-
Continue reading →: The Sense of Memory: Feeling Special MomentsThe human mind, and its nervous system, are staggeringly impressive. For those of us with typical sensory access, this framework is familiar: 1. Sight 2. Smell 3. Hearing 4. Touch 5. Taste But I only recently came to appreciate that neuroscience recognizes at least five more: 1. Proprioception – the…
-
Continue reading →: The Politics of Grace: A Plea for KindnessOver the past few years—and especially in recent months—sociopolitical divisiveness has become nearly unbearable. It’s no longer just disagreement; it’s grievance, cruelty, dogma, and tribalism.It’s grown so sharp, it now slices through friendships, families, workplaces, and communities. It’s in my feeds. It’s in my DMs. It’s in our conversations.It’s exhausting.…
-
Continue reading →: Life’s Four BooksGiven my inclination to overplanning, most won’t be surprised that I spend my Decembers evaluating and learning from the current year while, more importantly, contemplating and planning the following year. But, it feels different this time; the 2024 to 2025 transition feels more significant, even monumental, to me…and, after some…
-
Continue reading →: My Personal Culture: The 5 HsIt’s a bit of a preview of the rubric I’m using for the book, adding a fifth H to create “personal culture”. These 5 Hs (Happy, Humble, Hungry, Healthy, and Horsepower) extend the team culture we built at Atlas, and form the basis of a playbook of habits, best practices,…
-
Continue reading →: 20 years: 2004 to 2024It’s hard for me to fathom that, 20 years ago, I was already an adult. After all, I was in my thirties, I was married, I had a two-year-old son, I was working an adult job, and I had adult responsibilities. Oh, and I even had a little hair back…
-
Continue reading →: Chapter 6: The MentorA career is a living novel consisting of written chapters that capture the past, a current chapter being written, and future chapters with endless possibilities. Each chapter is meaningful because it’s enabled by the preceding one and makes the next one possible. And each chapter eventually comes to a close…
-
Continue reading →: I Get ToAs I close out this first Father’s Day with both sons as “adults”, I contemplate the power of a particular expression I wish I’d used more often when they were younger: “I GET TO.” 10 years ago, I remember saying things like, “I can’t today because I HAVE TO go…
-
Continue reading →: Deliberation Over Debate: On the Importance of Civil DiscourseI posed a question this weekend as part of an intellectual exercise to explore a question I find fundamentally important: Do we become increasingly committed to and invested in our deeply-held beliefs as we grow and, if so, is it worth it to “debate” these beliefs with others, especially if…
-
Continue reading →: Closing A Special ChapterLooking back at life is like reviewing a multi-dimensional series of chapters organized by changes in location, career, and perhaps most vividly, family. One chapter in my own life, as organized by family changes, has been open for nearly twenty two years: having children at home. I’ve loved this chapter…
-
Continue reading →: History of ImmigrationImmigration has a curious history. For the vast majority of human history over hundreds of thousands of years, our identity was “hyper-local”, defined by our family units and thus our tribes. Geographic location was much less relevant as we roamed and migrated in search of natural resources and protection from…
Hello!
I’m Bassam
I was born in Egypt, lived in France & England as a child, and came to the United States as a teenager to study Computer Science and Business at the University of Utah. After decades in the tech industry, I’m focused on community, mentorship, and impact.
Join the fun!
Receive posts as soon as they’re published!
Against the Herd 