#consulting different versions and thinking “had i read that first id never ever feel this certain way about any later version at all”

[fwmy]

/_ ^ and the gang!!! (<- hes so smol)

the clan is highly likely to keep members who have been serving since previous generations meaning those peeps may have very well known seiji, played around with him, and witnessed his growth since he was a teenager. they feel comfortable enough to even joke about their boss being a goofy ass and slipping out to buy snacks. when another scolds them for that, it doesnt even seem to be about being disrespectful to seiji but rather the untimely joke.

(and actually. what if he really did something of equal scale in the past to make them bring up the possibility of a next time. what if they really KNOW his shenanigans)

PLEASE I need more of this clan's interactions.............. outwardly they are a very closed off circle with limited personnel whom seiji can trusted enough to stay by his side but they can also be just a group of besties who do sleepover and girls talk giggling and shits behind the doors 😞😞 i mean instead of being secretive and "nuh uh none of your business now focus on the job" like an usual boss look at how seiji goes "its real cool what ive seen but imma spill the tea later kk"

they are not the peers he need but the funny uncles presence who give him the support typical of senior figures, and sometimes they chime in with his mischief to spite the pretty boy next door with whom he got some suspicious beef

is it too much to at least imagine some people who see and know him before, or more than the role and power of the clan leader he is. yet also consider: miharu arc revolves around a clan leader's attachment to his clan - or put differently - undetachable relationship with his clan...............

[imdoingthismspaintadventure]

In which I nerd out about PS and portal windows.

THE GREEN TEXT WAS ATTRACTIVE. NOW VIEW THE RED TEXT AGAIN.

Oh god we’re going back to TG again.

John is 1000% done with all these huge logs.

TG: when the film crew zooms where the presidents at TG: im like if that dudes black ill eat my hat TG: turns out he is, so we're all "damn, director's got gumption" TG: like we'll all flip our shit he aint shining shoes or somethin TG: its called freemancipation. if its not pres-election its god-ascension TG: in bruce almighty. whoops, different bruce from the one i just mentioned EB: aaaaaarrrgh!

Oh my fucking god TG was still going on and on with his reality-shattering godraps. That is amazing.

He is creating the perfect pop culture amalgam in there, too! I said it before but TG, you are a treasure.

TG: cant explain to me why this aint condescension to think ill shit a brick TG: not even he can convey the intention with his quickspun wit TG: rather defray all this tension, sit on his lap while he whittles a splint TG: and some guy eyes what he does and patronizes: i guess negrocity's the mother of invention

I’m having an astral journey reading this.

TG, what in the actual fuck are you talking about??

You are the god of rambling I swear

EB: stop rapping for a second you horse's ass! EB: i have something important to talk about. TG: whats up EB: rose is in trouble and she needs help. i was going to connect to her with sburb but i lost my copy! TG: ok

Horse’s ass is a good insult.

Yeah I guess TG now has to bail her out after the car fuckup

EB: also she lost battery power. if she can get back up and running, she'll need someone with the game to get her out of there before her house burns down. EB: so i think you should use your copy of the game to help her! TG: my copy? TG: thats going to be tough

Oh no what will the shenanigans be this time.

EB: why? TG: i lost it TG: its a stupid story and id rather not talk about it TG: shit be embarrassing yo

Oh fucking hell.

Why are all the copies of this game getting lost so easily??? Take care of your videogames!!

What did you do to lose it, now I’m scared of whatever bullshit sequence of events transpired

EB: i thought you said you had two? TG: well yeah TG: one is my brothers copy EB: ok, well get his then! TG: alright TG: but hes not gonna be happy about that

Is this going to be like a Dad situation where there is an interactive boss? That was really great so I hope it is!

EB: whatever. EB: also you might want to read rose's walkthrough to get up to speed on this. TG: oh man EB: what? TG: nothing really TG: look all im saying is the girl tends to lay it on kinda thick you know? EB: /ROLLS EYES

Embrace the purple prose TG! Let it envelop you in its glorious overwritten radiance!

