Why is a good question to ask. Asking why three times is even better. It exposes our weaknesses as human beings. Ricardo Semler, President of Semco in Brazil, asked why three times for just about everything that is conventional about business and created a unique way of doing business. He shares his insights in his speech at MIT. His book, Maverick, is even better. It’s worth taking the 48 minutes to listen to him.
Microsoft was born on April 4, 1975. The two partners at the time: Paul Allen and Bill Gates. What was the relationship like and how did the company get started. Paul Allen gives his side of the story in an article in Vanity Fair called Microsoft’s Odd Couple. It’s a good read.
Sometimes it’s good to remember that it’s just good to be alive. Two men celebrate after being pulled out from a destroyed building in Christchurch Wednesday 24 hours after the earthquake
It’s fun to play tricks on others. There’s the setup. The time when you wonder if it will work. You think through all the ways that the trick will be spoiled and guard against it. Then there’s the execution of the trick. The reckoning of the planning. It will either work or it wont. If it does, there will be stories to be told. If it doesn’t, there will be a little bit of laughter. But it will be forgotten.
Driscoll Middle School played a big trick in a football game. One that has been viewed over 12 million times on YouTube. It only takes 27 seconds to watch.
This looks pretty innocent. My first thought when I watched it was “heh, heh good one.” But my favorite sports writer, Frank Deford, doesn’t think so (Middle School Trick is No Laughing Matter). Come to find out that the adult coach planned this all out and took part in the trick. Frank says,
… it was only the other team’s kids who were embarrassed and belittled by a children’s coach being a wise guy, a bully of sorts. It wasn’t genius at all. Sure, it was legal, but it wasn’t fair. Laugh at kids being outslicked by a grown-up, and you’re cruel. That isn’t sport.
So there was more to the story. There always is. And it isn’t nice. I guess i need to be more careful when I see something that looks like genius..
I really don’t know if that’s the right title for this post. I’ve dabbled at blogging here and there, but never seriously. I started up a blog a few years ago. I mostly wrote my thoughts about the legal industry. i don’t remember why, but I gave up on it after a few months. I started up another blog related to the work I did for my consulting company. I stopped writing after the consulting company didn’t take off liked I hoped.
Since that time I’ve had the urge a number of times to write a blog. But I always struggled with whether I would write in my professional capacity as an attorney or would write more personally. I have a lot of thoughts about the practice of law and the legal industry to share. But I don’t really want to mix my professional life and my personal life.
So, I’ve settle on just writing about my personal interests. I’ll write about my experiences in Alaska, my interest in WordPress, my attempts at design, running, cross country skiing, and the likes.
I’m determined to keep this going. I introduced my wife to blogging about five years ago and she has faithfully and regularly posted to her blog Scribbit since that time. So I’ll try to be more like her.
