Jeff Bezos on exploration

"I think it’s probably a survival skill that we’re curious and like to explore. Our ancestors, who were incurious and failed to explore, probably didn’t live as long as the ones who were looking over the next mountain range to see if there were more sources of food and better climates and so on and so on.

We are really evolved to be pioneers. For good reason. New worlds have a way of — you can’t predict how or why or when — but new worlds have a way of saving old worlds. That’s how it should be. We need the frontier. We need the people moving out into space."

Full interview.
 

SR-71 Blackbird

“This new aircraft was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Johnson recalled. He committed Skunk Works to succeed in its toughest assignment to date: to have the innovative, challenging, envelope-bursting aircraft flying in a mere twenty months.”

Can do cultures

 Ben Horowitz writes a nice piece on the different approaches to can do vs. can't do cultures. 

http://bhorowitz.com/2014/01/02/can-do-vs-cant-do-cultures/

2013 in articles

Someone once told me at a young age, "you are the compilation of the books you read, movies you watch, and people you surround yourself with". 2013 was a year of surrounding myself with some of the most talented designers, engineers, producers, and other team members at Airbnb. They inspired me, challenged me, and helped me grow. My only wish is I provided the same challenges to them in return. 

We also read a lot, sharing articles and discoveries back and forth. Here are some of those pieces.

The Inferno of Independence Frank Chimero

Mr. Chemex: The Eccentric Inventor Who Reimagined the Perfect Cup of Coffee Collectors Weekly

Fail Safe: Debbie Millman’s Advice on Courage and the Creative Life Brain Pickings

What Data Can't Do NY Times

Redefining Ownership NPR

Golden Age of UI Wired

Why Leaders Eat Last Simon Sinek

The School for Poetic Computation NY Times

Everything you Need to Know About Startups Commonwealth Club

Design for Offline A List Apart

Impersonating the Machine Book Two

Are You Sure? Radio Lab

Diabo Dreams of Coffee Roads & Kingdoms

The Complete Guide to Setting Goals Quartz

This is how a Helsingin Sanomat journalist tried to save Nokia Helsingin Sanomat

Growthism Harvard Business Review

As a Man Thinketh Growth.co

Nelly Ben Heyoun Protein

Let There be an iPhone NY Times

Cheap Razor Made after P&G Watches Indians Shave AP

How to be More LIke Uber & Airbnb Forbes 

Creating the Best Workplace on Earth Harvard Business Review 

64-year-old woman swims from Cuba to Florida without shark AP

The Dribbblisation of Design Intercom

Chinese Web Design Patterns CX Partners

Tim Cook Interview BloombergBusinessWeek

Belonging Today Institute for Public Knowledge

Starbucks Goes Local BrandChannel

How Not to Stay on Top NY Times

If Steve Ballmer ran Apple Stratechery

On Owning It Seth Godin

5 Startup Hiring Mistakes That Can Crush Your Culture On Startups

Secret Ingredient for Success NY Times

JFK on the arts

“…I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist ….But democratic society--in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. And the nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost's hired man, the fate of having "nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope”….I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens… "

From http://arts.gov/about/kennedy