Ooh we’re back with the purple lady herself!

She needs to find an alternative energy source asap, to help John and be able to stay communicated, before she burns to death!

Your LAPTOP is out of BATTERY POWER. There's only one thing left to do. Time to make your way to that BACKUP GENERATOR.

Yup, figured it would end up being relevant.

Rose: Knit laptop cozy to shield your laptop from the rain.

...really?

Time managment is not really your strong point it seems.

Oh you already had one made!!

The heart octopus is just the best.

I remember her inventory system to be an unholy nightmare.

That would be such a waste of time! Besides, you already knitted one a while ago. You retrieve it from your KNITTING BAG and apply it to your LAPTOP. You captchalogue the LAPTOP PLUS COZY.

Cozy laptop is cozy!

Rose: Equip grimoire to strife specibus.

Ooh.

That could either result in getting arcane eldritch powers that man was not meant to know... or just a book to bludgeon people to death with.

Both seem worth it.

NOPE

I change my mind this just screams death.

That would be incredibly ill-advised! There are some dark forces you just don't want to mess around with. You understand this better than most. You put the book down.

I like the fact that Rose has an object with such dark and terrible powers even the inventory system  and the narrator are advising us to put it as far away as possible from anything resembling a weapon slot.

Was I correct in the eldritch powers thing??

Rose: Recaptchalogue your items!

Oh hello again you terrible, terrible captchalogue system.

You grab the KNITTING BAG and the GRIMOIRE, in that order. It's always a logistical puzzle with your TREE MODUS. The tree AUTO-BALANCES, leaving the KNITTING BAG accesible in the ROOT CARD.

Imagine having one of this in a real videogame.

Seems the kind of move Yoko Taro would do.

................That rithym minigame

Rose: Allocate knitting needles to strife specibus.

Eesh, that seems like a very nasty weapon by necessity.

You feel a lot more comfortable with this as a weapon. You're so handy with those needles, you feel like you could probably use them to filet a sword fish.

Damn, Rose could be fucking deadly with those.

Say goodbye to all the tender spots of flesh in your body.

John has it lucky with his captchalogue thing.

You lose the ROOT CARD in the process, severing the tree. Hey, careful with all that stuff!

Yeah let’s not break the laptop. Or the Necronomicon, Or both.

Rose: Knit plush cuddle-cthulhu to soothe nerves.

Greatest idea so far.

...it’s the actual necronomicon isn’t it.

That would also be a preposterous waste of time!!! Besides, you're quite sure you've never heard of this creature called "Cthulhu" before. There are however many other specimens of the ZOOLOGICALLY DUBIOUS you're familiar with. Such as...

Or this universe’s version of it at least.

Rose: Consult the grimoire.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S FLUTHLU!! WITH A BUNCH OF HORRIFYING BEASTS AROUND IT.

IN THE IMAGINARY CITY STREETS

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN, LAST TIME I SAW YOU, YOU GOT STABBED BY A VERY CHARISMATIC DETECTIVE AND BEHEADED BY A WINDOW PORTAL.

IN CASE YOU COULDN’T TELL, I REALLY APPRECIATE THE REFERENCE.

FLUTHLU, FOUL PATRICIAN OF MISERY. To hear his mammoth belly gurgle is to know the Epoch of Joy has come to an abrupt end

:D

Oh god, we get to see even greater elder gods now!!

Nrub’yiglith.... is that a reference to Shrub-Niggurath? Seems the most likely one to me.

And NRUB'YIGLITH, SHAMEBEAST KING OF GROTESQUERY, WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD. Hearing his melodious chirps and tongue-clicks causes one's bones to explode.

WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD!!

These descriptions are fucking amazing.

Oglogoth....Ok, this is definitely Azathoth, the daemon sultan.

Nice!

