Reflections of a Business-Driven Life
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Tuesday, May 31, 2005 |
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The Born Entrepreneur (EntrepreViews) One night a wife found her husband standing over their newborn's crib. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, skepticism. Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotion it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arms around her husband. "A penny for your thoughts," she whispered in his ear. "It's amazing!" he replied. "I just can't see how anybody can make a crib like that for only $79.95!" 8:32:03 PM  comment [] trackback []
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An Original and Engaging Online Confession Website ( tidbits)
The person asks for confessions, and gives instructions on what format he wants it to be. The picture on the left is one of the postcard confessions in that site. 6:22:42 PM comment [] trackback []
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Monday, May 30, 2005 |
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The Goal of Entrepreneurship ( EntrepreViews) What is your objective in starting your own business? Many people will state the goal that they will want to earn more. That will certainly happen if you do your business well. But at least initially, when you start a business, you will not only be taking on risks, but most likely your income might actually decline. What you really want to do is to build financial security. How do you do that? The main reason entrepreneurs or businessmen can potentially earn more than professionals is because they have also what you would call passive income. How do you distinguish that? Active income is the amount you earn based on your skills and time. Passive income is the amount you earn from your investments and assets -- income that hopefully will continue even if you are no longer actively working, - or even Financial Security is accomplished because you know you don't have to keep working in order to keep the revenue coming. Of course, as professionals, you can also accomplish financial security by investing wisely, but entrepreneurs, owning their own business, will have more control and opportunities to accomplish that. At the end, you should always remember your goal of financial independence -- that you should try to save enough, or invest properly, so that you will have an income that will And if that is the reason you engage in Entrepreneurship, thus, you must not lose sight in getting every opportunity in building up your investment income, and your money-earning assets! 7:26:54 PM comment [] trackback []
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when you're sleeping. That is why being able to build up your passive income becomes so powerful!
sustain the lifestyle you want even if you have to stop working.|
I took this picture a few months ago at the Hong Kong Ocean Park. It is a great show where dolphins jumped to heights of almost 20 feet up. After the show, I chanced upon the pool, and noticed that it was very deep, then it struck me ... The dolphins have to go deep in order to jump high. Without depth, there is no height... Do you see parallelisms in the principles of life?
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Go Deep to Jump High |
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Sunday, May 29, 2005 |
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Setting up Rules or Allowing Discretion ( on business) For the last 15 or so years, I have read numerous business books, many of them acclaimed and bestsellers. And for the last 15 years that I have been managing, I have tried to apply many of these principles to life and business. If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that some of what they write works, and some don't. It is really important to distinguish that at the end, even the best and most logical recommendations only works in some culture, in some industries, or in some specific circumstance with specific people. It would be pitiful to see a manager trying vainly to apply whatever he read into his business -- it won't work. The business of management is far more complex than just merely applying a few rules and dogma in a business book - no matter how well written. One of the particularly strong recommendations in many human resource books is about empowerment. In fact, it is always a celebrated example how one store empowered their employees to do whatever is needed to make the customer happy -- including accepting a returned merchandise and replacing it even if the merchandise was not even bought in the store. Another example is about hotel employees who go out of their length to service the customer, even giving free upgrades and meals. In fact, there was one company who celebrated that they have no rulebook or policies, only that its employees use "common sense and judgment." The only problem is that common sense is just not so common at all. I am more inclined to think that in many industries, as well particularly in Asian cultures, people are more happy to work under an environment where things are more defined. I like better the business advice that, "As a manager, don't manage your people. Manage the system that in turn will manage your people. " In fact, one of the things I keep challenging is actually the rulebook when we were in the plane. I was in the last row of the seat, which was reclined. When it was time to land, everybody was asked to straighten up their seats. I can understand why everybody had to do it, but logically I didn't think I had to. I figure that the reason you straighten up your seat is that so anybody at the back will have a better way to exit just in case something goes wrong with the landing, but being in the last row, I felt it did not apply to me. Ditto with the opening of all windows upon take off and landing. I believe the reason to do that was so that a plane would be more visible when it lands at night, but then why do we also have to open all the blinds when landing even on the middle of the day?
