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Alex Magnin

180 Quotes
Partner @ The Thought & Expression Co.
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180 quotes curated by Alex Magnin:

“No man lives in the external truth, among salts and acids; but in the warm, phantasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the painted windows and the storied walls.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
“It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits; it is evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician scientific proofs.”
— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Tagged: Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle, Approaches from Expectations, A Reasonable Approach, kindness
“How to allocate an amount evenly across months based on a start - end date. First, calculate amount per day, then: =$AC3*((MAX(O$2-$J3,0)-MAX(EOMONTH(O$2,-1)-$J3,0))-(MAX(O$2-$K3,0)-MAX(EOMONTH(O$2,-1)-$K3,0))+(EOMONTH(O$2,0)=EOMONTH($J3,0)))”
— Alex Magnin, How to allocate an amount evenly across months based on a start- end date.
Tagged: Excel
“Every boat is copied from another boat... Let’s reason as follows in the manner of Darwin. It is clear that a very badly made boat will end up at the bottom after one or two voyages, and thus never be copied... One could then say, with complete rigor, that it is the sea herself who fashions the boats, choosing those which function and destroying the others.”
— Alain Emile Chartier
Tagged: Startups, Copying Well, Evolution, Darwin
“Building a culture of high standards is well worth the effort, and there are many benefits. Naturally and most obviously, you’re going to build better products and services for customers – this would be reason enough!
Perhaps a little less obvious: people are drawn to high standards – they help with recruiting and retention. More subtle: a culture of high standards is protective of all the “invisible” but crucial work that goes on in every company. I’m talking about the work that no one sees. The work that gets done when no one is watching. In a
high standards culture, doing that work well is its own reward – it’s part of what it means to be a professional.
And finally, high standards are fun! Once you’ve tasted high standards, there’s no going back.”
— Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos FY2017 Letter to Shareholders
Tagged: bezos, Business, Standards, Operations
“We don’t do PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations at Amazon. Instead, we write narratively structured six-page memos. We silently read one at the beginning of each meeting in a kind of “study hall.””
— Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos FY2017 Letter to Shareholders
Tagged: bezos, Business, Standards, Operations
““Most people,” he said, “think that if they work hard, they should be
able to master a handstand in about two weeks. The reality is that it takes about six months of daily practice. If you think you should be able to do it in two weeks, you’re just going to end up quitting.” Unrealistic beliefs on scope – often hidden and undiscussed – kill high standards.”
— Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos FY2017 Letter to Shareholders
Tagged: bezos, Business, Standards, Operations
“What do you need to achieve high standards in a particular domain area? First, you have to be able to recognize what good looks like in that domain. Second, you must have realistic expectations for how hard it should be (how much work it will take) to achieve that result – the scope.”
— Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos FY2017 Letter to Shareholders
Tagged: bezos, Business, Standards, Operations
“Another important question is whether high standards are universal or domain specific. In other words, if you have high standards in one area, do you automatically have high standards elsewhere? I believe high standards are domain specific, and that you have to learn high standards separately in every arena of interest...
Understanding this point is important because it keeps you humble. You can consider yourself a person of high standards in general and still have debilitating blind spots.”
— Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos FY2017 Letter to Shareholders
Tagged: bezos, Business, Standards, Operations
“[H]igh standards are teachable. In fact, people are pretty good at learning high standards simply through
exposure. High standards are contagious. Bring a new person onto a high standards team, and they’ll quickly
adapt. The opposite is also true. If low standards prevail, those too will quickly spread.”
— Jeff Bezos, Jeff Bezos FY2017 Letter to Shareholders
Tagged: bezos, Business, Standards, Operations