And of course there's OGLOGOTH, THE DEEP ONE. Whenever he grinds his teeth, all the children of a random galaxy somewhere will frown continuously for a nine thousand year span.

These fucking descriptions.... Holy shit give me 500 of these.

He is the first and smallest of the SMALLER GODS, appointed in servitude of a vile, unfathomable pantheon of MIDDLING GODS which caters to the whims of the NOBLE CIRCLE OF HORRORTERRORS, an omniscient, omnipotent order of the elite few, forever cloaked in the darkness of the FURTHEST RING.

What the fuck???

So in the homestuck universe, Azathoth is just a scrub! There are a whole three tiers above him in power!

The noble circle of horrorterrors, cloaked in the darkness of the furthest ring...

Someone should make a story with all this lore, or use it in a DnD campaign. Some of this is legitimately really good.

OH MY GOD

THE WINDOW PORTALS. THEY ARE OUTLINED HERE AS WELL.

And then there's this strange page containing some rather mysterious notes on summoning procedures. You've never been quite sure what these diagrams are getting at.

.....of course they are the summoning rituals!!

They lead to the imaginary city and if you cut their power while you are outside an eldritch being appears!!

Flutulhu was summoned after a city-wide blackout, so I wonder what would be needed for oglogoth... I was going to say a planet-wide blackout, but the imaginary city is.....all that exists over there, alongside the four realms and the cathedral/brothel/sun and moon/GPI, and all the other cosmology.

Maybe if you were outside a window during the last supermassive black hole?? That is probably the most pitch black you could ever get while in the imaginary world....

[coin-river-blog]

The Indian crypto community is undeterred by the widespread rumor that its government is discussing a bill which could ban some cryptocurrencies. Local crypto exchanges have revealed to news.Bitcoin.com that their trading volumes have been increasing despite this report. Meanwhile, experts have weighed in on this possible bill, and another crypto exchange may be shutting down due to the banking restriction by the central bank.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Postpones Crypto Case at Government’s Request

Unwavering Growth

The media recently reported that the Indian government has kicked off an interministerial discussion on a bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019.” The news spread like wildfire as many media outlets covered the story; some are calling it FUD while others are treating it as a fact.

Indian crypto traders seem undeterred by this news. The CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, shared with news.Bitcoin.com:

The report did not really affect volumes at all … Unless we hear something concrete from our finance department I don’t think it’s going to affect existing traders.

The CEO added that his exchange “saw the highest trading volume in April where we crossed over $11M in trading.” Noting that “We have seen such similar news come out in October 2018,” he emphasized that “Basically no more FUD is being created by such media news. Everyone is waiting for concrete info to come from the government.”

Another local crypto exchange shares a similar sentiment. Instashift’s Jacob Mani told news.Bitcoin.com that “The reports about the ban haven’t deterred anyone.” He elaborated, “Since Koinex had been on maintenance for a few days we have been seeing more volumes,” confirming:

The activities keep on increasing day by day.

Dismissing the Ban Rumor

Varun Sethi, founder of Blockchain Lawyer, shared some thoughts on the “Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill” with news.Bitcoin.com. He commented:

My preliminary thoughts are that the bill is too far from reaching discussion at the upper or lower house of Parliament in India. The media seems to be cooking up news.

This is not the first time reports of a ban have been blown out of proportion, but the government has yet to offer any sort of confirmation. In December last year, anonymous sources told CNBC TV18 that “The panel has suggested that a new legal framework within the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines should be brought in to ban cryptocurrencies and the law should clearly specify that any kind of dealing in such currencies should be treated as illegal.”

A few weeks later, a different media outlet quoted an unnamed government official as saying: “There is a general consensus that cryptocurrency cannot be dismissed as completely illegal. It needs to be legalized with strong riders. Deliberations are on. We will have more clarity soon.”

