Two articles about making the world a better place caught our eye this week. One is about a legal marketer telling law school grads to succeed by focusing on helping people – the other is about a CEO tackling the difficult subject of diversity. We also have some witty dissents from the man poised to join the Supreme Court, the closest thing to teleportation you’ll likely ever see, new thoughts on Elgar’s Enigma Variations and some trends popping up in recent Medium posts. With that, here’s Recent Reads. An Interview With Cole Silver: How to Succeed After Law School – This is a worthwhile read about legal marketing, based on an interview with a unique member of the marketing team at Blank Rome, Cole Silver. Cole was a GC for 25 years before joining Blank Rome to help with client development. I love his punchline: “Forget sales. Forget business development. Forget marketing. Just go out and help people, connect with people, serve people. That’s it. If you do that, you will have a very handsome book after a few years because people will understand that you have their best interests at heart and they will reciprocate.” – Steve DiMattia Tim Ryan’s Awakening – PwC CEO Tim Ryan takes an unorthodox and uncomfortable approach to driving the diversity conversation. While his method and lexicon would be lacking authenticity for many leaders, his Boston blue-collar roots make it real. What’s more, he’s using PwC’s expansive platform and relationships to issue a call to action to Fortune 500 CEOs to join him in a refreshingly different – and dare I say, smarter – conversation on the topic of race. Those who know Ryan best think he just might pull it off. – John Corey The 4 Wittiest Dissents By Gorsuch – No matter what you think of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, we’ve read again and again that he’s a good writer with clear, mostly concise thoughts, which often come with a creative punch. I think our clients who are inclined to write – op-eds, bylines, written statements on news items, etc. – can learn something from Gorsuch’s style, especially his dislike for the passive voice, his “old nemesis.” – Agatha Howland Meet the Students Racing to Make Elon Musk’s Hyperloop a Reality – Teleportation is happening! OK, maybe not teleporting, but you won’t have to get in a fighter jet to hit 600 mph once SpaceX’s hyperloop competition wraps up. The first round of tests happened earlier this week in California, where teams from universities around the world demoed their pods and, ultimately, learned from one another’s designs. It’s a unique competition, inspiring a drive to innovate, yes, but also collaborate. And as someone who learned how to drive on the hyper-congested, Colonial-era highways of New England, I can’t wait to see the final product in action. – Megan Duero The cult of the paranoid Medium post – Anyone can post to Medium, and it has hosted some great think pieces by authors who might not have had a strong platform otherwise. But it also can provide some credibility to (likely) well-meaning people whose ideas are more cathartic than convincing. As the Washington Post smartly points out, “There’s a weird sort of relief that comes with believing you understand, at least, why a bad thing is happening, even if you’re powerless to stop it.” – Paul Wilson Breaking Elgar’s Enigma – For those of you who liked Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle,” you’re in luck. In Daniel Estrin’s piece in The New Republic, he undresses composer Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme (“Enigma”), an orchestral work comprising 14 variations on an original theme, and widely believed to involve a hidden melody, through the eyes of a devoted musical aficionado. If you have an appreciation for the classics, you might enjoy this piece. – Christian Erard