Episode 26: Alfred Nash - Insatiable curiosity, NASA and Team X, and the return of the Renaissance Man
- Author
- Ryan McGranaghan
- Published
- Mon 23 Nov 2020
- Episode Link
- None
Show Notes:
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (05:15)
- Mentors (07:20)
- Building and leading teams (13:15)
- Comfort with uncertainty (15:30)
- Waleed Abdalati Origins episode (18:30)
- What drew Nash to JPL (19:00)
- Trajectories to JPL (20:00)
- Why you need to read sociology books (22:00)
- Being a Renaissance Person - curiosity across human endeavors (22:40)
- T-shaped people (23:00)
- Challenging yourself (29:45)
- The change in mentality that comes with public service (32:50)
- NASA JPL Team X (35:15)
- van Allen, von Braun, and Pickering famous picture (38:00)
- What networked computers did for JPL (40:30)
- Alfred’s contribution to Team X efficiency - paper (42:15)
- Three types of fun (44:10)
- Thinking about how you provide information (46:15)
- Related: see discussion of human-centered design in Rachel Young Origins episode
- "Murphy was an optimist” (48:00)
- Melanie Mitchell Origins episode (56:10)
- Writing (56:45)
- Helping Writers Become Authors podcast
- Children of Tendu podcast and parallels to proposal writing
- Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way
- Why you need to learn about design
- “All endeavors of humanity are communicative endeavors"
- “Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare"
- “You can never be too clear” (01:05:30)
- Thinking in questions (01:06:00)
- “The people who really make it in life are not those who get the right answer, but the ones that ask the right question”
- Right question is the quantum leap to the right answer
- Lightning round (01:08:00):
- Book: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Passion: Gift of gab
- Heart sing: Broadest possible definition of product development (The Invincible Company book)
- Screwed up: Leading people during Planck Mission project
- Find guest online:
- 'Five-Cut Fridays’ five-song music playlist series
