30 posts tagged “people”

I recently saw another Terrence Howard movie called Pride and the swimming team he coached was PDR - The Philadelphia Department of Recreation.

He goes on to coach a bunch of kids playing basketball on the street to win a major league but only after he makes them believe in PDR:

"Pride, Determination and Resilience"

Imagine: Startups without the above

I have talked about  caterpillars Stripe and Yellow, then the fish Swimmy so I thought a horse would be a nice addition.Here is a great Sufi legend about a Horse I picked up from Paulo Coelho's (If you have not read The Alchemist - drop everything and read that first) blog:

"Many years ago in a poor Chinese village, there lived a peasant with his son. His only material possession, apart from some land and a small straw hut, was a horse he had inherited from his father.

One day, the horse ran off, leaving the man with no animal with which to till the land. His neighbors - who respected him greatly for his honesty and diligence - came to his house to say how much they regretted what had happened. He thanked them for their visit, but asked:

- How can you know that what has happened has been a misfortune in my life?

Someone mumbled to a friend: “he can’t accept reality, let him think what he wants, as long as he isn’t saddened by what happened.”

And the neighbors went off, pretending to agree with what they had heard.

A week later, the horse returned to the stable, but it was not alone; it brought with it a fine mare for company. Upon hearing this, the villagers - who were flustered since they now understood the answer the man had given them - returned to the peasant’s house, in order to congratulate him on his good fortune.

- Before you had only one horse, and now you have two. Congratulations! - they said.

- Many thanks for your visit and for all your concern - answered the peasant. - But how can you know that what has happened has been a blessing in my life?

Disconcerted, and thinking he must be going mad, the neighbors went off, and on the way commented: “does he really not understand that God has sent him a gift?”

A month later, the peasant’s son decided to tame the mare. But the animal unexpectedly reared up and the boy fell and broke his leg.

The neighbors returned to the peasant’s house - bringing gifts for the wounded boy. The mayor of the village offered his condolences to the father, saying that all were very sad at what had happened.

The man thanked them for their visit and their concern, but asked:

- How can you know that what has happened has been a misfortune in my life?

They were all astonished to hear this, since no one could be in any doubt that the accident of a son was a real tragedy. As they left the peasant’s house, some said to others: “he really has gone mad; his only son might limp forever, and he is still in doubt about whether what happened is a misfortune.”

Some months passed, and Japan declared war on China. The Emperor’s envoys traveled throughout the land in search for healthy young men to be sent to the battle front. Upon arrival in the village, they recruited all the young men except the peasant’s son, whose leg was broken.

None of the young men returned alive. The son recovered, the two animals bred and their offspring were sold at a good price. The peasant began visiting his neighbors to console and help them, - since they had at all times been so caring. Whenever one of them complained, the peasant said: “how do you know it is a misfortune?” If anyone become overjoyed, he asked: “how do you know it is a blessing?” And the men in that village understood that beyond appearances, life has other meanings."

Imagine: Conventional Wisdom

Matt Richtel has a very neat article in the New York Times here called "In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop"

Some quotes from his article:

"Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

It is unclear how many people blog for pay, but there are surely several thousand and maybe even tens of thousands.

I am definitely not paid to blog but if you want to read what they have to say, there are some posts here and here

Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch had a post independent of this article that says a lot about the world of professional bloggers here called "Six Months In, And 600 Posts Later...The Worlds Of Blogging and Journalism Collide (In My Brain)". Some related quotes from this post are:

"It is mostly breaking news, reporting facts and providing analysis. At TechCrunch, I am completely focused on blogging, 24/7"

That is because the blogging never stops. Just ask my wife and kids, who now mock me by repeating back my new mantra: “I’m almost done, just one more post.”

But we live or die by how fast we can post after a story breaks, if we can’t break it ourselves.

I won't be surprised if Matt Richtel's story was inspired by Erick's post.
 
It tied in really well with my earlier post "Who Is Your Chauffeur" here. It was in response to a post on entrepreneurs but applicable to everyone and then of course, there was this post way back, which probably fits the best. The pictures of Stripe climbing (from the book Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus) away says it all.