Many times, rules in the company are similarly argued. We don't know why they are there, and some of them clearly have lost the reason to be there. But then just like in the airplane, people gain comfort in the presence, rather than absence of rules, and rules do make things much more clear. Rules like laws, are not perfect, and we should not try to spend too much time to make it so. At the end, it depends on how it is executed, and implemented, and I guess that will continue to be a challenge, and a reason why great managers or even great parents continue to be a treasure! 4:00:17 PM comment [] trackback []
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But then selective application on rules would be too complex for the thousands of flight attendants and millions of passengers. If you start applying exceptions, then you have to explain why, and people would complain why person A is allowed, and person B not allowed. So the expedient and fair process is to apply the rule to all -- everybody straightens the seat. Everybody pulls up their trays. Everybody don't use the cell phone upon entering the plane. Everybody pull up the blinds when told to do so. Everybody puts on the seat belts when instructed to. No discretion, no arguments.|
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Saturday, May 28, 2005 |
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Points to Ponder 3 ( on quotes) Here are some more of my musings as I read some quotations. I have just got some comments from well meaning people who think I have been too stingy and frugal. Maybe too conservative in managing my company. As budding entrepreneurs, especially if you are a startup, you should wear your stinginess ( as long as it is not in being stingy in rewarding and paying people) as a badge of honor. If you are trying to buy great cars, or decorate your office lavishly when you are still in the growth phase, you might be doing your company irreparable harm early which it will be hard to recover. Confucius advised us over 2 thousand years ago, " He who will not economize will have to agonize." Of course, the flipside of being advised, or criticized is to be flattered, and I also hear a lot of that. It is always important to remember, as Josh Billings said, that you should "treat flattery like cologne -- to be smelled, but not to be swallowed. "
And when we complained how we, as parents who have endured hardship, and that our children don't appreciate the value of money, here is Katharine Whitehorn's take, "The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any." From a parent, and a businessman, it would be good to learn what comes first -- and when we think of how many business people spent thousands of hours accumulating wealth only to be lost by their children who does not appreciate its value, it might makes sense that before you start to earn what you want to give to your children, teach them the proper skills to retain that money first. 5:44:01 PM comment [] trackback []
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And when criticized, you tended to be defensive, and is itching for an argument, remember |
Microsoft Makes Available KnowledgeBase through RSS ( on technology) If you are a heavy user of Microsoft products or a developer, you must have known that KnowledgeBase makes it incredibly easier for you to check out your issues against what others have already experienced, and allows you to understand the issue much faster. There are thousands of articles there. By now, you must have heard also about RSS ( Really Simple Syndication). It allows you to use a reader to pull the information into your computer instead of browsing the page one by one. The great news is that Microsoft is now providing RSS feeds for over hundreds of topics of their knowledgeBase. Check this site for the RSS feed Product Index Page. 5:22:57 PM comment [] trackback []
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Microsoft's next Big Boss? ( on technology) Here is a writeup about Eric Rudder, potentially, they say, the next big leader in Microsoft after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. How did he get the respect of Bill Gates, who is known to be very demanding? It says here that in 1992, Eric, then at 25 years old dared told Bill Gates that he was wrong, and showed him his mastery by outlining how. Bill Gates thought for a moment after hearing him out, and said, "You know what? I guess you're right..." Leaders are made of people who do their homework, who master the learning better than anybody else, and who is not afraid to be wrong. 4:02:13 PM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, May 24, 2005 |
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The Possibilities of MisCommunication ( on business) As an entrepreneur and a manager, have you felt that after meetings, in which you spent all your time talking to your managers and staff on what you would like to happen, you felt that only a portion of what you want to happen gets understood and even a smaller portion gets properly executed? I remembered talking to a business owner of a hotel in Dalian, China last year, and one of his examples struck me on why it is necessary most of the times, to properly document your expectations and standards to prevent miscommunication. "You are the general manager of the company, and let us say you only have 3 levels of management -- you, middle managers, and staff. You think about something great you want to happen to the company, and you