Business

CEO builds the factory, not the product

(Excerpt from Lazy Leadership by Andrew Wilkinson) Henry Ford didn’t build cars, he built factories. To me, a great leader’s job is to build a machine that produces a product. It’s not about doing the work itself....

December 31, 2020| People Read More

Criticise generally and praise specifically

(Excerpt from The Almanack of Ravikant) If you have a criticism of someone, then don’t criticize the person—criticize the general approach or criticize the class of activities. If you have to praise somebody, then...

December 29, 2020| Ego, People Read More

Margins don’t matter. Dollars do.

(Excerpt from Last Man Standing by Morgan Housel) Jeff Bezos had a different view: Margins don’t matter. Dollars do. A huge business with low margins was preferable to the opposite. He explained in 2014: Margins are...

December 19, 2020| Business Read More

Business and Investing are multi-disciplinary

(Excerpt from A Few Things I’m Pretty Sure About by Morgan Housel) An engineer can have a successful career knowing nothing other than engineering. Same for a chemist, meteorologist, or radiologist. Business and...

December 19, 2020| Business, Investing Read More

I want to build something that is my own

(Excerpt from Shoe Dog by Phil Knight) I told her that I flat-out didn’t want to work for someone else. I wanted to build something that was my own, something I could point to and say: I made that. It was the only...

October 28, 2020| Business, Life Read More

Business and Life are full of temptations

(Excerpt from Invested by Charles Schwab) The world of business, like the rest of life, is full of wonderful temptations, and making a choice about where you are going to devote your energy is often as much about...

October 24, 2020| Business, Focus, Life, Via Negativa Read More

Lewicki and Hiam’s Negotiation Matrix

(Excerpt from Mastering Business Negotiation by Roy Lewicki and Alexander Hiam) Avoiding (lose-lose). In this strategy, shown in the lower left of the diagram, the priorities for both the relationship and the outcome...

October 18, 2020| Business, Matrix Read More

The benefits of setting a world class standard

(Excerpt from 3 ideas, 2 quotes, 1 question (September 24, 2020) by James Clear) Architect Christopher Alexander on the importance of high standards: “In my life as an architect, I find that the single thing...

September 29, 2020| People Read More

Innovation includes changing corporate practices

(Excerpt from The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger) These are all executives who have been trained for years to grow their own businesses and are compensated based on their profitability. Suddenly I was saying to...

September 17, 2020| People, Strategy Read More

Be honest and direct when firing people

(Excerpt from The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger) FIRING PEOPLE, OR taking responsibility away from them, is arguably the most difficult thing you have to do as a boss. There have been several times when...

September 17, 2020| People Read More

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