Biden

In the wake of Hamas’ gruesome slaughter, the banality of evil lurks in one simple word — “but”

In the wake of Hamas’ gruesome slaughter, the banality of evil lurks in one simple word — “but”

I’ve been writing a lot this year but have been neglecting my own blog here on Lucky7. Most of my writing has been at the data.world blog and on my Medium account. I’ve been primarily writing about AI as 2023 will no doubt go down as the year AI went mainstream, and for good reason (the productivity lift is now completely obvious). data.world couldn’t be better positioned for it either, and I can’t quite describe how exciting that has been as our CEO and Co-founder.

Today I turn my attention towards my post popular post of the year, which is on a sad subject. As a Jew, 10/7 was extremely disturbing to me. For humanitarians everywhere, it should have been as well. But then following 10/7 we saw something I haven’t seen in my lifetime. I wrote the following essay on it and published it initially on Medium on 11/7, the one-month anniversary of the horror of 10/7. And then on 11/9, the inverse of 9/11, I published a shorter form of it for the more time-constrained or younger reader. I’ve chosen to only include the full essay below.

But, first, let me say what was on my mind yesterday during Thanksgiving. There have been only leaders that have come forth since I published with extraordinarily clear moral convinction and no use of the word “but”. So, yesterday, I was thinking of the gratitude I have for Mayor Eric Adams of NYC, Congressman Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, and Einat Wilf, who used to serve in the Knesset in Israel and also as as a Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Here are three speeches from them that you should really watch to feel that same gratitude that I have for them:

An open letter to tech CEOs and leaders on the importance of diversity

Dear fellow tech CEOs and leaders,

I’m writing to you on this chilly Sunday in Austin because 2020 has truly been an eye-opening year for me as a long-time tech entrepreneur and CEO. I’ve been founding tech companies and movements since I was 24-years old, and I’ve never thought more about the power of diverse teams than I have this year. 2020 is truly one for the history books on so many levels, including my own personal growth as a leader.

Let me be upfront. My goal in this letter is to help you see what I’ve concluded, and I apologize that it took until 2020 to work so hard for this:
I believe that the more success you earn, both by grit and luck, and the more educated you become on the very real history of racial inequities in our country, the greater moral imperative you have to strive for a much more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce in tech.

This has been building for a long time within me, and I feel extremely fortunate to have had the learning experiences I’ve had. My realization about the importance of diversity in tech is the result of many friends and institutions investing in me, and then me taking the time to invest in myself. In this open letter, I’m going to do my best to share the resources that have most helped me and I believe will help you. I’ll also go beyond theory and give you a prescriptive call to action. I’ve put so much time into this because I believe it is critical to do so for those that are fortunate enough to be in a position of leading (and that is a much bigger tent than you may think).

Three big reasons you should have faith in a Biden and Harris Administration

You may be wondering why I haven’t been writing as much on Lucky7 this year. Well, I’ve been very busy with data.world but also in campaigning for what would hopefully be a Biden+Harris win over Trump+Pence. I made a New Year’s Resolution to do so, understanding that it is hard to step out there as such a public CEO. But I knew I wasn’t going to be able to look our children in the eye if I didn’t do so and Trump won again - I had to do everything I personally could to protect our democracy. I kept my personal activities campaigning separate from my work activities as the CEO of data.world to the best of my ability, but I got really active to say the least. This took a lot of time and I’m very happy to be even a small part of this historic win for our country. As of this writing, Biden+Harris are projected to receive 306 Electoral College votes and also win by over 5.5m votes in the popular vote count.

I should point out that I’m a centrist and a proud Independent voter, having voted for as many Republicans as I have Democrats. I vote my conscience and base my vote on policies and what I think our country most needs. As an entrepreneur, I really value the ability to think independently. Thinking this way requires you to use your intellect to see the world differently and not fall into following the herd. There are good reasons for herd thinking given our evolutionary history, but it is not always conducive to the best decision making. Independent thinking helps me come up with business ideas as well as evaluate new investments and entrepreneurs (note: we are now in 93 startups and 29 VC funds, although data.world certainly takes the majority of my time as CEO and has been my primary career passion for five years and running now).