start to visualize it, and try to share such. In your mind, it is now clear at 100%. However, unless you are a master communicator, you would most likely communicate only 80% of what you want. The middle management who is listening to you would most likely only understand 60% of the whole thing. Thinking that they have understood it, they proceeded to talk to the other employees on it, but they would only probably succeed to communicate part of it, or probably only 40% of the whole thing. The staff would probably understand only 20% of it, and depending on their ability, you will end up 0% or 10% of what you have on your mind successfully done!" Here is another nice anecdote on being misunderstood: It was mealtime during a trip on the plane. "Would you like dinner?" the flight attendant asked the man seated in front of me. "What are my choices?" he asked. "Yes or no," she replied. 6:39:19 PM comment [] trackback []
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Replicate the Problem First! ( on jokes) Here is something light... If you are from the software industry, you'll appreciate this one .... An engineer, a manager, and a computer programmer were driving down a steep hill when their brakes suddenly failed. They managed to avoid a serious accident by steering into a grassy bank, and immediately discussed how to fix it. "We need to organize a committee," said the manager. " That way, through a process of continuous improvement, we can develop a solution." "That will take too long, " pointed out the engineer, "Let's take apart the brake system, identify the problem and correct it." "You're both wrong!" interjected the programmer. "We should push the car back up the hill and see if it happens again." 6:33:39 PM comment [] trackback []
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Monday, May 23, 2005 |
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Points to Ponder 2 ( on quotes) Dr. Robert Schuller gives us another gem which gives us a better understanding on the person we really are when you ask this question to yourself . "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" The Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, gives us another food for thought, which actually is pretty obvious and common sensical... "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." Sydney Smith , an English clergyman of the 19th century, understands only too well what forms habits and opinions -- "Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out." And as entrepreneurs, as those who did everything to grow the company, including deliver the goods, collect the money, and sweep the floor, we are often overwhelmed when we finally grow big enough to meet the experts and the business elite. Here is one great advice, though I had failed to note who said it, "Don't be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world." 7:54:50 PM comment [] trackback []
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What is One Terabyte ( on technology) More and more, we are getting to work with more customers who request and need one terabyte systems. Lest we forget how big really a terabyte is, here is a good way to visualize it in vivid words. It is - - storage for 125,000 MP3 songs, or 1500 CDs. - equal to a 1.42 mile-high stack of 1.44 floppies - 2 weeks, 2 days, 19 hours, and 12 mins. of continuous DVD movies - if 1 byte is represented by 1 sheet of paper, it's a stack of paper 66,000 miles high. - if 1 byte represented 1 heartbeat, it's 2 minutes, 24 seconds worth of all the human heartbeats on earth. - 8,000 times more data than a human brain retains in a lifetime. - if 1 byte represented 1 grain of sand, it's enough sand to fill a 240 ton mining truck. 6:47:21 PM comment [] trackback []
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Friday, May 20, 2005 |
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A Great Puzzle! ( on readings) I am posting on reading reviews although this is not exactly a book, but something else --- a puzzle that took as much time to create and design as a book. It is a great puzzle designed by a Japanese. It is called the Crimson Room, and you should try it. According to the person who introduced it to me, you can get to register and email to the creator if you solve it ( get out of the room) , and though it has been posted for several months, and over a hundred thousand have tried it, only 4,000 are said to have successful solved it. You start off by being locked in the room, and you are supposed to find the 13 items that will get you out of the room. If you find: Try it. There is one clue that I have been asked to share, and it is "1994". Here is the link. Good luck! Would be great to hear about your experience here. 11:20:50 AM comment [] trackback []
