Nice. I encountered a similar crux the other week in a career advice chat when someone said “successful people find the skills with which they really excel and exploit that repeatedly to get compounding returns” to which I responded with “well, people aren’t the only things that can have compounding returns, organizations can also have compounding returns, so maybe I should keep helping organizations succeed to capture their compounding returns.”
On the flip side, the fact that EA has focused so much on community building and talent seems like a certain kind of communitarianism, putting the success of the whole above any individual.
Have not thought about compounding returns to orgs! I can think of some concrete examples with AIM ecosystem charities (e.g one org helping bring another into creation or creating a need for others to exist). Food for thought.
Curious how you see the communitarianism playing out in practice?
There’s definitely a cooperative side to things that makes it a lot easier to ask for help amongst EAs than the relevant professional groups someone might be a part of, but not sure I’m seeing obvious implications.
Nice. I encountered a similar crux the other week in a career advice chat when someone said “successful people find the skills with which they really excel and exploit that repeatedly to get compounding returns” to which I responded with “well, people aren’t the only things that can have compounding returns, organizations can also have compounding returns, so maybe I should keep helping organizations succeed to capture their compounding returns.”
On the flip side, the fact that EA has focused so much on community building and talent seems like a certain kind of communitarianism, putting the success of the whole above any individual.
Have not thought about compounding returns to orgs! I can think of some concrete examples with AIM ecosystem charities (e.g one org helping bring another into creation or creating a need for others to exist). Food for thought.
Curious how you see the communitarianism playing out in practice?
There’s definitely a cooperative side to things that makes it a lot easier to ask for help amongst EAs than the relevant professional groups someone might be a part of, but not sure I’m seeing obvious implications.
I’m only saying it’s in tension with the diagnosis as “emphasis on individual action, behavior & achievement over collective.”
I agree with all of your concrete discussion and think it’s important.