I think an interesting related meme is “leadership as service”. This idea certainly existed in the Boy Scouts when I was in high school, and a related idea of “management as service” exists in at least some good tech companies.
I don’t personally like the “hero” narrative that much but I am highly ambitious and willing to do things even if no one else is doing them. Nevertheless, in fact, as a result of this, I often end up in what might seem like “sidekick roles”. I’ve oftentimes taken on logistical tasks even though it’s easy to argue that my comparative advantage is elsewhere. Why? Because if I don’t, then some important thing won’t get done, and that’s all that matters. This is what I think Eliezer means when he refers to “heroic responsibility”, and I think you among all people I’ve met exemplify this the most. So that’s one interesting observation.
Another observation in my personal experience is that it’s extremely difficult to take a “hero” role in more than one thing at once, simply because it’s too time-consuming. I have several causes that I contribute my time to, but in many cases my ability to do so is limited by someone else willing to take the lead and spearhead the project. But again interestingly, that person often ends up performing “sidekick-like” tasks while I am more free to focus on creating value directly. I think this again inverts the narrative: who do we call the “hero” and who do we call the “sidekick”? One person is taking the lead but only creating value indirectly by allowing a group of other people to be more productive. The other people are the ones that are directly creating value, but are working within a pre-existing system. I don’t know if you think that this relates to the ideas in your post or not, but I thought it was another interesting observation either way.
I think an interesting related meme is “leadership as service”. This idea certainly existed in the Boy Scouts when I was in high school, and a related idea of “management as service” exists in at least some good tech companies.
I don’t personally like the “hero” narrative that much but I am highly ambitious and willing to do things even if no one else is doing them. Nevertheless, in fact, as a result of this, I often end up in what might seem like “sidekick roles”. I’ve oftentimes taken on logistical tasks even though it’s easy to argue that my comparative advantage is elsewhere. Why? Because if I don’t, then some important thing won’t get done, and that’s all that matters. This is what I think Eliezer means when he refers to “heroic responsibility”, and I think you among all people I’ve met exemplify this the most. So that’s one interesting observation.
Another observation in my personal experience is that it’s extremely difficult to take a “hero” role in more than one thing at once, simply because it’s too time-consuming. I have several causes that I contribute my time to, but in many cases my ability to do so is limited by someone else willing to take the lead and spearhead the project. But again interestingly, that person often ends up performing “sidekick-like” tasks while I am more free to focus on creating value directly. I think this again inverts the narrative: who do we call the “hero” and who do we call the “sidekick”? One person is taking the lead but only creating value indirectly by allowing a group of other people to be more productive. The other people are the ones that are directly creating value, but are working within a pre-existing system. I don’t know if you think that this relates to the ideas in your post or not, but I thought it was another interesting observation either way.