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Are you hiring Smart or Wise People? ( on business) For the longest time, I focused our company's goal that we were going to hire smart people, smart people who are quick to make decisions, and who are eloquent to verbalize such. A readers opinion by Point Roberts of Washington in a recent Fortune magazine issue ( which I could not locate the electronic equivalent) gives pause for reflection. There IS a difference between being smart and wise, and as he pointed out, wisdom is now being replaced by smartness in the corporate world. That hit a raw nerve in me, and I can reckon many businesses I know also have the same issue without realizing it. The workplace of today is now focusing on hiring smart people who are tactical concrete thinkers who can make decisions quickly and sounds great. However, many of these decisions made on the snap subsequently turns out to have a poor understanding of the complexity and subtlety of various points of view that needs to be considered. A company should also hire wise people -- people who may make decisions not as fast, but tend to be more abstract and strategic thinkers, and who knows how to incorporate different factors into their decision making, a person who is cognizant that a decision can have good results but bad implications, a good short term result but a bad long term side effect, and who can understand a potential problem with the decision before it starts to stare right in the face. Wise people think more abstractly and strategically and incorporate more factors into their decision making. In a company where smarts are rewarded and eloquence is listened to, the CEO should not forget to listen to the insight that comes only from long reflection, study and contemplation. Today's near term focus and emphasis on speed results in rewards to smart people and to look for smart people. The problem of course, is many smart people are not wise at all. Where is wisdom? 10:44:59 AM comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, May 19, 2005 |
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Its the Software, Stupid! ( on technology) I remembered a few years back I was visiting some cities in China with a Hong Kong friend, and commented on the rapid beautification and transformation of the various cities there. He then commented that China still has a long way to go, that while skyscrappers were going up all over the place, it was all hardware and no software. What he meant that in spite of the great buildings and roads that you see around, China still has a long way to go because the people's skills and thinking ( the software) will take a long time to transform than the hardware. So while Shenzhen looks every bit as impressive as Hong Kong, or Shanghai every bit like New York, the comparison ends there. Beneath the impressive glass buildings, the software still needs a lot of retooling and works. Recently, I have read Thomas Friedman, a noted New York Times journalist commented it in even greater detail in his book, Lexus and the Olive Tree, which talks about the trends of globalization.
In fact, he compared the country to the basic choices you get in the computer. First, he says, is the hardware, which for him was the actual shell around the economy. Here, he says, is whether the country choose to have a free-market economy or a communist one, or something in between. Basically like the computer war, the hardware war is over --- people all over the world have chosen that it would be the capitalist , laissez faire market economy.
What is the competition now of nations is how well they implement the " operating system" of the hardware, and also the software application itself ( which essentially and paradoxically is the same issue in the world of IT -- it is the software plus how it is properly implemented and executed that counts. Hardware nowadays is almost a non-issue). A large number of countries, including countries in South America, Eastern Europe and all over Asia now are adopting the basic hardware of liberalized markets, but many of them are not implementing the software components or managing it effectively.
What does " software" consititute? It is the measure of all things that fall broadly in the category of the rule of law, and the degree of which its officials and citizens understand, embrace and make it work. It includes banking laws, commercial laws, contract laws, business codes of conduct, property rights, judicial integrity, accounting standards, regulatory agencies, and others. As he say, the hardware is easy, but the software works is difficult.
It is easy to open a stock market, but the challenge is really how to enforce the law so that it will protect also the people and its investors. It is easy to permit free press. What is difficult is to establish a free yet responsible and credible press. It is easy to open up a country to importation liberalization. What is difficult is how to put the process to execute it properly so that local manufacturers, and even legitimate importers will not get burned.
Similarly for businesses, the argument is no longer that you should have a good inventory and logistics system. Rather it is how comprehensive and well-implemented your whole process become. There is no more argument that you should computerize your payroll system, but rather how well it is executed. Merely having one is no longer a competitive edge, because everybody is supposed to have one. Database and groupware systems abound, but how well the features work together in enhancing communications, and retaining as well as presenting important information and analysis so that data becomes intelligence and a source of important decision making will determine the winners.
The software challenge continues, for countries and governments, as well as businesses. The challenge and the winners will be determined how countries and businesses choose and execute the various aspects of the software.
In most business situations, similar challenges are -- whether you are talking about technology, music, movies, and others. Software determines the hardware. There is a similar cry that what will make a person valuable is not anymore his technical skills, but his soft skills.
