The WSJ today contained book reviews of recently published books purporting to be studies tracking the causes of spectacular failures both of executives and companies. Hmm.
Nothing new or surprising to fans and stalkers of this humble observer.
The chief reason cited for smart executives to fail is blindness. We are not talking about ocular malfunction here, friends. We are talking about the inability to see things as they really are. People, events, data that do not conform to the ego expectation of the Emperor.
It is the fatal flaw of ego driven leaders that causes failure for themselves, and for their companies when unchallenged by the board. Look at WorldComm and Enron, look at Martha Stuart, Arther Anderson, Saddam Hussein and many others.
Companies and regimes that have developed empire egoes are likely to blindly enter into destructive mergers (AOL/Time Warner) or lose focus (Polaroid) or just lose good people, like my last employer. Doomed, I tell you, they are all doomed!
8/27/2003
8/21/2003
The Road Not taken
Life is a series of choices, decisions and moments. I believe that the paths we travel during our lives are not predetermined, but instead are highly volatile. Every day the newspapers are full of stories about the choices people make. A tragic story in todays's Globe - two teenage girls are killed when the car they are riding in crashes into a stone wall. They had been walking home just a few moments earlier, and had accepted a ride from a friend. Life would have been different had they declined the ride. Last year, there was a story about two couples who happened to meet the Great White band leader at a tattoo parlor. The band member gave them free tickets to the performance that terrible night at the nightclub in Rhode Island. Three of the four were among the hundred who died that night in the fire.
These are unhappy examples of the ways a small ad hoc decision or choice can take you down a wrong path. There are just as many stories about people who had good things happen to them because of a chance event. On a whim, a Brookline man decided to buy a $2 scratch ticket at the convenience store yielded a winning ticket for $50,000. Many people have been in the right place at the right time, when good fortune smiled. Hmm. I can't really think of any others, but I am pretty sure there are more inspirational stories.
Until I can think of more positive reasons to go outside, I believe I will just stay inside today and crank up the air conditioning. Who knows what evil lurks outside.
These are unhappy examples of the ways a small ad hoc decision or choice can take you down a wrong path. There are just as many stories about people who had good things happen to them because of a chance event. On a whim, a Brookline man decided to buy a $2 scratch ticket at the convenience store yielded a winning ticket for $50,000. Many people have been in the right place at the right time, when good fortune smiled. Hmm. I can't really think of any others, but I am pretty sure there are more inspirational stories.
Until I can think of more positive reasons to go outside, I believe I will just stay inside today and crank up the air conditioning. Who knows what evil lurks outside.
8/16/2003
Fire and Rain
This week I had a gig as a Freelance Lab Monkey. Some researchers over at McLean Hospital ( the high-end nut house where James Taylor woke up one morning and found out Suzanne was gone) are studying a group of volunteers to see what role heredity plays in obesity and eating disorders. They were paying $200 for a 2 hour interview and test. Hell I never was much good at math but that's like $100 per hour. Not bad wages for an unemployed fat guy.
They wanted to know if I was fat just because I ate too much, or was I a binge eater who had uncontrollable feelings around food. I admitted that there were two foods I am 'out of control' around: Beer and Bacon. This was not what they are looking for. They want psychos who unconsciously eat a whole box of cookies or an entire gallon of ice cream, and then feel bad about it.
I rarely feel bad about my gluttony. I am not responsible, since I probably inherited some gene from my ancestors, all of whom were fat. The Irish gene that evolved as a response to the famines, no doubt. Hey, don't laugh. Next time the terrorists destroy the power grid and the world goes crazy, you skinny bastards will be dropping like flies, and I'll just live off stored fat, and getting buff in the bargain.
The researcher shrink who interviewed me seemed a bit disappointed that I was not able to report more trauma and angst in my life. (eg, most morbid fear: running out of bacon). I guess people with heavy duty psychosis tend to eat a lot. I admit to having a modest closet full of my own idiosynchronies, mind you - but I am clearly minor league, compared to the issues of the true manic overeaters. They also will also interview my siblings, each of whom will receive $200 also. My brother was delighted. He said "Hell, I'd pay two hundred just to get someone listen to me talk for two hours."
