Book Short: Long on Platitudes, Short on Value I approached Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters, by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson, with great enthusiasm, as Porras was co-author, along with Jim Collins, of two of my favorite business books of all time, Built to Last and Good to Great. I was very disappointed in the end. This wasn’t really a business book, despite its marketing and hype. At best, it was a poor attempt at doing what Malcolm Gladwell just did in Outliers in attempting to zero in on the innate, learned, and environmental qualities that drive success. The book had some reasonably good points to make and definitely some great quotes, but it…
Archives / January, 2009
Symbolism in Action
Symbolism in Action A couple months ago, I wrote about how the idiots who run the Big 3 US automakers in Detroit don’t have a clue about symbolism — the art or the science of it. Yesterday, I wrote about how I think the non-headcount cuts to G&A that we’re making at Return Path during these challenging economic times will be positive for the company in the long run. The two topics are closely related. Obama announces on Day 1 that White House staffers who make more than $100k won’t be getting a pay raise this year. Presumably all of those people just started their jobs on January 20 and wouldn’t be eligible for a raise until 2010. Return Path…
Living With Less…For Good?
Living With Less…For Good? Like all companies, Return Path is battening down the hatches a bit on expenses these days. Our business is very strong and still growing nicely, but in this environment, the specter of disaster looms large, so there's no reason not to be more cautious and more profitable. We weren't an extravagant company before this, and we never have been. But there is almost always room to save. Less travel, leaner budgets for office cafeterias, no more pilates classes in the Colorado office. We've been very clear internally that our three priorities are protecting everyone's job, everyone's salary, and everyone's health benefits. Hopefully things continue to go well and those can remain sacrosanct. We are now a…
Angry, Defiant, and Replete with Poor Grammar
Angry, Defiant, and Replete with Poor Grammar I didn’t see Bush’s farewell address on TV on Thursday, but Mariquita and I did see his press conference on Monday. It was exactly what you’d expect it to be and quite frankly just like the last eight years: angry, defiant, and replete with poor grammar. I’ve said repeatedly that I think Bush has destroyed the Republican party and will go down in history as one of the worst presidents this country has ever had, if not the worst. It’s not surprising that his tone at the end is as the title of this post describes. But it is a shame. His whole administration is a shame. The really sad part is that…
Fig Wasp #879
Fig Wasp #879 I have 7 categories of books in my somewhat regular reading rotation: Business (the only one I usually blog about), American History with a focus on the founding period, Humor, Fiction with a focus on trash, Classics I’ve Missed, Architecture and Urban Planning (my major), and Evolutionary Biology. I’m sure that statement says a lot about me, though I am happy to not figure it out until later in life. Anyway, I just finished another fascinating Richard Dawkins book about evolution, and while I usually don’t blog about non-business books, this one had an incredibly rich metaphor with several business lessons stemming from it, plus, evolution is running rampant in our household this week, so I figured,…
Bundle of Elyse
Bundle of ElyseMariquita and I are pleased to introduce our newest family member, Elyse Joy Blumberg, who arrived this evening! Quite an experience today – just doesn't get boring, no matter how many you go through. The official announcement is here.
Book Short: Two New Ones from Veteran Writers
Book Short: Two New Ones from Veteran Writers I’m feeling very New York this week. I just read both Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, and Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America, by Tom Friedman. Both are great, and if you like the respective authors’ prior works, are must reads. In Outliers, Gladwell’s simple premise is that talents are both carefully cultivated and subject to accidents of fate as much as they are genetic. I guess that’s not such a brilliant premise when you look at it like that. But as with his other two books, The Tipping Point (about how trends and social movements start and…