I close with a quote from Lao Tzu ( although made in another context, and with a different presumption) , made over two thousand years ago, but as relevant today , "The softest things inthe world overcome the hardest things in the world".
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005 |
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Points to Ponder 1 ( on quotes) I've decided not only to put in my favorite business quotes, but to write it in such a way that I put in also my own. This morning, I was thinking, "what if one of the better ways to know how your employees think about money is to put a 5 cent coin near the lobby and see how many would bother to pick it up? ". I am thinking on how your employee views money could give you a good clue on how to help them succeed in life. I have been thinking on where I want to expand the market for my products, and this quote of Claude Bastiat is something that gives food for thought, "....that it is better to endure competition for rich customers than to be invested with monopoly over impoverished customers. ". This is advice given in the 19th century. Would you think it is still true? Here is another quote from famous coach, Lombardi, that support my posting on being tough, "let me tell you what winning means - you're willing to go longer, work harder , and give more than anyone else." And here is the greatest advice from Hubbard on how to multiply your money, " The safest way to double your money is to fold it over an dput it in your pocket. " In short, save it, I think. This coincides with the advice of Benjamin Franklin, "The Road to Wealth is as plain as the way to market. Waste neither time nor money ... ". After all , you increase your money by the difference of what comes in, and what goes out... 3:30:41 PM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, May 17, 2005 |
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Being Tough on Yourself ( on life) When I was growing up, one of my favorite books was Robert Schuller's , "Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do. " I have had the fortune to have had a tough life, which has molded me to the person I am today. One of the quotes I treasure, and the reason I advocated slow rise to success in a previous post is the "the skills you learn on your rise to success are the skills that will keep you there. " In fact, if you read most of my posting here, you will note that I am an advocate on being tough - on ourselves, and on our loved ones. Another quote I believed sincrely was , "Be tough on yourself, and Life will be easier on you. " What does the quote mean? It means... If you discipline yourself to spend money wisely, then you will have less problems on not having enough money. Sometimes, it is really because we become too easy on ourselves, that we encounter life's toughest problems... 8:33:18 PM comment [] trackback []
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IBM sets Blogging Guidelines ( on tech) Blogging made it to the front page cover of Fortune and BusinessWeek the last few weeks. After claims that Sun and Microsoft each now have thousands of bloggers, IBM claims they have 3,097 bloggers in the internal network, and publicly issues guidelines to all their employees. 8:17:56 PM comment [] trackback []
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Envy ( on life) One of the things that is preventing us from becoming better and happier is envy, which is one of the deadly sins. We need to free our reins from never ending comparison with others. When a person from a developing country looks at a person from a developed country, he cannot understand why that person could be unhappy since from his standards, the person already has everything he does not have, and which he considered to be necessities for having a good life. However, more often than not, we are unhappy and under pressure, not because we don't have enough, but we yearn to have more, because the neighbor has more. This is underscored by a quote by a famous executive in the IT industry who is believed to have said, "It is not enough that we succeed. Our competitors have also to fail. " This was also believed to have been true even in communist countries. This was supposedly an anecdote that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev told US Secretary of State James Baker III about the difficulty Russia has in its psychological transition to capitalism, after so many years of communism... " A Russian peasant finds a lamp by the side of the road, and rubs it. Out pops a genie. The genie tells the peasant he will grant him any wish. The peasant tells the genie, "you know, I have only three cows, but my neighbor Igor has ten cows." "Would you like twenty cows?" , the genie asked. "No, " says the peasant." I want you to kill seven of Igor's cows". I am not saying we should not benchmark ourselves, our abilities, and our performance with others. That is healthy competition, and spurs you to do better. But do we need also to compare also the size of our diamonds?
