Grant Nishio

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

@mgoblog #collegekickers are so back

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

My goal to be the happiest person in the world isn’t an optimization, it’s the culmination of leading what I consider to be a life well lived. That means helping to improve the lives of others, being a good father and husband, finding good friends, and doing what I think is right

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

Being obsessed with happiness can make us unhappy.

Joy doesn't arise from ruminating about our emotions. It comes from immersing ourselves in worthwhile experiences.

Happiness is not a goal to pursue. It's a byproduct of leading a life of meaning and engagement.

@Trevornoah

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

Both Obama speech writers tonight killed it.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Michelle Obama: Who is going to tell him the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

So funny. He knows it’s going to be good and starts to crack a second before the delivery 🤣.

[Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar]

I cannot believe this moment happened…

[Christopher Webb @cwebbonline]

I don’t care who you are — this conversation between Kamala Harris and Tim Walz is so relatable. They are us.

#TheUnderdogCampaign

[Timmy Crowe @timmy400h]

If you have a few moments to listen to this interview as a parent with your child.
Possible one of the best post race interviews I have ever watched #PlayOn

[Joelle Emerson @joelle_emerson]

What Elon and others are taking issue with is Kamala saying “everyone should end up in the same place.” I want to share what I think she’s saying here vs. what they think she's saying. This distinction gets to the core of the anti-DEI sentiment I’ve seen over the last year. And it's important because when we define this clearly, I think most people are actually aligned that equity is a good thing.

First, her wording is inartful, and if she were saying this today, understanding the backlash we’re seeing to this concept, I think it would be inexcusable. But as far as I can tell, she made these comments at a time when people and companies around the world were talking about equity, and we all kinda just assumed everyone knew what we were all talking about. (A bad assumption, in hindsight.)

She doesn’t mean that every *individual* should end up in the same place as every other individual. Why don’t I think that’s what she means? Because it would be inconsistent with literally any other perspective she has on any other topic, including the work she did as a prosecutor and AG. It would also be an extreme perspective that not even ultra-left DEI advocates I’ve met would agree with.

Instead, what she’s talking about is what should happen in aggregate - at a *societal* level. If we built a truly fair + meritocratic society, we would expect to see similar outcomes, in aggregate, across demographic groups.

In such a world, your gender, race, nationality, sexual orientation, etc. wouldn’t predict things like whether you’d be hired into a given role, how much money you’d make, how likely you’d be to die in childbirth, how likely you’d be to get pulled over by police, and on and on.

Unfortunately, identity *does* predict outcomes in our society. Significantly. Believing in equity means believing in everyone having a fair opportunity to do their best. A fair shot to get hired, get promoted, get funded, get a mortgage, get ahead.

In my view, equity is a prerequisite to meritocracy. How can we possibly hope to have a meritocratic society if we’re not judging people by the same standards? If some people are running uphill while others are on a racetrack?

If we want outcomes to be based on merit, we need to ensure people can actually show us what they’ve got. I work with organizations, so I think a lot about what role companies can and should play in expanding equity.

Take one example (a real one). Imagine a tech company that’s growing quickly. They’re hiring a lot, and they find that candidates who are referred to roles in that company make it through their hiring processes at far higher rates than candidates who come in any other way.

There are lots of reasons that might be true. But one hypothesis could be that referral candidates just have a lot more knowledge than non-referrals about what to expect in a hiring process and how to perform well. That knowledge might create an uneven playing field that allows candidates who *aren’t actually better* to perform better. Not equitable. Not meritocratic. An equity-minded approach would be to acknowledge this uneven playing field, and ideally try to do something about it.

In this real case, the company created an overview of their hiring process and what candidates could expect in interviews. They shared it with all candidates, with the goal of democratizing access to information. Guess what happened?

The gap between referred and non-referred candidates shrunk. Is that Communism? Obviously not. It’s a decision the company made to give itself the best shot at hiring the best people, by acknowledging that people had different starting points, and proactively solving for that.

While extremists are trying to paint equity as some new leftist fad, there are many areas of society where we already take an equity minded approach - we acknowledge that people experience the world differently, and we do something to try to make things a bit more fair.

We give paid parental leave to people who have kids. We give parking spaces closer to a building for disabled people. We allow military servicemembers to board airplanes early in gratitude for their service. (Thanks to Robert Livingston for these examples https://t.co/E4fzF6JY6c…)

We can disagree about what it looks like to create that fair opportunity, and how best to go about it. But whether this is a reasonable goal shouldn’t be all that controversial.

What I think(?) most people would agree on is that seeing comparable outcomes across demographic groups in aggregate would suggest we’ve created a more fair society where the best people actually can rise to the top.

Ability, effort, resilience, luck, etc. would then be the biggest predictors of success, instead of identity. Why wouldn't we want that?

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

🤣🛋️🚬

[Tim Walz @Tim_Walz]

Like all regular people in America's heartland, JD Vance studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and wrote a bestseller trashing that community.

Come on.

I can't wait to debate the guy—that is, if he's willing to get off the couch and show up.

[Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris]

I prosecuted sex predators. Trump is one.
I shut down for-profit scam colleges. He ran one.
I held big banks accountable. He's owned by them.

I'm not just prepared to take on Trump, I'm prepared to beat him.

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

Democrats should introduce a gun control bill called the "The Donald Trump safety and gun control bill" and make republicans vote against it.

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

Who’s coming with me?

[Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton]

I’m hitting the road to discuss my new book Something Lost, Something Gained, and I'd love to see you along the way.

https://t.co/TXN7BUqHCs

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

🥲 happy he was here, although sad that he’s gone.

[SFGiants @SFGiants]

He leaves us with a lasting reminder: to work hard and find joy in this great game, and this extraordinary life. Say Hey, Willie Mays. The best there ever was. 💐

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

RIP to the say hey kid. 🙏🙌
#GoGiants #forevergiant

[SFGiants @SFGiants]

There will never be another quite like Willie Mays 🧡

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

HBD to my goat

[KNBR @KNBR]

Screw it, 40 Tim Lincecum moments for his 40th birthday

A thread:

[KNBR @KNBR]

Screw it, 40 Tim Lincecum moments for his 40th birthday

A thread:

[Jeremiah Oshan @JeremiahOshan]

USA could play a second game in Seattle if they win group.

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

I dig it. Love learning about my family history and the other incredible stories of countless others.

[Alexandr Wang @alexandr_wang]

1/ @zachlanebryan and I are kicking off a next-gen history project

If you are a builder and want to work with us, please get in touch (details in thread)

THREAD

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

Congrats team. Coach Walker does it again!

[Stanford Women's Golf @StanfordWGolf]

Stanford is on top of the golf world again! 2024 National Champions! 🏆🌲

#GoStanford

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

@jennishio new fav player

[Emerald City Hockey @EmeraldCityHky]

Vince Dunn on Ryker Evans:

"He's an interesting cat...we're still trying to figure him out."

"Seems pretty introverted. He's super super organized." #SEAKraken

[Grant Nishio @gnishio8]

Champ stamp 😂

[Abigail O'Connor @A_OConnorRD]

The champ stamp, like 144
Undefeated 😂