Ajeet Khurana, CEO of crypto exchange Zebpay, shared his thoughts on the matter with Micky news outlet Wednesday. “I have talked to all of the top stakeholders in the Ministry of Finance, the central bank, the securities regulator and despite them having a certain amount misgiving around crypto I have never heard them talk of banning it,” he described, elaborating:

So it’s very interesting that the people who could ban it have never said they will ban it.

Crypto Asset Regulators in India

An interministerial committee headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, is responsible for drafting the country’s crypto regulation. The committee includes representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the RBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

However, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a directory of crypto asset regulators for all of its member countries last month, listing the RBI as the only regulator for crypto assets in India. The FSB is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. Currently, the “RBI does not have a legal mandate to directly regulate crypto-assets,” the board explained. “RBI’s current mandate permits it to assess financial institutions’ exposure to crypto-assets and supervise their operations.”

Within its mandate, the RBI issued the infamous circular in April last year prohibiting regulated financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses. The restriction went into effect in July.

However, the central bank never did any research before issuing this circular as evident in its reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by Sethi soon after the circular was issued. The lawyer asked the central bank what research it had done before issuing this restriction. “The RBI specifically mentions that it conducted no research or consultation before the implementation of [the] restriction in April. The RBI also responded that no committee was ever formed for analyzing the concept of blockchain before the decision,” the Economic Times quoted Sethi as saying.

Victims of RBI’s Action

The banking restriction has crippled many crypto businesses, particularly exchanges which had to stop allowing their users to deposit and withdraw INR from bank accounts. Coinome, an Indian crypto exchange backed by online payment gateway Billdesk, may have become the latest exchange to fall victim to the lack of regulation. “All crypto markets on Coinome will be suspended, effective 2pm on May 15th, 2019. Customers are requested to withdraw all their crypto assets from Coinome at the earliest,” the exchange announced Thursday.

Coinome also sent an email to its customers explaining the situation, which Quartz claims to have seen. According to the news outlet, the email notes that “the supreme court is yet to act upon the public interest litigation (PIL) on (the) regulation of cryptoassets,” adding:

India is currently going through uncertainty on crypto guidelines and regulations. The government of India has not yet taken a decision on the regulatory framework for crypto exchanges or wallets.

Zebpay, formerly one of the largest crypto exchanges in India, was the first major exchange to shut down its trading operations in the country due to the banking restriction. After exiting India in September last year, the exchange expanded abroad, with the most recent launch being in Australia. A smaller crypto exchange, Coindelta, announced its shutdown in March after the supreme court decided to postpone hearing the crypto case to July.

Moreover, the Economic Times reported last month that another major crypto exchange in India, Unocoin, had laid off most of its staff. The exchange scaled down its team from over 100 people in February to just 14 employees. “We did ask people to leave last week, but our operations will continue for the foreseeable future. We have some amount of reserves to push through for the next couple of months and will wait for the supreme court’s verdict,” CEO Sathvik Vishwanath told the publication. Unocoin also tried launching a cash kiosk in October last year in an effort to allow its users access to INR after the banking restriction took effect. However, it ran into trouble with law enforcement which led to the arrest of two of its founders including Vishwanath.

Indian Crypto Regulation on the Horizon

India’s legal framework for cryptocurrencies was supposed to be ready in July last year but has continually been postponed. The Garg committee has received many suggestions for the regulation. “Various options for treating virtual currencies and crypto assets including banning/regulating are being examined by the committee,” the Ministry of Finance wrote in its summary report of the Indian government’s 2018 activities published in March. No further official announcement has been made regarding crypto regulation.

Further, the Indian government will also be participating in the G20 summit in June where crypto regulations and global standards for crypto assets will be discussed among the G20 countries and global standard-setting organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). India’s Department of Revenue has been working with the FATF to establish global crypto standards, the Ministry of Finance has previously revealed.

For now, Indian crypto businesses and enthusiasts are waiting for the supreme court, which will resume hearing the crypto case on July 23. The court is expected to hear about the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies from the government as well as address the banking restriction by the central bank. In the meantime, several existing laws in India could already apply to crypto assets.