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Saturday, May 14, 2005 |
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If You are Remembered to be Rich ( on life ) I noted that there are many people who spend a lot of time solely getting rich, or showing people that they are rich. Is that all we want to be remembered by? If the only thing people will remember you by was that you were moneyed and rich, does that mean you have had a successful life? Wouldn't you rather be known for something else? As a caring parent, a learned educator, a respected businessman, a great storyteller, an effective manager, an eloquent speaker, a generous benefactor to the community, an accomplished tennis player, a loyal friend, a sought after chef, a noted linguist, an engaging blogger , etc. Wouldn't it be a good idea to start spending time on the things you want to be eventually remembered for? 2:40:15 PM comment [] trackback []
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Making Your Partner Win ( on business) My friend, Kaleem Aziz, likes to sign his email with the tagline, "Unless we all win, we all lose." Which I remembered was the same answer I gave when I was being interviewed in a TV talk show recently, and asked, " what is the secret of your business' success?" I told them " We look at our customers as our partners. We recognize that if we win, and they don't, they won't stay as our customers for long. But if we make them win by doing business with us, then they will keep coming back." This morning, I was in a wedding, and what i said came back to me. And I found out that principles used in business are akin to the principles used in life. ( which is the basic reason why sometimes I categorize business principles as life principles in this blog, or vice versa). In a marriage, there are no winners or losers. Either both of you win, or both of you lose. I have always heard friends say proudly that they win in their marriage when their spouse gave in to them without they giving in in return. However, I believe that is not a long term solution. Sooner or later, when one side is unhappy, something will give, and when that time comes, both sides lose. Create Win-wins. Help your customers meet their numbers, and they will work to help you meet yours. Make your partner happy, and they will most certainly do the same. 1:59:05 PM comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, May 12, 2005 |
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Gauge of Success ( on life) I was on Paul Allen's website when one of his post made me think. Yes, what if one of the best gauge of business and life success is: - how many people do you have on your address book? And how many would return your call? 9:17:42 PM comment [] trackback []
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Tuesday, May 10, 2005 |
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When your Back is Against the Wall ( on business) My father passed away when I was 23. At that age, I had to take over the business. So early in life, when I should have been learning and training more, I had my hat in the ring, starting to slugging it out in the business world. For the longest time, I yearn that I would have an opportunity like my counterparts -- the opportunity to be fully learned and prepared before being tossed to the ring, and the opportunity to have a big and moneyed sponsor on the back where I could learn, and commit mistakes, and it would not hurt my own pocket. But I did not have that luxury, and I had to learn as I go -- and paying for my own mistakes. They say a wise man learns from other people's experiences or at least from other people's expense, but I did not the chance to be wise. So I want to make sure that my own children ( which parent does not want it?) will not have the same shock as we have, and does not undergo the same challenge and hardship. But is it a good strategy? Many of today's people who have not meet hardship, who think of safety nets before attempting anything, may not be able to develop the backbone to face a lot of today's hardships. I always joke there is a problem when your children considers their most traumatic experience as that being stranded in an airport for 4 hours. Believe, me, nothing motivates you to work harder, educates faster, or make you learn a more memorable lesson that if your back is against the wall, when it is yours to lose, or when it would pull you back much if you don't win. Do you agree? But are we willing to create the challenges that would allow our children to have a stronger backbone? 7:20:37 PM comment [] trackback []
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Sunday, May 08, 2005 |
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Let me feel Important ( on life) My eldest son ( age 11) thinks his two younger brothers are nuisances. My second son ( age 9) thinks the youngest ( age 4) is also a nuisance to him. For parents of 2 or more children, I guess this is not something that is alien to you. Sibling rivalry happens, no matter how you manage them. The youngest one, for instance, wants to get everything his brothers have. When we buy some books for the first one, he also wants to have his book ( even if he does not know how to read). He also wants to play with the computer ( even if he does not know how to operate). He wants to get his share of TV, his share of food, his share of toys, and his share of attention. He plays with the video machine, or the computer and does not know what exactly is the objective of the game. But he gains pleasure in able to control the movements, and influence the cursor. His constant scream is "Let me participate. Let me be part of it. Let me feel important! See me influence and control the computer and do this! I want to do everything my brother does, and I can do it better! " When we grow up, we will be able to do a better job to mask our emotions, and we will also be able to reveal less of our natural selves especially if we are not with our own family. But the constant scream in all of us , "I want to be part, I am as important and as capable a member than anybody, I want to feel important" will still be there, and is an important need for everybody and ourselves that we need to recognize if we want to be successful in our interrelationships. History is replete with examples how people will go to great lengths and sacrifices to assert their pride and dignity. We all have this innate need to feel that we matter. The person who knows how to manage this within himself, and in his interrelationships with others will be the more successful manager and businessman. 10:35:20 PM comment [] trackback []
