According to my experience, cool people put in an absolutely inordinate amount of research, time and effort in order to appear as if they don't even have to try.
The first rule of cool is don't care about cool. The second (for experts) is that you can care if you don't show it. The third is that you can read research about cool and yet not care (God level cool)
That said, I think coolness research can help uncool people fight uncool shit like this
well, you said "minimal", so not strictly empty right? ;)
"""
But Bezos was dissatisfied with that simplistic conclusion and applied his usual analytical sensibility to parse out why some companies were loved and others feared.
Rudeness is not cool.
Defeating tiny guys is not cool.
Close-following is not cool.
Young is cool.
Risk taking is cool.
Winning is cool.
Polite is cool.
Defeating bigger, unsympathetic guys is cool.
Inventing is cool.
Explorers are cool.
Conquerors are not cool.
Obsessing over competitors is not cool.
Empowering others is cool.
Capturing all the value only for the company is not cool.
Leadership is cool.
Conviction is cool.
Straightforwardness is cool.
Pandering to the crowd is not cool.
Hypocrisy is not cool.
Authenticity is cool.
Thinking big is cool.
The unexpected is cool.
Missionaries are cool.
Mercenaries are not cool.
On an attached spreadsheet, Bezos listed seventeen attributes, including polite, reliable, risk taking, and thinks big, and he ranked a dozen companies on each particular characteristic. His methodology was highly subjective, he conceded, but his conclusions, laid out at the end of the Amazon.love memo were aimed at increasing Amazon's odds of standing out among the loved companies. Being polite and reliable or customer-obsessed was not sufficient. Being perceived as inventive, as an explorer rather than a conqueror, was critically important. "I actually believe the four 'unloved' companies are inventive as a matter of substance. But they are not perceived as inventors and pioneers. It is not enough to be inventive-that pioneering spirit must also come across and be perceivable by the customer base," he wrote.
"I propose that one outcome from this offsite could be to assign a more thorough analysis of this topic to a thoughtful VP," Bezos concluded. "We may be able to find actionable tasks that will increase our odds of being a stand out in that first group of companies. Sounds worthy to me!"
"""
from B. Stone. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. Little, Brown & Co., 2013.
I would say that adventurous, open and autonomous are three qualities that make a person interesting, as opposed to boring. They likely have entertaining stories and an approach to life that repels dullness.
And extroversion, though it doesn't have much bearing on being interesting, makes it a little more likely that I'd encounter them and get to know the three other qualities.
I've found in my life cool people generally have something to offer, be it inspiration, insight, other otherwise, I feel like cool is often aspirational and differs depending on where someone is trying to go in life. It seems to me cool people have some unique degree of "Culturedness" - this lines up with the traits they found. If you are Extraverted, Hedonistic, Powerful, Adventurous, Open and Autonomous, you're likely ending up in situations and experiences that have a different venn from the other folks around you.
From the paper:
"Our method does not let us test the extent to which coolness was
valued or prevalent in a culture, but historical analysis suggests that
cool people were first recognized and admired in countercultural
niches, such as mid-20th century African American jazz clubs and
beatnik coffee shops that valued improvisation and creative
expression (Belk et al., 2010; Heath & Potter, 2004). The desire to be
cool spread as societies shifted their focus from industry to information, and coolness continues to play a larger role in cities (San
Francisco, New York, London, Tokyo, etc.) and industries (fashion,
entertainment, technology) where economic success depends on
creativity (Florida, 2012; C. Warren et al., 2019).
Stronger evidence that coolness is a status hierar"
https://archive.md/6KaOV
According to my own findings, there is minimal intersection between the group of cool people and the group of people who read coolness research.
According to my experience, cool people put in an absolutely inordinate amount of research, time and effort in order to appear as if they don't even have to try.
