Half A Thought

In this extremely candid conversation, Luke Kim, an entrepreneurial swiss-army knife shares his insights into why leadership is unnecessarily overemphasized; his life principles like loyalty, integrity and consideration for others; his ability to hustle; and why you should try to get screwed over if you want to learn as much as you can.

Luke has a really interesting story. He is originally from Tokyo & Seoul. He studied comparative history of the USSR and EU, East and the West, Russia and the US at UC Berkeley and also has a certificate in Concentration in Engineering Leadership from the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at Berkeley as well. His first startup was in Estonia, in European Innovation Academy. He has traveled to 25+ countries as a digital nomad. Luke is fluent in Japanese & Korean and is currently getting an Estonian e-Residency. He loves to travel, loves to be connected and make connections, and is a really fun person to talk to.

Luke's radical and contrarian viewpoints, backed by his lessons from diverse experiences and ups and downs of life, would make you rethink many axioms you've intuitively taken for granted. 

Tune in for a candid conversation. 

In this episode, we reflect on several ideas: the qualities of great teachers; why it's important for a teacher to relate to students; the distinction between and confluence of a mentor, teacher, and coach; and how teachers bring out the best in students. We mention Richard Feynman, his modern-day equivalent for Abhinav, and share how our teachers have inspired us over the years. 

In this episode, we talk about not overthinking things, referencing Dostoyevsky’s character in his book Notes From Underground. We organically come up with reasons for why we overthink, present criteria for self-diagnosing when we overthink, and suggest potential solutions to not overthink. Abhinav also reads out The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost as an analogy.

In this episode, we bring together opposing ideas (or oxymorons) and try to make sense of them. "Strong Vulnerability," "Introverted Extroverts," "Weirdly Normal," "Connected Disconnectedness," and others... We deconstruct these words, find some middle ground rather than having to choose one side or the other and understand how these words can help us understand things in our day-to-day lives.

In this episode, my freshman year roommate, Ali, and I discuss the conveniences, behaviors, and misunderstandings of texting. We explore the nuances of texting in the different styles of how people text and what implications these have on the virtual and personal relationships in our networks. Our goal is to become mindful of the intricate, subtle nuances we might be glossing over each time we text our friends. Let's dive in...

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In this episode, join me for a conversation with my friend from high school, Arth Gupta, a student at The University of British Columbia, Canada. We discuss CS Lewis's iconic speech on "inner rings" and explore concepts ranging from what lies at the heart of the human desire to what might be motivating to get a job at Google. From power to status, Marx to Girard, and moral to immoral desires, join us on a journey of our ideas and thoughts about the in-groups and inner rings. 

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About Nassim Taleb:
Nassim Taleb is a risk engineer, statistician, economist, and scholar. He has written several books on uncertainty, probability, and luck, ranging from The Black Swan to Antifragile to Skin In The Game.


About This Episode:
In this podcast, I talk about Taleb's ideas by exploring a few of his quotes and share my lessons. I look at Taleb's commentary on the following areas:
1) "Fragilistas," 
2) The lifespan of a Fact,
3) Complicated solutions,
4) Talkers vs Doers,
5) Rationality,
6) Root Cause Treatment, and
7) Choices for individuals.

Taleb's work is extremely helpful for anyone at any stage. If the above sounds interesting, listen ahead!


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