What do you think of this ban rumor and how Indian traders dismissed it? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Tags in this story

ban, Bitcoin, blockchain lawyer, BTC, crypto, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Digital Currency, FUD, India, Indian, instashift, Nischal Shetty, RBI, Regulation, rti, rumor, Traders, trading, varun sethi, Virtual Currency, Wazirx

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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[emmajenna]

Divorce Can Make Good People Bad

Why is it that people who seemed to be fairly rational before divorce turn into complete paranoid, hyper-defensive maniacs once the separation and divorce process begins? Couples who promised to do this divorce thing respectfully suddenly turn into ferocious warriors, letting their mean-and-petty streak show through, especially when they get into the pit with their attorney.

Sure, some people are just jerks, but what makes otherwise good people behave so poorly? It turns out this “crazy” behavior is fairly predictable and normal in such circumstances. That’s not an excuse for it, but when you better understand what’s pushing your buttons so badly, you can finally begin to make healthier choices and address the feelings of overwhelm that are triggering such unseemly (read: king of the jerks) behavior.

Here are the panic-button pushing reasons that divorce makes us act so out of character:

Disappointment Over Unmet Expectations

When you said “I do” you did so with expectations about what marriage is all about. But maybe you never fully shared those expectations with the person you actually said your vows to. Many times we don’t articulate our expectations specifically because we assume everyone just knows this is how marriage is supposed to be. But, “everyone” may only be your family and the way they did things, or your closest friends with whom you have discussed this over and over. It never included your now soon-to-be-ex-spouse who (don’t forget) came into marriage with some unspoken expectations of their own. When our deeply held expectations (like “marriage is forever, no matter what”) are unmet, we often feel betrayed, making it easy to feel indignant and cast our ex as the enemy. We believe they let us down. But, if we’re honest, were they ever fully on page with us to begin with?

The big challenge of marriage is putting both partner’s expectations on the table and then working together to create a mutually agreed upon vision for how your marriage will actually work.

Fear of Change

During periods of immense and drastic change (such as divorce), your mild-mannered brain goes into survival mode, ready at a moment’s notice to fight or retreat, thanks to that reptilian brain you inherited from your ancient ancestors.

Whether is it your fear of losing status (social, financial, etc.), a sense of uncertainty about the future, a worry that you don’t belong anymore in your social circle, or just a feeling like this whole situation is so unfair—the problem-solving part of your brain can’t do its job until your panicked reptilian brain calms down.

Uncertainty and fear about how things will turn out take a steep toll on you mentally and physically. Stress from staying in an “I’m in danger” primal mindset can short-circuit your patience, your willingness to listen, and your ability to communicate effectively. Your health is also likely to take a dive as well, making you prone to sleep deprivation and low stamina at a time when you are taking on mountains of critically important paperwork, decisions, and details as part of the divorce. So, even if you want to make good choices, the stress response of facing so much uncertainty and change at once is sure to cause you at least some temporary loss of rational thought and behavior.

Feeling Powerless and Out of Control

In normal life, you are used to being competent and in charge, but now you are thrust into the unfamiliar, unsure of how to get things done right in the divorce process (and in the new life waiting after it). You are being forced to make important decisions immediately. You have to hire a high-priced expert to navigate you through the legal aspects. And hiring a lawyer kicks off what could be seen by the other as an attack; you have drawn up sides and are now ready for war.

Communication is out the window when you feel powerless and unable to fully control things that profoundly affect your life. You have to trust your attorney (who was likely a complete stranger to you before this situation) to lead the charge and make decisions that will affect your future (and your childrens’ future) for years to come. It all costs a fortune. Is it any wonder each side feels like they are being screwed?

A Sense of Entitlement

Splitting apart all of the property (and associated memories) the two of you acquired through your sweat, equity, and hard-earned money can feel like a spiteful business transaction. Each of you has a sense of ownership and “it wouldn’t have happened without my efforts” point of view. Your decisions right now are dominated by your emotions, not your logical problem-solving self.

