Blog
Techvolution
In 1992, I could think that I was on the leading edge of consumer use of technology. I was on my third computer since college, had moved in to the world of Apple products, and knew how to use my things to get done what I needed to get done as a teacher, coach, watch collector and trader, sports statistics fanatic, and writer. I understood basic DOS prompts (I had to having owned the IBM PC Jr. a few years before), could word process with some facility, and could even “fix” friends’ computers, as long as said fix...
read moreFree Vultures
I don’t like free because it’s way too expensive. I learned as a little kid that nothing was free. I assumed that others were learning the same thing but, evidently, I was wrong. So I’m writing a short post today to share how free looks from where I sit. 1. There is no such thing as free: Free exists for a reason. When I was a kid, I saw the birth of massive grocery stores (the direct English translation of the stores that launched when I was a kid were “Hyper Markets”). They aimed (and succeeded) to kill every...
read moreSocial Bowl
So yesterday was the Super Bowl, all ten hours of it, when you add everything up starting from the many pre-game shows, right to the final Hail Mary pass (but not including Giselle’s post-game rant about how her husband’s receivers are all, essentially, addled, stone-handed losers). And during those ten hours one thing became crystal clear, more so in 2012 than ever: Sport is insanely big business. This wasn’t really news to us. We’d seen the Super Bowl commercials before. This wasn’t the first time that we had...
read moreEven Steven
I’ve never been a huge fan of Seinfeld but the episode I best remember and probably most like is the one where Jerry realizes that he always breaks even in his life. In self-describing as the paradigmatic “Even Steven,” this episode is the usual Seinfeld reductio al absurdo, but, also as always, with a foundation of truth. In the episode, whenever Jerry loses something, another something of equal value comes to him. The funniest moment is when his girlfriend breaks up with him and he casually responds with a “No...
read more< 140 Leadership Primer
If something doesn’t feel like leadership, it’s not. Leadership is the most overused term in business. Few know what it looks like. Imagine explaining a leadership concept to your grandfather. If you see him looking sceptical, so should you. Reading books about leadership is an infinitely less valuable exercise than reading books about lives well-lived. If a leadership concept doesn’t fit the world, it won’t fit your home either. A true leader rarely thinks about the term “leadership.” Leadership is always...
read morePack Like a Champ
Okay. A quick and fun little post as I sit at ORD waiting for my very early morning flight to SFO. I’ve traveled two MILLION miles with carry-ons. It’s not as difficult as you think, though I did kind of bend the rules a bit in the old days. When I used to need to “dress up” (thankfully, with my work now, I wear whatever I want, whenever I want) I had several home bases around the world. So I’d store clothes there. When I arrived in Beijing, for example, my hotel room closet would magically have my...
read moreHow to Build Anything From Scratch
Yeah. ANYTHING. It’s simple: just learn to deal with the fear of starting from zero. And, to help you out, I have the perfect training tool: Snakes and Ladders Yes. THAT Snakes and Ladders. You remember the game. You roll the dice, move your piece and head up the levels of the game board. If you land on a ladder, you move up to where the ladder ends. If you hit a snake, you slide down to where it takes you. Basically, like working with any startup in the world. The beauty of the game is that it sucks you in. Things appear to be going...
read moreBe
Let yourself BE in 2012. Please, just let who you are shine through next year. I don’t want you to make any New Year’s Resolutions aside from this one: “I will allow myself to BE.” By allowing yourself to be, you will allow yourself to become. That’s it. Its beauty is in its simplicity. When you stop being the one who not only builds but actually (and kind of insanely, when you think about it) guards the roadblocks in your life, you’ll be opening the avenues to a new world. I know. I don’t usually...
read moreSlow Information
2011 was the year of information. It seeped into our consciousness over the year, this idea that the volume of information now available in the world truly was overwhelming. Fifteen years ago, few people used the Internet. Not many used email and even if you actually did, you couldn’t assume that even a small fraction of the people you knew did. So it had little currency. Today we live in a state of daily information overload. But, I would argue, the fundamental problem remains, that of finding meaning and relevance. When I was a kid, I...
read moreWhat’s a Startup?
I’m seriously sick of getting into arguments, all over the world, really, about what the hell a startup is. A startup is ANY newly-created company or, if you want to get more technical, one with a relatively limited operational history. Yeah, actually, that’s the definition of startup. People almost never use the term “tech startup” anymore, which is a shame, because the massive number of startups in this space has resulted in tech startups taking ownership over the entire nomenclature. But, and this is entire reason...
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