At an Inc. 500 conference a few years ago, I heard a great speech with a message that every entrepreneur should take to heart. The speaker was Jamie Clarke, a mountaineer and former cross-country ski champion who writes books and gives inspirational talks when he's not out on one of his expeditions. He was telling the story of his first climb to the top of Mount Everest. Whenever you embark on a great undertaking like that, he said, it's important to keep your goal--your real goal--in mind. So what was his real goal? You might suppose that it was to reach the summit, but you'd be wrong. The real goal, he said, was to come back alive.
Norm Brodsky on the importance of knowing your real goal.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Bare Feet case
The Pennsylvania Employment Law Letter on a court permitting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to sue on behalf of an employee who didn't file an EEOC complaint.
Milky Way Mystery
Costa Tsiokas at Population Statistic has tracked down the explanation for that very strange Milky Way commercial in which the rejected guy's candy bar turns into a beautiful girl.
Apparently, the ad is popular with younger viewers.
[Costa didn't reveal how much of his investigation was spent on the model's web site.]
Apparently, the ad is popular with younger viewers.
[Costa didn't reveal how much of his investigation was spent on the model's web site.]
The Gap
Arnold Kling looks at the recently publicized gap between American and British health care and zeroes in on the way medicine is practiced in the United States.
It's a good article but he may be underestimating how fear of malpractice suits can cause American doctors to order extra tests that would not be required or even available in other countries.
It's a good article but he may be underestimating how fear of malpractice suits can cause American doctors to order extra tests that would not be required or even available in other countries.
Dream or Nightmare?
Fortune has a great article on why dream teams fail.
(Remember the U.S. basketball team at the last Olympics?)
What I've noticed: Team members assume that they have to hustle less because their hugely talented associates will cover for them. Team members provide less rigid analysis because of the same reason. Team members operate more as independent agents and less as dependent team members. And finally, they believe their own publicity and underestimate the competition.
(Remember the U.S. basketball team at the last Olympics?)
What I've noticed: Team members assume that they have to hustle less because their hugely talented associates will cover for them. Team members provide less rigid analysis because of the same reason. Team members operate more as independent agents and less as dependent team members. And finally, they believe their own publicity and underestimate the competition.
Looking at the Advisors
Now the respected outside law firm that advised Enron is starting to get serious attention. An excerpt from the Business Week article:
But documents and transcripts reviewed by BusinessWeek indicate that V&E attorneys had doubts about the legitimacy of Enron's business practices. Sometimes they even made light of the company's aggressive accounting. At the end of 1997, as Enron scrambled to complete a series of deals aimed partly at burnishing its financials, it dumped a pile of paperwork on V&E. On Christmas Eve, Dilg sent an e-mail to buck up his beleaguered troops. It contained a poem, which read in part: "no sooner than you could say 'mark to market'/Our client's year end financials began to sparkle." That passage referred to Enron's use of mark-to-market accounting, which allowed it to recognize the entire revenues from a 20-year gas contract, say, in the first year.
But documents and transcripts reviewed by BusinessWeek indicate that V&E attorneys had doubts about the legitimacy of Enron's business practices. Sometimes they even made light of the company's aggressive accounting. At the end of 1997, as Enron scrambled to complete a series of deals aimed partly at burnishing its financials, it dumped a pile of paperwork on V&E. On Christmas Eve, Dilg sent an e-mail to buck up his beleaguered troops. It contained a poem, which read in part: "no sooner than you could say 'mark to market'/Our client's year end financials began to sparkle." That passage referred to Enron's use of mark-to-market accounting, which allowed it to recognize the entire revenues from a 20-year gas contract, say, in the first year.
An Ounce of Prevention
William P. Bundy once said that Americans have a Pearl Harbor mentality; i.e., they wait until things blow up before they do anything about them.
I've noticed that in consulting. The organizations that need us the most will use us the least and, when they do, it is often in response to a crisis. Someone may have said earlier, "Let's do X before it blows up," but when someone else said, "Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," that was the death knell. The problem was put away and people could pretend that it was safe.
I don't intend to sing the virtues of prevention. We all know that tune. My point is more of a question: Why do we postpone addressing matters until they become worse?
Some possible reasons are:
I've noticed that in consulting. The organizations that need us the most will use us the least and, when they do, it is often in response to a crisis. Someone may have said earlier, "Let's do X before it blows up," but when someone else said, "Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," that was the death knell. The problem was put away and people could pretend that it was safe.
I don't intend to sing the virtues of prevention. We all know that tune. My point is more of a question: Why do we postpone addressing matters until they become worse?
Some possible reasons are:
- Denial that it is a problem
- Laziness
- Budget concerns
- Fear of losing control
- Fear that the solution will be worse than the problem
- Disclaiming responsibility
- Love of the excitement that comes with a crisis
- Fear of success
- Self-loathing
- Confrontation avoidance
Can you think of any others?
Globalization Blog
Daniel Altman, a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, has started a blog on managing globalization.
Check it out.
Check it out.
Double Standard?
A Newsweek article on how Mexico treats its immigrants:
There's ample precedent in Mexico for just about everything the United States is—or isn't—doing. Calling out the military? Mexicans may hate the new U.S. plan to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops on the border, but five years ago they cheered President Vicente Fox for sending thousands of Mexican soldiers to crack down on their southern frontier. Tougher laws? Hispanic-rights groups are enraged over U.S. efforts to criminalize undocumented aliens—yet since 1974, sneaking into Mexico has been punishable by up to two years in prison. Foot-dragging on amnesty? Fox has spent the past five years urging the United States to upgrade the status of millions of illegals from Mexico. Meanwhile, his own government has given legal status to only 15,000 foreigners without papers.
[ HT: www.2blowhards.com ]
Quote of the Day
When you have completed 95% of your journey you are halfway there.
- Japanese proverb
- Japanese proverb
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