Category: Sharing Thoughts
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Building Luna: Part 1 – A Machine Learning (Through) Experience
Photo by Guzmán Barquín on Unsplash Readers following the Building Aria series probably expected Part 6 last weekend. I did too… until I made myself stop. Not from burnout or technical failure, but from a deeper question: what would actually be worth building next? So I imposed a two-week pause. No new features, no late-night…
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The Cost of Ownership
Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash Author’s Note This piece may come across sharper than most. Perhaps that’s intentional—but the intent is not unkind. The goal here is not to condemn managers, critique peers, or cast blame on systems that evolved in the absence of reflection. Rather, it’s to illuminate a pattern that often remains invisible until it’s…
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Inside the Lines, Outside the Truth
Photo by Joyce Romero on Unsplash Author’s Note The opening story in this piece is fictional—but it’s not invented. It draws from publicly available reporting, court documents, and personal accounts related to the Purdue Pharma case and the wider opioid crisis. The names, moments, and characters have been fictionalized, but the architecture of the story—how…
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Beyond Shareholder Value
Photo by Alexey Marchenko on Unsplash Re‑centering Fiduciary Duty on People, Planet, and Sustainable Profit Quick take: Companies that view fiduciary duty only through a shareholder‑value lens are leaving growth, trust, and resilience on the table. When leaders widen the aperture to include employees, customers, communities, and the environment, they unlock durable advantage and deliver…
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Modular Minds: How Technical Thinking Makes Stronger Organizations
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash Author’s Note Over the past few weeks we’ve talked about the dollars saved by building in‑house—how skipping a custom web‑app quote, avoiding a six‑figure SaaS renewal, or shipping a Power BI fix in days instead of weeks pays real, measurable dividends. We’ve also discussed the value of recognizing the people doing…
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Clearing the Rubble: The Pre-Work of Real Culture
Dawn spills across the studio’s worn floorboards, dust motes drifting like slow sparks in the angled light. At the easel stands a painter—sleeves rolled, palette forgotten—taking stock of a canvas already heavy with other beginnings. Cracked pigments buckle in ridges; clots of color sit where inspiration once outran intention. He raises a palette knife and,…
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The Unmaintainable Future—Or Not
We’ve been automating labor for millennia—but only now can we skip understanding completely. Millwrights in ancient Persia and medieval Europe captured the steady push of wind and water to grind grain and saw lumber—turning the brute labor of entire villages into the quiet arc of a wheel. Coal and steam amplified that leverage; the Industrial…
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On Leadership: Earning Respect, Exercising Authority
Author’s Note There’s a moment in the film Annapolis that has stayed with me, long after the rest of the story faded. During a training exercise, a Marine instructor brings out a body bag, lays it before the cadets, and orders one of them inside. As the young woman struggles to stay calm, the instructor…
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Conscience Capital: Values‑Based Spending
In June 2010, Tesla rang the Nasdaq bell as the scrappy EV start-up that dared to make emerald-green feel lightning-fast. A $17 IPO share would one day crest above $400, propelled by a narrative that fused Silicon Valley bravado with moral aspiration: buy horsepower, help the planet. That promise paid—until it didn’t. On April 2,…
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Defunding the Future: How Federal Cuts to Science and Medicine May Cost Us More Than We Save
The Hidden Cost of Budget Cuts Recent federal funding cuts are sending shockwaves through the scientific, medical, and agricultural industries. Framed by some policymakers as a necessary move to reduce government spending, these reductions threaten to create a cascade of long-term consequences that far exceed any short-term savings. With the National Institutes of Health (NIH)…
Abstract Foundations 