Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character
I believe in the power of the amateur to do something professionals won’t or can’t do, or plainly, just haven’t done. I believe the novice can see things that the experts miss, and do things that the business-minded don’t properly value. I also believe that ordinary people can develop uncommon insights and act on them because they have not been tau
... See moreJon Alexander • Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us
I believe in the power of the amateur to do something professionals won’t or can’t do, or plainly, just haven’t done. I believe the novice can see things that the experts miss, and do things that the business-minded don’t properly value. I also believe that ordinary people can develop uncommon insights and act on them because they have not been tau
... See moreJon Alexander • Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us
We call people who don’t possess the right credentials ‘amateurs,’ but the root of that word is from the Latin for love, and that’s its own kind of qualification. Arguably, that deep care and passion – which the Citizens I see everywhere have in spades – is the vital ingredient missing among those who have been left in charge.
Jon Alexander • Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us
Here is where culture enters the picture. I mean“culture” in its anthropological rather than artisticsense. What values and practices can hold people to-gether as the institutions in which they live fragment? My generation suffered from a want of imagination inanswering this question, in advancing the virtues ofsmall-scale community. Co
... See moreRichard Sennett • The Culture of the New Capitalism
Emi added
For people with a professional outlook, it's hard to understand how something that isn't professionally produced could affect them.
Clay Shirky • Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
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Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Clay Shirky • 31 highlights
amazon.comFor those growing into adulthood during most of the twentieth century, therefore, the backdrop to life was the loss of faith in coherent systems of thought and morality. Sophisticated people knew they were supposed to rebel against authority, reject old certainties, and liberate themselves from hidebound customs and prejudices. Artists rebelled aga... See more
David Brooks • The Organization Kid
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