspiracy, AND EVEN THE ATTACK COMBO GIVES YOU VICTORY POINTS!! The other thing about taking the points route is that the closer you get to victory the less your opponents can safely pass you without sealing their own fate. This isn’t your only route to victory, but it would definitely be the route I would consider first. From here you get to the next important element You need to be focused on.

The Magical Way To Close Out The Game

Hehehe….see what I did there? Magical?

*sigh* it’s the magic cards ok? Not only do they allow you to hold off someone else from winning, but a lot of them will set you up for victory. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen a game that ended thanks to the properly timed magic card. Here’s a quick example. One of the games I was doing well, but they were breathing down my neck. I had two health left, but only needed one more point to win. I received my starting hand for the round, and was in shock to see pure perfection (for me at least). 3 victory cards, and 2 attacks. If this were my ending hand the game would be over. Thankfully I had one card that allowed us to skip the drafting phase. I played it, victory points were the second category called for, and I walked away with a win.

There are tons of stories like this I’ve seen, or experienced, that solidify the idea to not take magic cards lightly. SPEAKING OF WHICH! Let’s take a quote from Magic The Gathering, and state the most important thing when it comes to light and shadow magic.

READING THE CARD EXPLAINS THE CARD!!!!

I feel like the game is normally decided by the magic cards played. Whether it be by them played properly, or them being misplayed at the most inconvenient time. So, remember! Double check your cards before playing them. It could be the difference between victory, or giftwrapping your defeat. I do have one more thing to cover before I send you off.

When You Become A Raven

As you’re pushing to get victory points you’ll eventually get attacked, and if you are not careful you’ll lose all of your health. The beautiful thing about this game is if you run out of health you aren’t really out. You instead become a raven. The good news is this means you still have a chance to win! The bad news is that it just became a lot harder. The root of the problem with being a raven is that you have to be human to win. Because of this your first order of business should be to get back to being a human. You have 3 options.

1. Some magic cards allow you to become a human again IF you can fulfill a special condition.

2. You get a straight. By this I mean your resolution hand contains one of each of the types of cards (one attack, one heal, one radiance, one victory point, and one raven).

3. You get 5 of a kind in any category.

Pull this off, and you’ll regain your humanity. The other way of winning is extremely hard. This one is hard to explain, so bear with me. You can win if you’re the last human standing. That means if you’re turning players, and get it down to one last human, then the human would win. That means the only way to win as a raven is to not only turn all players into a raven, but you have to turn the last two AT THE SAME TIME!!!

As you can obviously see you’re almost better off not becoming a raven at all, but since there is always the chance it could happen it’s important to know your outs.

That’s all I’m going to go over today. If you want me to talk about some other elements, or provide feedback, please don’t hesitate to share. I’ll see you next week when I continue the crash course by discussing one of the new sanctioned games for Unrivaled T.S. Until then, Happy Gaming!

PsicoMaestro

#unrivaled #unrivaled 2018 #gaming #gamer #game #games #boardgames #tournament #crash course

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personalcoachingcenter · 5 years ago

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How great Industrial leaders inspire action

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How great Industrial leaders inspire action

He could have said, “That’s an amazing discovery, guys, and I will improve upon your technology,” but he didn’t. He wasn’t first, he didn’t get rich, he didn’t get famous, so he quit.

They were extremely well-funded. Market conditions were fantastic. I mean, we use TiVo as verb. I TiVo stuff on my piece-of-junk Time Warner DVR all the time. But TiVo’s a commercial failure.

But he had a gift. He didn’t go around telling people what needed to change in America. He went around and told people what he believed. “I believe, I believe, I believe,” he told people.

We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And it’s those who start with “why” that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.

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