The first rule of cool is don't care about cool. The second (for experts) is that you can care if you don't show it. The third is that you can read research about cool and yet not care (God level cool)
That said, I think coolness research can help uncool people fight uncool shit like this
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44478115
well, you said "minimal", so not strictly empty right? ;)
"""
But Bezos was dissatisfied with that simplistic conclusion and applied his usual analytical sensibility to parse out why some companies were loved and others feared.
Rudeness is not cool. Defeating tiny guys is not cool. Close-following is not cool. Young is cool. Risk taking is cool. Winning is cool. Polite is cool. Defeating bigger, unsympathetic guys is cool. Inventing is cool. Explorers are cool. Conquerors are not cool. Obsessing over competitors is not cool. Empowering others is cool. Capturing all the value only for the company is not cool. Leadership is cool. Conviction is cool. Straightforwardness is cool. Pandering to the crowd is not cool. Hypocrisy is not cool. Authenticity is cool. Thinking big is cool. The unexpected is cool. Missionaries are cool. Mercenaries are not cool.
On an attached spreadsheet, Bezos listed seventeen attributes, including polite, reliable, risk taking, and thinks big, and he ranked a dozen companies on each particular characteristic. His methodology was highly subjective, he conceded, but his conclusions, laid out at the end of the Amazon.love memo were aimed at increasing Amazon's odds of standing out among the loved companies. Being polite and reliable or customer-obsessed was not sufficient. Being perceived as inventive, as an explorer rather than a conqueror, was critically important. "I actually believe the four 'unloved' companies are inventive as a matter of substance. But they are not perceived as inventors and pioneers. It is not enough to be inventive-that pioneering spirit must also come across and be perceivable by the customer base," he wrote.
"I propose that one outcome from this offsite could be to assign a more thorough analysis of this topic to a thoughtful VP," Bezos concluded. "We may be able to find actionable tasks that will increase our odds of being a stand out in that first group of companies. Sounds worthy to me!"
"""
from B. Stone. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. Little, Brown & Co., 2013.
Obviously I didn't have to click
>Cool people are largely perceived to be extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous.
Subtract hedonistic and powerful.
I would say that adventurous, open and autonomous are three qualities that make a person interesting, as opposed to boring. They likely have entertaining stories and an approach to life that repels dullness.
And extroversion, though it doesn't have much bearing on being interesting, makes it a little more likely that I'd encounter them and get to know the three other qualities.
Guardian, fact-checking the paper with known cool people, suggests that they missed a key trait: "low-key"
https://archive.fo/cmP3O
(I disagree with their lists at the end of their article tho ;)
I noticed there's no word such as smart, bright, clever or wise mentioned in the sentence above.
Just an observation, nothing else.
the word cool is pretty much the opposite of bright so that tracks
I've found in my life cool people generally have something to offer, be it inspiration, insight, other otherwise, I feel like cool is often aspirational and differs depending on where someone is trying to go in life. It seems to me cool people have some unique degree of "Culturedness" - this lines up with the traits they found. If you are Extraverted, Hedonistic, Powerful, Adventurous, Open and Autonomous, you're likely ending up in situations and experiences that have a different venn from the other folks around you.
From the paper: "Our method does not let us test the extent to which coolness was valued or prevalent in a culture, but historical analysis suggests that cool people were first recognized and admired in countercultural niches, such as mid-20th century African American jazz clubs and beatnik coffee shops that valued improvisation and creative expression (Belk et al., 2010; Heath & Potter, 2004). The desire to be cool spread as societies shifted their focus from industry to information, and coolness continues to play a larger role in cities (San Francisco, New York, London, Tokyo, etc.) and industries (fashion, entertainment, technology) where economic success depends on creativity (Florida, 2012; C. Warren et al., 2019). Stronger evidence that coolness is a status hierar"
i used to think that being a kickass programmer was cool
now all i think about is money
Be humble. That's always cool. If you are truly cool you don't need to talk about it.
I don’t even have to read it cause it’s smoking. We’ve always known it was smoking.
Smelling like cancerous ass is not cool though
Smelling ass ain’t cool, maybe you should read the article.