Yeh!

Adventures in Capitalism / Adventures in Everything Else

There Was a Country

Just out by Chinua Achebe:

Strength and Adversity

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

- Proverbs 24:10

Snowballing

Reading:

"Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."

- Warren E. Buffett

Bond, Zambian Bond

Zambia sold its first ever dollar-denominated bond to international investors last week. It was a stunning debut.

Ascendant

The Descendants is the best movie I've seen in a very long time.

A simple self-management technique

The single most important task of an executive is to manage himself. But how, exactly, does one manage oneself? Peter F. Drucker gave us some guiding principles and a few practical techniques.

I recently discovered a very simple, practical self-management technique that, for want of a better term, I call auto-consultation. It means, as one might guess from its composition, to both consult with and consult for oneself. In other words, you are both the consultee and the consultant. Here's how it works in three simple steps:

Step 1: Describe the problem (consultee perspective)

Step 2: Design the solution (consultant perspective)

Step 3: Take/apply your own advice (combined perspective)

Try it.

The Decider

Michael Lewis has just published a fascinating portrait of Barack Obama's management style.

Measuring Your Life

I was already aware of Clay Christensen's new book, but a friend recommended it to me so strongly that it went right to the top of my wishlist:

Great Scot!

At long last:

Keep on Dreamin'

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin.

- Dr. Benjamin E. Mays