Next week I have another freelance opportunity - to record burps for a novelty recording studio in Medford. Maybe I'll stop by the new Krispy Kreme donut shop while I am in the area.
The employment scene is looking pretty good!
They wanted to know if I was fat just because I ate too much, or was I a binge eater who had uncontrollable feelings around food. I admitted that there were two foods I am 'out of control' around: Beer and Bacon. This was not what they are looking for. They want psychos who unconsciously eat a whole box of cookies or an entire gallon of ice cream, and then feel bad about it.
I rarely feel bad about my gluttony. I am not responsible, since I probably inherited some gene from my ancestors, all of whom were fat. The Irish gene that evolved as a response to the famines, no doubt. Hey, don't laugh. Next time the terrorists destroy the power grid and the world goes crazy, you skinny bastards will be dropping like flies, and I'll just live off stored fat, and getting buff in the bargain.
The researcher shrink who interviewed me seemed a bit disappointed that I was not able to report more trauma and angst in my life. (eg, most morbid fear: running out of bacon). I guess people with heavy duty psychosis tend to eat a lot. I admit to having a modest closet full of my own idiosynchronies, mind you - but I am clearly minor league, compared to the issues of the true manic overeaters. They also will also interview my siblings, each of whom will receive $200 also. My brother was delighted. He said "Hell, I'd pay two hundred just to get someone listen to me talk for two hours."
Next week I have another freelance opportunity - to record burps for a novelty recording studio in Medford. Maybe I'll stop by the new Krispy Kreme donut shop while I am in the area.
The employment scene is looking pretty good!
8/09/2003
Waiting for opportunity to knock
I had an "interview" the other day. Actually an invitation to join a group that is starting a company to sell CRM software and customization services to mid-size companies. I know the guy who is leading the effort and he has a good track record. They like my experience as application development project manager and IT relationships management. The team he has assembled is a good mix of young and wizened smart guys and the market for these products is hot.
If I was ten years younger, I would be delighted to have the chance to be part of the Leadership a successful enterprise, but at age 61, I am tired of striving, playing politics, shutting-up when the boss is clearly wrong, being told what to do and how to do it, bullshitting, being bullshitted, sitting in meetings, and wearing business clothes. (Ok. I still like to sling the bullshit, but not for political reasons).
So I am passing-up on the opportunity to be a founding member of the startup phase, mainly because the work in the initial stages consists of selling. I am a poor sales agent.
I am too much of a Buddhist:
I do not overcome objections, I accept them meekly and move on.
I do not ask for the order, I wait patiently for the prospect to make an intelligent decision in my favor and then call me with their requested quantities.
I hate to bother people when they are "busy".
( BTW: I find that most people who characterize themselves as "busy" are actually filling time with unimportant tasks to make themselves feel important)
I am intimidated when I meet business people who seem to be intelligent and thoughtful about their information needs. (ok, this is a rare event, but it happens)
When asked a question about a product's fitness for a particular purpose, I usually respond truthfully - which is a definite drawback in the sales profession.
I know about these things because I have slept with a salerep for many years. My wife has been a success selling everything from Electronic Potting Compounds to to Filing Cabinets to Payroll Services and Insurance. While remaining completely ethical, she is dogged and ruthless in pursuit of her prospect. She is convinced that they need her product, and she is deternmined to get the order. In short, her success is because of attributes that I lack.
I'm still in the market for a job, mind you. But I want one of those kushy gigs where you work for a successful publically-traded company with great benefits, big budgets, and big projects, high pay, low stress, interesting work, intelligent coworkers, progessive management, no heavy lifting.
I sit by the phone waiting for one of these opportunities to call. I should check the batteries; the damn thing hasn't rung in weeks.
If I was ten years younger, I would be delighted to have the chance to be part of the Leadership a successful enterprise, but at age 61, I am tired of striving, playing politics, shutting-up when the boss is clearly wrong, being told what to do and how to do it, bullshitting, being bullshitted, sitting in meetings, and wearing business clothes. (Ok. I still like to sling the bullshit, but not for political reasons).
