Weekly Reading : Jan 10–17

Thanks for coming back to the latest edition of Weekly for Jan 17-Jan23. This week, we’ll look at what Philip’s Curve is , Overview on Smart Cities, a Motivational quote & an actionable goal, Thinking pattern on persisting with a project.

If you have missed my previous weekly readings, do check it out here! For all my other blogs, visit my page. With that said, let’s dive in

Finance/Economics: Gini Coefficient

• Gini Index or Gini Coefficient ( let’s continue to call it Gini Coefficient) is a measure of inequality in income/wealth distribution among the population of a country.
• Income is an easier metric to track compared to wealth, as income is a year-to-year measure, while wealth can be a product of your actions from the past.
• The value of Gini Coefficient ranges from 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
• 0 indicates that the income (/ wealth) is distributed evenly among the population.
• 1 indicates that income is distributed in absolute disarray with large part of total income is going to the least % of the population.
• Can Gini-Coefficient be negative? Of course, when some people are living on negative income
• Can high-income countries & low-income countries have similar Gini Coefficient? Yes, this happens when the income distribution among people is similar. Meaning if 20th percentile of the population account for 20% of the total income, they will end up having the same Gini Coefficient.
• Global Income Gini Coefficient was 0.705 in 2009
• Gini Coefficient by Country

Motivation/Life

Be honest to yourself, that’s enough justification to the world

Thinking: Advantageous Divergence

Divergence is when your opinion differs from the popular beliefs/opinions. Advantageous Divergence is when your belief is right and the popular belief isn’t as right or is wrong.

This thinking , as I understand it, can be achieved by following a framework:

• Realize & accept that what you know is a drop in the ocean.
• You, by yourself, cannot understand something in its entirety.
• Reach out to experts to fully believe in their narrative about a subject. For example, web3.0 or regulations around Drones or AI etc.
• Ensure the experts together give a 360 degrees perspective on the subject. Simply put , the experts should be two sides of the same coin.
• Create an opinion based on expert opinions
• De-construct the opinions using first principles and form your own opinion.
• What All Billionaires Do To Make Big Bets, But Never Say

Culture/Operations

DoorDash reinstated a company-wide policy called WeDash program where all non-delivery employees ( employees not hired to do delivery) must complete deliveries for the company at least once a month. The result is that employees know exactly what the pain points are and the talent pool can come together to solve problems. This inculcates the sense of ownership in the company’s vision.

“Great employees who understand the problems they’re working to solve build great products”

In case you missed, here’s the previous week edition