Mike Davidson
Mike Davidson is a designer who has built and run design teams at Twitter, ESPN, Disney, NBC. He is currently a Vice President at InVision. Mike started out in print design but has worked in digital since the late 90s. He is also the founder of Newsvine, one of the earliest and most popular citizen journalism startups. Mike advises startups and large organisations about scaling up their design functions.
If you could recommend 3 books to anyone, what would they be?
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
I have always struggled to understand why it is that liberal and conservative people tend to talk past each other and seem to see the world in such different ways. I figured part of that was just having vastly different goals for their own lives and the world, but it turns out a lot of it is also because many liberals don't understand how a conservative's value system works, and vice versa. In other words, when someone from either side is forming an opinion on something like free healthcare, what learned values determine how they come out on that?
This book illustrates the frameworks that exist on both sides, such that no matter which side you're on, you come away with a much better understanding of why people view things so differently. I would recommend this book equally to liberals, conservatives, and centrists.
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn's work has been around for decades, and yet somehow it went completely under my radar until I was well into adulthood. In the United States — and probably in most other countries as well — you're taught your country's history in school through inch-thick, rose-colored glasses. Everything bad that happened throughout history was just a phase to be moved past, or a necessary evil on the way towards greatness. I feel like we spent maybe a week on slavery at my high school, and then just moved on to the Industrial Revolution or whatever. Nothing to see here! Just a blip!
A People's History of the United States tells our country's history through the lens of the oppressed and the exploited. What did 1492 feel like to the people who were already living here at the time? What was life like for Black Americans after they were "emancipated" but not actually freed? I would argue this book should be required reading for all Americans. It certainly gave me a much more rounded perspective than I ever got from my formal education. It also showed me how much more there is to learn about the plight of all people we continue to oppress.
Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
Pixar is one of the most creative companies of the last 100 years, and it didn't get that way by accident. Not only is this a peek behind the curtain of the movie-making process fascinating, but the very specific concepts detailed in this book are invaluable to anyone running any sort of creative endeavor.
One of the philosophies that really stuck with me is the idea that when concepts are first born, they are fragile organisms which need to be protected. So often, you or a colleague will come up with the seed of an idea, only to see that idea die a quick death as it is assailed with criticism. When an idea is new, of course it's not bulletproof yet. Of course it has problems. If you let all of your new ideas die this sort of quick death, you'll never do anything great. The concept of thinking of new ideas as things to be incubated, protected, and carefully developed is a powerful and important one.
What are you reading now?
Right now, I'm reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. Fictionwise, what's next is probably Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Non-fictionwise, I keep wanting to get to Atomic Habits by James Clear (you'll note the self-defeating tone there, which is why I need the book!).
Whose reading list are you most curious about?
"Matt Webb of https://interconnected.org”
— Mike Davidson