So I am passing-up on the opportunity to be a founding member of the startup phase, mainly because the work in the initial stages consists of selling. I am a poor sales agent.
I am too much of a Buddhist:
I do not overcome objections, I accept them meekly and move on.
I do not ask for the order, I wait patiently for the prospect to make an intelligent decision in my favor and then call me with their requested quantities.
I hate to bother people when they are "busy".
( BTW: I find that most people who characterize themselves as "busy" are actually filling time with unimportant tasks to make themselves feel important)
I am intimidated when I meet business people who seem to be intelligent and thoughtful about their information needs. (ok, this is a rare event, but it happens)
When asked a question about a product's fitness for a particular purpose, I usually respond truthfully - which is a definite drawback in the sales profession.
I know about these things because I have slept with a salerep for many years. My wife has been a success selling everything from Electronic Potting Compounds to to Filing Cabinets to Payroll Services and Insurance. While remaining completely ethical, she is dogged and ruthless in pursuit of her prospect. She is convinced that they need her product, and she is deternmined to get the order. In short, her success is because of attributes that I lack.
I'm still in the market for a job, mind you. But I want one of those kushy gigs where you work for a successful publically-traded company with great benefits, big budgets, and big projects, high pay, low stress, interesting work, intelligent coworkers, progessive management, no heavy lifting.
I sit by the phone waiting for one of these opportunities to call. I should check the batteries; the damn thing hasn't rung in weeks.
8/03/2003
On the Nature of Work and Art
Some people have a high falootin opinion of themselves, and therefore, their work. Let's distinguish jobwork from the broader term used by artists to describe their creations.
The healthiest among us realize that working for a boss is something you do for the pay. Most of this work is of transitory value.
Most of the projects I have worked on in my career were late and over budget. Few of the things I accomplished lasted longer than the next regime. In fact, virtually every one of the very successful companies I worked for eventually went out of business or were absorbed by another organization and exist only as unimportant subgroups. Wang Labs, Prime Computer, Index Technologies, Bull Express are prominent examples. But, there are thousands more similar stories. All the accomplishments of people who worked for these organizations have been rendered irrelevent and meaningless. OK, I will grant that the people who invented e-mail, GUI, and the Worldwide Web have made lasting contributions, but virtually all of these people were actually working as unsupervised artists in a creative friendly environment.
Do real artists think of their creations as work? Is it art, if I sit down to write an essay specifically for paid publication? I think not. The editor then becomes my boss. The mere consideration of issues like: who will pay for this when I'm done? have a constraining effect on my creativity, because I know most mainstream editors will not buy my stuff unless I tone it down and leave out the most creative elements.
Let's face it, people who work for their pay have a lot in common with whores. Get over yourselves you stinking prostitutes.
Some people have a high falootin opinion of themselves, and therefore, their work. Let's distinguish jobwork from the broader term used by artists to describe their creations.
The healthiest among us realize that working for a boss is something you do for the pay. Most of this work is of transitory value.
Most of the projects I have worked on in my career were late and over budget. Few of the things I accomplished lasted longer than the next regime. In fact, virtually every one of the very successful companies I worked for eventually went out of business or were absorbed by another organization and exist only as unimportant subgroups. Wang Labs, Prime Computer, Index Technologies, Bull Express are prominent examples. But, there are thousands more similar stories. All the accomplishments of people who worked for these organizations have been rendered irrelevent and meaningless. OK, I will grant that the people who invented e-mail, GUI, and the Worldwide Web have made lasting contributions, but virtually all of these people were actually working as unsupervised artists in a creative friendly environment.
Do real artists think of their creations as work? Is it art, if I sit down to write an essay specifically for paid publication? I think not. The editor then becomes my boss. The mere consideration of issues like: who will pay for this when I'm done? have a constraining effect on my creativity, because I know most mainstream editors will not buy my stuff unless I tone it down and leave out the most creative elements.
Let's face it, people who work for their pay have a lot in common with whores. Get over yourselves you stinking prostitutes.
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