This Week - Oct 10, 2014

They went back to watching the valley below, but Alan was shaken. Yousef had been lighthearted during his questions, but there was something very serious and very sad under his smile, and Alan knew what it was. It was the knowledge that there would be no fighting, and there would be no struggle, no stand taken, and that the two of them, because they were not lacking materially, because despite injustices in their countries they were the recipients of preposterous bounty, would likely do nothing. They were content, they had won. The fighting would be done by others, elsewhere.

— A Hologram for The King (Dave Eggers)

The militants of Gamergate claim they are the vanguard of ethical games journalism in order to justify their harassment. They have established no credibility as such, but maintain the titillating promise to “expose” corrupt game journalists with memes, sock-puppet trolls, and the kind of internet detective work that caught the wrong Boston bomber.

— Stop supporting Gamergate (T.C. Sottek for The Verge)

“I’ve learned that I’d rather work by myself than with subpar performers,” he said. His words echo in my mind whenever I describe the most basic element of Netflix’s talent philosophy: The best thing you can do for employees—a perk better than foosball or free sushi—is hire only “A” players to work alongside them. Excellent colleagues trump everything else.

— How Netflix Reinvented HR (Patty McCord for Harvard Business Review)

“Staying the course” only makes sense if you’re headed in a sensible direction. Because passion and persistence – while most often associated with success – are also essential ingredients of futility.

— Mike Rowe’s must-read response to an Alabamian who asked why he shouldn’t follow his passion (Mike Rowe on Facebook)