Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

Ordinary People Focus on the Outcome. Extraordinary People Focus On the Process.

Unlock the secret to extraordinary success by shifting your focus from outcomes to processes, as revealed by Bryan Cranston's inspiring journey.

In his autobiography, Bryan Cranston (Walter White of the renowned Breaking Bad) described the lesson he learned that helped him go from an average actor to an extraordinary one. Here’s what he wrote: Cranston went on to say after he made this mindset shift, he felt much more relaxed and free….

Read full article at the publisher’s site: https://theascent.pub/ordinary-people-focus-on-the-outcome-extraordinary-people-focus-on-the-process-6d9a0888df01

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Featured writing

Why customer tools are organized wrong

This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how customer support tools are designed—organizing by interaction type instead of by customer—and explains why this fragmentation wastes time and obscures the full picture you need to help users effectively.

Infrastructure shapes thought

The tools you build determine what kinds of thinking become possible. On infrastructure, friction, and building deliberately for thought rather than just throughput.

Server-Side Dashboard Architecture: Why Moving Data Fetching Off the Browser Changes Everything

How choosing server-side rendering solved security, CORS, and credential management problems I didn't know I had.

Books

The Work of Being (in progress)

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The Practice of Work (in progress)

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Recent writing

We always panic about new tools (and we're always wrong)

Every time a new tool emerges for making or manipulating symbols, we panic. The pattern is so consistent it's almost embarrassing. Here's what happened each time.

Dev reflection - February 03, 2026

I've been thinking about constraints today. Not the kind that block you—the kind that clarify. There's a difference, and most people miss it.

When execution becomes cheap, ideas become expensive

This article reveals a fundamental shift in how organizations operate: as AI makes execution nearly instantaneous, the bottleneck has moved from implementation to decision-making. Understanding this transition is critical for anyone leading teams or making strategic choices in an AI-enabled world.

Notes and related thinking

Article analysis: A Shift in Remote Work? Microsoft and McKinsey Address RTO Plans in the Wake of Amazon's 5-Day Mandate

Explore the evolving landscape of remote work as Microsoft and McKinsey respond to Amazon's RTO mandate, balancing corporate needs and employee flexibility.

Bookmark: Business Trends Predicted for 2025: The Future of Commerce, AI, and Entrepreneurship

Discover key business trends for 2025, focusing on AI's impact, self-aware consumers, and the rise of entrepreneurship for future success.

Bookmark: Coursera for Business delivers 327% ROI: key findings from new Forrester Total Economic Impact study

Unlock a 327% ROI with Coursera for Business; boost productivity and future-proof your workforce through strategic employee training initiatives.