If you have kids, there is likely an overwhelming sense of guilt and worry that this divorce experience might be damaging them. They may even think it is their fault that mommy and daddy are splitting up. The kids end up as pawns in a fight over what you and your ex believe you each deserve or never deserved. Each of you are in it to “get yours” in the name of fairness. But the ego battle waging between you both in the pursuit of “emotional justice” ends up feeling more like scrambling down an endless tunnel with no cheese at the end.

So, what’s a stressed out person to do in order to keep divorce-induced jerky behavior in check?

Take back your dignity. Get in touch with who you are when you are at your best. Be clear about what is important to you and why, and how you want to remember yourself when this is over. Now, behave your way into that outcome.

Assemble a good team to support you in this transition from married to single. Identify where you need more information, different perspectives, and validation that will get you through this in a way that lifts you up (versus pulling you down). Pick people who can support you in being your best. Fight the urge to surround yourself with people who will urge you to seek revenge, act petty, or take your ex to the cleaners. When you look in the mirror, you want the best version of you reflecting back as you move into your new future.

Listen, listen, listen. Communicate, communicate, communicate—with your children, with your ex-spouse, and with the experts you are relying on to help you make the best decisions based on your needs, wants and values. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your role in how things are going. If you misstep and act like a jerk for a moment, own it, and then apologize and move on.

Remember your past successes. Take care of what is important to you, ask for help, and remember the times when you successfully dealt with challenging times in the past. What allowed you to be resilient then? How can that help you here and now? You’ve been through hard times before—you can handle this.

Dealing with a difficult ex certainly doesn’t make the divorce process any easier. But neither does being a difficult ex. So keep yourself in check. By understanding some of the hot buttons that you both are pushing in each other, then maybe you can pause, take a breath, drop the jerk behavior and make better choices.

Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer in Utah

If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at (801) 676-5506. We will fight for you.

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/divorce-can-make-good-people-bad/

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[clarencevancleave]

Real Estate and Skunk Works Departments

I’ve been working within the fast-paced, risk-loving, fail-fast worlds of four different real estate industry startups for the the last 10+ years. I founded them all but three were bootstrapped and one was VC-backed. And while two of them went nowhere and two others resulted in exits, in all four, there existed common themes and paradigms that allowed us to get a huge amount of work done with a tiny team and budget.

  That’s nothing super novel though – all startups benefit from this type of efficiency. It’s one of the things that makes big companies fear startups and that’s because efficiency and appetite for risk-taking invariably fades once companies get bigger and more successful because of the need to protect progress, shareholders and current employees. It also makes thing precarious for them.

  We all know the cautionary tales of Blockbuster, Kodak, travel agencies, Sony, Blackberry, Nokia, AOL, ect, ect, ect. These companies and thousands of others like them, were at one point, on top of the world with massive market share until some small team from a small company, shattered their universe.

  All of my startups and a majority of my consulting work has been in the real estate industry so when I read a (admittedly cheesy sounding but surprisingly cool) book called “Bold” by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, my thoughts immediately went to companies within the real estate industry and how my favorite principle in the book might apply to them: Self disruption and skunk works teams.

  The question is: “Can larger, established companies do anything to prevent themselves from one day being disrupted by some small team in a garage?” The answer is called self-disruption and the best way to get that done is with an internal skunk works department.

  The goal of a skunk works department is to operate like an autonomous internal-startup to rapidly develop and test products that have the potential to change the world in which you operate. As Diamandis says: “If you aren’t disrupting yourself, someone else is”. A company’s internal skunk works department should be working to build what comes next so that company can deliver it themselves, instead of being caught off guard by a future competitor.

  I’ve been a massive fan of this concept for years and all of those days and nights that my team and I were working on our disruptions, I was always wondering why our big, established competitors in the real estate space, didn’t have their own internal version of my team and I, working in the same type of environment, to beat us to the finish line.

