Category: book

Memorable quotes In contrast, humankind ascended to the top so quickly that the ecosystem was not given time to adjust. Moreover, humans themselves failed to adjust. Most top predators of the planet are majestic creatures. Millions of years of dominion have filled them with self-confidence. Sapiens by contrast is more like a banana republic dictator […]

Discipline was harsh and exacting: When students misbehaved, the teacher menacingly held a slate over their heads. If Rockefeller didn’t excel in class, it might have been in part because he lacked the bright boy’s exhibitionism, the yearning for gold stars; always inner-directed and indifferent to the approval of others, he was therefore free of […]

Even most multimillionaires in America don’t live in expensive homes. I recently tabulated the 2007 IRS estate data (the latest data available) for those decedents with an estate valued at $3.5 million or more. I estimated that the median market value of a decedent’s home was $469,021, or less than 10 percent of their median […]

A good book by blogger and author Mark Manson, he argues for a counterintuitive approach to living a good life. His view is that life’s struggle gives it meaning – and that mindless positivity of typical self-help books is neither practical or helpful. Similar to Marcus Aurelius “circle of influence” – Mark highlights the importance […]

Precisely!” I hear Erik say. “You even used the term I like most for it: unplanned work. Firefighting is vividly descriptive, but ‘unplanned work’ is even better. It might even be better to call it ‘anti-work,’ since it further highlights its destructive and avoidable nature. “Unlike the other categories of work, unplanned work is recovery […]

Naturally, the community feels adamantly the best way to work is the the open way, a manner of working that emphasizes values and principles like transparency, inclusivity, adaptability, collaboration, and community. If you’re swimming with sharks, your fear might be legitimate. But fearing what people might think of you, especially during times of transformation, is […]

  Unique book – as it was never meant to be read by anyone. NATO commander General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, carried this book with him on deployments in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Bill Clinton is said to be reading it every year… First pusblished in 1909, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a […]

One of those books that forever change your way of looking at things – in this case it’s personal finance. It explains why people struggle with financial problems – because they spend years in school but learn nothing about money and inestments. As a result –  people follow the path of least resistance (eg. instant […]

A classic book by Israeli business management guru Eliyahu Goldratt, who invented  the Optimized Production Technique, the Theory of Constraints, the Thinking Processes and many other productivity methodologies. In The Goal, Elihayu defines productivity as getting closer to the goal – every action that brings you closer to the goal is productive. Every action that […]

If I were just starting out writing, say, a novel or a screenplay, or maybe starting up a new software company or an online retail business, I wouldn’t try to quit my job in order to make this big, dramatic, heroic-quest thing about it. I would do something far simpler: I would find that extra […]

    Memorable quotes What makes o ur intervention with athletes unique is that we spend no time focusing on the ir technical or tactical skills. Conventional wisdom holds t h at if you find talented people and equip them with the right skills for the challenge at hand, they will perform at their best. […]

    Memorable quotes This gap has wide implications. One US general described to us how “understanding cyber is now a command responsibility,” as it affects almost every part of modern war. And yet, as another general put it pointedly, “There is a real dearth of doctrine and policy in the world of cyberspace.” His […]

  Memorable quotes “The conventional wisdom is often wrong.” “An incentive is a bullet, a key: an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation” …Feldman’s presence had deterred theft. Not only that, but those bagel eaters knew the provider and had feelings (presumably good ones) about him. A broad swath of psychological […]

A wellknown principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.  …quality of modern life when he asserted that “civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can […]

  Memorable quotes   But his more important goal, he said, was to do what Hewlett and his friend David Packard had done, which was create a company that was so imbued with innovative creativity that it would outlive them. “Then I read something that one of my heroes, Edwin Land of Polaroid, said about […]

Memorable quotes Then I have a single question for you: Are you prepared for the consequences of letting me do this right? Now don’t answer right away. ” She caught him just as the words were coming out of his mouth.“Think about it for a second. ” She let the question sit there before continuing.“This […]