My friend Harish shared with me a powerful observation this evening. It took me a while to get it but the more I thought about it, I felt that it was a great example of the power of the narrative. Harish was at a car wash where they made an “amazing” offer – “Buy two… Continue reading
Mini Saga #61 – Thoughtfulness
This simple story about thoughtfulness was adapted from a previous story that I heard a few years ago. Being thoughtful is to be considerate for the needs of other people. It can show up in simple everyday things in life. I have tried to capture an example in 50 words. Mini Saga #61 – Thoughtfulness… Continue reading
A sneak preview of Linchpin by Seth Godin
I have written about Linchpin twice before: 1. Why Seth Godin’s new book LINCHPIN is both BRILLIANT and SCARY 2. The LINCHPIN in The 3 Idiots Over this weekend, I was re-reading the book again and decided to post a sneak preview of the book using Storify service. Here it is below: Please sign up… Continue reading
The Unexpected: Cebu Pacific Airlines Video
What makes someone smile or laugh? It is the punchline. What is the #1 characteristic of a punchline? It is something unexpected. If everything was going on as “expected,” there wouldn’t be a punchline and there wouldn’t be a smile or laughter. Viral videos are the same way. I have written about lessons from 9… Continue reading
Why the odds are against you and your startup?
Everyone knows that odds of succeeding in a startup are against you. It is more difficult to succeed in a startup than you think it is. Let me prove that with a series of statistics #1. Ask 100 people if they consider themselves smart and probably more than 80% of them will say they do…. Continue reading
A sneak preview of #SPORTStweet by Ronnie Lott
“#SPORTStweet: What I learned from my Coaches about Sports and Life” is the latest book from our THINKaha series. I have created a sneak preview of the book using the Storify service. In this sneak preview you will see a few tweets from the book. For those of you who want to know a bit more… Continue reading
The Fourth Move
Gary Vaynerchuk, in one of his recent talks mentioned how upset he was about business people that only think of TODAY. It gets worse when it comes to social media where everyone wants it now and in this instant. I totally agree with Gary’s observation. In a chess game, if you can only think of… Continue reading
You are not qualified to criticize
Criticism is hard. If not you don’t criticize the “right” way, both parties lose. And rarely anyone does it right. As you know, there are many reasons even smart people criticize other people. The #1 defense against criticism is that the person who criticized is not qualified to criticize. That is the fastest way to… Continue reading
Mini Saga #60 – Advantage
It may be tempting to take advantage of someone, but… Mini Saga #59 – Advantage Tom suggested 5% commission for that deal and Ron agreed. After delighted Tom left the room, puzzled Bob told Ron that Tom had taken advantage of Ron. Ron smiled and said, “The real deal is ten times bigger than this one…. Continue reading
Why MANY smart people face a mid-career dilemma and how you can avoid it.
Yes, it happens around age 40. It is not a midlife crisis but just a state of dilemma or confusion about their life and their careers. Note: I wrote a book in 2005 highlighting this problem for technology professionals. You can download that book “Beyond Code” ( foreword by Tom Peters) for free. Over the… Continue reading