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Saturday, May 07, 2005 |
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Technology and ROI ( techdrivenlife)
I was talking to a top executive of an international computer services company. They now use and buy a lot of Microsoft products, and he was informing me that it may be possible that they are considering some open source products to be able to save on licenses. The following are some of the details of the things that we talked about .. <more > 6:13:51 PM comment [] trackback []
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Thursday, May 05, 2005 |
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Warren Buffet's Advice to Students ( on business) I've been following up the blog, MBA in Australia which is a great resource about a student and his experiences and expectations in getting an MBA degree. He also gave me a great link on excerpts of Buffet's advice to students in the Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth. Here are some takes: - Who are the people you want to do business with? Who you DON'T want to do business with? Evidently the people you want to be with is probably someone who is honest, courageous and dependable; the person you don't want to be with are those that are egotistical and likes to take credit. The point is that thse are ELECTIVE qualities, not anything you were born with. You CAN choose to be dependable or not. So ask yourself, "Who is the person I want to become?". Because the person you want to become are also the one with qualities you are looking for other people. You already hold the winning tickets. - A great example on how to run a business properly is probably the best legacy you can leave behind. 'If what I've done with Berkshire Hathaway - running a unique and independent company in true pursuit of shareholder value - persists and people learn from it to improve the way they invest and run their companies, that would be a fine legacy to leave.' - "Stay within your circle of competence." Clearly much of my (Mr. Buffett's) success has stemmed from my disciplined focus on investing in businesses that I understand and avoiding those that I don't. - "There's no free lunch. If you're willing to roll the dice on a business or life decision, then you should be willing to accept a wider range of outcomes, including failure." -"The meaning of life is to do everything you can to make sure the people you care about love you back." comment [] trackback []
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005 |
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Quotes to Live By ( my favorite quotes) What matters is not ideas, but the people who have them. Good people can fix bad ideas, but good ideas can't save bad people .......................... Paul Graham Do not go silently into that good night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light ........ Dylan Thomas Insurmountable is a word we ripped out of the dictionary years ago. At EDS, we love a challenge and the bigger it is, the more we dig in until its solved. Its what makes us who we are. Each day over 120,000 EDS employees go to work, roll up their sleeves and do whatever it takes to make sure our clients are well served. Each day they bring with them a tenacious can do spirit and an uncompromising commitment to service. Each day they're the reason we've never faced a challenge we haven't been able to rise above... EDS. Manpower. Brainpower. Willpower.....................EDS advertisement The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they're too heavy to be broken...... Bertrand Russell. A nation which indulges in pretty dresses, nice food, physical enjoyment and expensive fashions can never succeed in establishing a strong nation..... Gen Masaharu Homma, Japanese conquerer of manila and bataan 1942 10:34:42 AM comment [] trackback []
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Monday, May 02, 2005 |
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Protecting Your Data ( the techdrivenlife) If you are like many of the people I know, you probably use a computer in the office, but also have a notebook or another 1 or 2 computers in the house. The office computer is not a problem -- professional administrators protect and secure the network, makes sure it is running smoothly, and takes care to backup the necessary files religiously. The problem is your notebook computer or the one in your house. People I know hold a lot of personal data and software in these machines, and until recently, relied on the absolute reliability of their computers not failing, and dreading the day their hard disk may suddenly fail. Many use thumb drives (from 128 mb to 1 gig) and also have most of their data on it. But when the crash day comes, you will be sure that many installed programs and many larger data ( like pictures or music files) otherwise not in the MyDocuments folder will be lost. What the person really wants to back up is not the few important megabytes but most of his files, which can easily be 5 to 20 gigabytes -- still not in the province of most thumb drives. I currently use an 40 gig mini hard disk connected through a USB2.0 external adapter ( cost -- less than $100) . It is as big as a small packet of cigarettes which makes it easy to carry along, and it is big enough to backup multiple computers, including store my music and picture files.
