Archive for August 2006
August 30, 2006
When Do You Crush An Idea?
Published 11:15am in Lessons Learned Add CommentTags: Ideas
Like most ideas, you have to:* put some life into them* give them some space* let them breathe* let them float around a bitTime will tell…. Just not now, not at the beginning.Don’t let your own thoughts get rejected lest that ‘work of genius’ (or workable solution to a small problem) get crushed way, waaaaay too soon.So I’m looking for help that’s, well, helpful.That’s all I’m saying…
- Doctor says it’s always a case of ‘Matter over Mind’:
Dr. Seuss: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” (The Quotations Page)
[1:41am] - (add comment)
- K.I.S.S. Takes on Complicated Problems…and Loses!
Poul Anderson: “I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.”—(from Quotes of the Day)
Consider this a corollary to this misquote of H.L. Mencken: “For every complicated problem, there’s a simple solution—and it’s wrong…” (visit QOTD for the actual quote and some discussion about how it’s often misquoted)
[1:27am] - (add comment)
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Getting a Job in Silicon Valley But Didn’t Know Who to Ask:
Guy Kawasaki’s excellent job-hunting advice also applies outside of Silicon Valley. My favorite line:
[5:46pm] - (add comment)“As a rule of thumb, if you can’t pitch your company in ten slides or pitch yourself in one page, your idea is stupid and you suck, respectively.”
NYT’s David Pogue: IT Professionals Choose Windows Over Macs for Job Security
Published 2:51pm in Technology Add CommentTags: apple
David Pogue provides the real reason Macs can only compete for home and small business users despite having a superior OS:
See, I’m fairly resigned to Windows’s dominance. If Microsoft changed nothing in Vista but the color scheme, Windows would still be the 90 percent market-share gorilla.
Why? Because the market-share figures includes sales of computers to [...]
- Politics…
Eric Benn: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”
That’s one theory. Politics is also the art of avoiding any trouble, finding someone to blame in case you find trouble, and hoping action to deal with trouble won’t be required until well after you’ve moved on to the next office.
Ah, cynicism!
[1:15am] - (add comment)
San Diego Pension Crisis
Published 1:18am in StratBlog Add CommentTags: dtf
San Diego Union Tribune: Kroll report details misconduct that lead to financial crisis
“Consultants investigating the city’s finances issued a detailed and critical report Tuesday documenting misconduct by former and current City Council members and former top administrators.
“San Diego city leaders ‘fell prey’ to the same type of ‘corruption of financial management’ that afflicted Orange County [...]
Designing Public Pension Plans to Fail
Published 1:16am in StratBlog Add CommentTags: Designed to Fail
The New York Times published Public Pension Plans Face Billions in Shortages, the first in a series articles “that will examine actions of state and local governments that have left taxpayers with large unpaid bills for public employee pensions:”
Across the nation, a number of states, counties and municipalities have engaged in many of the same [...]
- Guy Kawasaki Interviews Seth Godin:
Ten, no, make that eleven questions. Eleven great answers, including:
Question: What is an example of a company that is most willing to be criticized?
Answer: I think we need to draw a distinction between being willing to be criticized as a way to engage customers and being criticized as a way to improve. Ann Coulter, who, in my opinion, is a dangerous idiot, has a huge willingness to be criticized and a complete inability to listen to the criticism.
…
Bill Clinton was open to criticism as well, probably to his detriment. All those conversations got in the way of leading in the long run.I especially liked Guy’s answers to #7, “What are the five things that enabled you to be successful?”
[12:37am] - (add comment)
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You are currently browsing the StratBlog weblog archives for August, 2006.
Longer entries are truncated. Click the headline of an entry to read it in its entirety.Latest
- What’s to be done about performance reviews?
- Billie Holiday on Comebacks
- Hope is not a plan
- Do Appraisals Work?
- Survey results demonstrate performance evaluations need improvement
- Remembering 9/11
- Do Performance Reviews Work?
- When Do You Crush An Idea?
- Doctor says it’s always a case of ‘Matter over Mind’
- K.I.S.S. Takes on Complicated Problems…and Loses!
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