  The first skunkworks department was launched by the visionary leaders of Lockheed in 1943 when the US Defense Department made a desperate request for America’s first ever fighter jet. Long story short, the XP-80 was designed, developed, tested and delivered 143 days later. They got it done, in an otherwise impossible timeframe, with a small, internal team that later became the world’s first internal moonshot division, aka “Skunk Works”. Companies like Google would later follow this roadmap to internal disruption with their Google X department, Amazon has Lab126, Nike has the Innovation Kitchen, Walmart has Walmart Labs, and even Nordstrom has one called Nordstrom Innovation Lab.

  How to go skunk:

  There is a very fine line between a real skunk works department that can help a business and one that looks good for PR reasons but will never have the ability to do anything meaningful. Skunk works departments that have historically done great things for their companies share these common traits:

  Small teams

If you want to get the results of a startup, you have to be like a startup – small and innovative. There is absolutely no room for bureaucracy or the loss of efficiency and diminishing returns that comes with the coordination of a big team.

  Massive Goals

You do not want your skunk works team working on some incremental change to your property search interface. The team must be think big – moonshot big – knowing full well that most of their ideas will not pan out. But the fact is that if the team keeps trying moonshots, they will eventually find success and it will be on a seriously large scale.

  Extreme Isolation

In “Bold”, the authors make a strong argument that true moonshot thinking within the a larger corporation must be done in complete isolation from the main company. Demandis says “Isolation stimulates risk taking, encourages weird and wild ideas, and acts as a counterforce to organizational inertia.” This key trait is shared by all successful skunk works departments and is completely necessary to realize the benefits enjoyed by disruptive startups. Steve Jobs did this when he formed his small, rogue “Macintosh Team”, in a separate building with a pirate flag proudly flying outside. They threw out everything they had done previously and built a personal computer from the ground up that shook the industry and even Apple itself. But that internal disruption allowed Apple to deliver their future. This simply would not have turned out the same way if the Mac Team was working inside the Apple campus, eating lunch together with other employees and contaminating the purity of a “pirate” department.

  Report to the Top

The manager of the skunk works team must be able to report to the CEO himself. This requirement comes from the founder of the first Skunk Works team; Lockheed’s Kelly Johnson. He knew that fresh ideas emanating from this pure and isolated team, must be delivered without any other bias or outside contamination. CEOs need to hear these reports directly.

  Build Incredibly Quickly

In order to do something meaningful, things must move at a breathtaking pace inside of one of these departments. Old adages like “fail fast”, “feedback loops”, and “no bad ideas” all apply but they must be amplified in this type of setting. Ideas should be pitched and selected for prototyping and then quickly built out so that they can be evaluated harshly and relentlessly – all by the internal team. Only ideas that that rise from the sea of failed concepts should make it out of your internal skunk works department. This is not a place to build polished, feature-rich masterpieces. This is a foundry of constant, rough creation of huge ideas, with the ever-present goal of getting to the evaluation stages.

  Extreme Autonomy

While we’ve already discussed physical isolation, it’s critical for the skunk works team to feel free to innovate in any direction that the process takes them – even if it’s a disruption that might affect the main company itself. With obvious practicalities like a budget and legalities, in mind, the skunk works team should enjoy the autonomy required to develop things that can change the world. No idea should be too big if there might be a market fit for it.

  Conclusion

Our industry has seen changes over the years and like any industry, will see more in the future. I personally haven’t seen much extreme innovation from established players and after researching more about skunk works departments and seeing how many large companies have them, I’m surprised that I’m unaware of any within the real estate industry. While all companies can benefit from “thinking like a startup”, nothing can come close to the benefit of actually running a “sky’s the limit” startup within your own corporation.

  Disruption and change is always coming – if it isn’t coming from within your company, it’s probably coming from a future competitor. Which one would you rather have?

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