If you run Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you will find on right clicking on the hard disk, that there is a Windows facility to backup the whole hard disk, including all your system files and configuration. Of course, as personal users, we don't use backup tapes, and until recently, it was expensive to backup a hard disk so this program was hardly useful. But with advent of cheap and big hard disks with low priced enclosures, you may want to give this a try.
As a reader, tell me about your experience and the utility you use. And also tell me if you are just relying on a prayer that your hard disk will continue to be alive and well. 6:19:06 PM comment [] trackback []
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Sunday, May 01, 2005 |
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Promoting the Best Doers to Become Managers ( on business) One of the dilemmas in management is the tendency to promote our best producers to managers. The best programmers become the development head, and the best sales people invariably gets to become sales manager, etc. There are pitfalls in it since the skills and focus needed are not the same. Here is a great post by Michael Jones entitled Producers vs. Managers. He follows it up with another post that selfless management is the key to solve that. 11:48:56 AM comment [] trackback []
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How to Impress People ( on life) It was Feb 2005 and it was the finals for the selection of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. There were 17 of us finalists. The organizers decided to give us 2 hour slots. Mine was going to be 10 to 12 noon. I was to go to the studio to get some pictorials, do some videos for promotion, as well as do interviews. I could not imagine the painstaking effort of over 20 people in the studio to prepare and work to get a good 2 minute video. But happily it went well. After the shot, it was nearing 12, and the studio had prepared lunch -- for myself, the organizers, and also the film crew. It was customary for them to have lunch together with the candidates, and the lunch was also prepared just in case the shot might dragged to the afternoon. The director asked me politely whether I would like to invite my driver in so that we could all have lunch together. I sheepishly replied that since I was out of town, I had come in a cab. Oh, he said somewhat not knowing what to say. After lunch, they politely offered me a chauffeur and a car to drive me back to the hotel. At length, I found out that I was the only candidate who had come in a cab -- the other candidates had come in chauffered driven cars. I was a little bit embarassed, and swore that next time, I would do a harder job on impressing people. Happily, I did win in one of the categories, and don't know whether that little car incident impressed them in the right or wrong way. To impress or not to impress... For years now, my family has been egging me to get a new car -- I currently drive a Honda Accord that is over 8 years old. It is still a good and comfy car, but they keep telling me that there are business customers that I need to impress... But there was an incident a few weeks ago that made me convinced that driving an old car can bring better peace of mind. I was slowing the car when suddenly I got bumped at the back. I stopped, and noted that a taxi had rammed me slightly and had dented my fender. I raised my head, and saw that it was driven by somebody who was nearing 65, and obviously scared. In our place, most taxis are not covered properly by insurance, and thus, in many collision cases, it sometimes became the liability of the driver who was at fault. He was obviously at fault, and I could see the twitch in his face thinking where he was going to get the money to pay me. I surveyed the damage, and in that instant, I said to myself -- hey, my car can take this, and I can take this.... so I told the driver it was OK. No need to pay or to worry. You could imagine the relief in his face, and that picture is still clear on my mind today. I feel good the whole day, that I was able to be generous. And I said to myself, I would have agonized long and hard if it was a new car. So who do you want to impress, and how do you impress them? I can say that It felt good to impress people whom you were not expecting favors or returns. And maybe the best way to impress people is when they know you were not consciously trying to. I can remember stories of Microsoft's Bill Gates who long after he became a billionaire still took economy, Walmart's Sam Walton who drove a pickup when he could afford better, or stories of Bill Clinton who sported a digital TMX watch worth less than a hundred dollars. Would people have been more impressed if he had worn a 50 thousand dollar watch? 4:08:31 PM comment [] trackback []
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Last update: 7/11/2005; 9:54:45 AM .
