The last quote in particular is rather timely: on Wednesday I "came out" to the entire company that I work for with a cheeky slideshow, which started as an "about me" during an all-hands ("look, we have a new employee!") and then was like, "oh yeah also..."
Being able to shape the narrative and tell my side of the story before someone sees some of the slanted reporting has continued to prove helpful. I even went so far as to say "I know people Google their colleagues sometimes and that's cool just be aware that the truth is usually in the middle of what the DOJ says and what actually happened."
Don't overestimate your success. I remember reading the original prison post and (a) seeing how thick the attempt to do that sort of "shaping" was, and (b) still coming away thinking, "Just... wow" (not in a good way).
Even if it seems like you're winning because all you're seeing is people falling over themselves to tell you how awesome your story is and how awesome you are, take a look around the room. If it's a room of 10 and the praise is really only coming from 6 people, don't neglect to account for the fact that there are 4 other people in the room who are also capable of thought, and they probably have thoughts (and the fact that they can see the other 6 people reacting the way they are can be a factor in whether to voice them).
> I used to think ethics were a set of rules to follow. Now I think they're more like tests—constant ones—that you run against your own motivations.
Is the big one. And interestingly, single guys doing stuff that is ethically defensible are at a larger risk of ending up in trouble with the law than big corporations doing far worse stuff. So the lesson at a personal level is a completely different one than at the corporate level, there it is 'what we can get away with' versus 'what we should do to be good citizens'.
If you want to take a broad view of the world, we may be entering into the post-age-of-enlightenment age where truth and ethics are malleable in service of the larger powers which build the things which comprise the world.
> Contrast what society says rehabilitation is versus what it actually feels like. How much of it depends on luck, personality, or privilege?
> people want linear redemption stories, but real self-improvement is messy, nonlinear, and impossible to A/B test.
> There's a certain freedom in owning your story publicly. People can't weaponize what you've already made peace with.