I was recently listening to a lecturer discuss how risk-taking is an integral part of "the entrepreneurial mindset." He was very inspirational. Unfortunately, he was also flat-out wrong. There has been a lot of research into the psychological qualities of...
Business
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Meritocracy: A Fine, But Mythological, Idea
I love the idea of a meritocracy! It's a glorious myth that makes a wonderful story. But if you look at how resources, wealth, prestige, etc. get distributed, it's very hard to make a case for meritocracy. It's no surprise we believe in meritocracy. We spend our...
Income Inquality
I just watched this TED talk on income inequality. It speaks for itself. Very powerful result. On a whole host of general measurements of social well-being, it is income inequality, not average levels of income that drive social problems. Wow. This has huge public...
Why I Like Paper
A reader wrote in: I read your suggestion about the 3×5 pad and it sucks! That's because I hate paper and pen note-taking. I want something that I can carry with me anywhere on my handheld and which will also prompt me, just like a personal assistant, not something...
Use Social Media to Trumpet Your *Real* Awesomeness!
"Thousands of people just like you are sharing, right now!" says a social media site. Then, I suppose, my sharing would be utterly redundant. And my following their streams would be an exercise in narcissistic boredom. Is this *really* the pinnacle of human...
Google apps are free. Not!
I posted a comment about the new Gmail interface on a social media site. One responder said, "you get what you pay for. Gmail is free." Reading that, I realized that the "Google is free" argument used to work for me, but it no longer does. Google apps are not free at...
Should we take personal responsibility for business’s impact?
Many businesses do things that are legal, are in fact good business practice, but which are shown later to have bad effects for society. In some cases, these effects are huge. For example, the contribution of fast food cooking and recipe practices to obesity and heart...
The potential of the one stop shop
Autumn is here, with a chill in the air. Which is why it was especially traumatic when our Rheem hot water suddenly stopped working last week. Ever since we had this hot water heater installed 3 years ago, it's been a problem. We went without hot water for almost a...
If you want to reward your customers, reward them!
I went shopping at RITE-AID today and saw one of my favorite products advertised as: "Buy 2, get $2 off your next purchase." I grabbed two bottles and made my way to the register … where the clerk informed me that I could only get the deal if I had their frequent...
Success Starts When You Stop Using Your Own Product
Have you checked out your competitors recently? I was just reading a review that says the new Blackberry smartphone is by far the best, speediest, most elegant Blackberry ever. But the reviewer would not recommend anyone buy it. Why? Because it's still missing a lot...