I came across this really well written post on "Why Not To Do A Startup" by Matt and Yes - I had some thoughts that are tied to some basic beliefs I have about life and people.

I think his observations were on the money with respect to startups but it is applicable only to people who are doing with the sole focus of making a lot of money overnight. They are inspired by the phenomenal exit for the Founders of YouTube or the buzz of Facebook and its potential large exit. Another parallel was this article on Max Levchin, the Founder and CEO of Slide.com in New York Times - I dont know him and nor can I speak to the accuracy of the article.

I started with a small step by joining LinkedIn very early in 2004 when social networking was not a category and then after 2 years there went on to start CrossLoop with a very neat team. I am definitely not as experienced as many others out there but there is a common question that needs an answer - whether it is startups or your supposedly-secure job in a large company:

"What Drives You?"

If you choose to have a cause that transcends the need for making money, becoming popular, paying bills, need for validation from others - you will NOT experience what Matt suggests and will have one of the most fulfilling purposes of your life. Some hardships maybe but I guarantee no regrets and and a very possible outcome could be that house in Hawaii. Think collateral success - the L-Letter should sum it all up.

Otherwise, I couldn't agree more with Matt - I have known and seen a few people living EXACTLY what Matt describes.

Imagine: A FUNomenal "ride" (and it is short)

It is really amazing how really simple things communicate the best. I have three books that use that extremely effectively and they all have one thing in common - they use presentation formats that appeal to children, not boring adults.

They all are:

• Simple
• Tell One Story and
• VERY importantly, Fuuuuuun!

Two books that I referred to in the past on this blog are:

1. Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus recommended to me by my colleague, Tom Rolander here at CrossLoop.
Two caterpillars, Stripes and Yellow are the main characters, who go on to explore the 'more' in life

2. Orbitting the Giant Hairball by Gordon McKenzie recommended to me by a mentor of mine.
The Hairball is a reference to all the policies and rules that grow and thrive at corporations. You can see many of those in personal lives through patterns and a daily rut

3. Swimmy by Leo Lionni . My most recent favorite that I picked up is from Robert Kalin, The Founder and CEO of Etsy. It is extremely applicable to startups but can be applied to the power of relationships - professional and/or family.

Watch Robert reading it below and you get the distinction of being one of those few who have read at least one book this year:

Imagine: Being FUNomenal

I had a post on The Dog, The Cat and Web 2.0 a while ago and a few on friendship, its disconnect online and offline so I think it would be appropriate to celebrate Wall Street's anniversary and the change in how we can 'get' a friend after 20 years, with Gordon Gekko's quote in the movie:

There was a recent study that I read about through The Daily Telegraph's website called "Art of Chatting Face to Face Dying"

As you will read, psychologist, Harvard Business School researcher and etiquette columnist Robin Abrahams quotes 

"In the past, only about 40 per cent of people reported being shy in social situations." Now she says it affects half of our society due to technology. Furthermore, recently, Larry Magid, a syndicated journalist questioned technology and the complications that come with it here. 

Finally you also see the rise (Today's article in The San Jose Mercury News by Dean Takahashi states that "recent surveys show two-thirds of U.S. Internet users already visit a social networking service at least once a month") of the social networks (Disclaimer - I work with them and use most of them very frequently including this one), we see the rise of individuals with hundreds and thousands of friends. It is indeed ironic that as technology enables us to "add friend"s (Definition of Friendship according to Wikipedia), we are losing the art of chatting face to face and we are becoming less social - at least in our 'first life'. According to a nice contemplative post by Steve Rubel - The Web Changes How We Define Friendship.

One of the things that appealed to me most when I was fresh off the boat, leaving India in 1999 for the first time, was the opportunity to smile at everyone and share a joke or two. Little did I realize in the beginning that 'How Are you Doing" did not solicit a real response - it was a greeting only. I was not meant to actually stop and respond with sincerity. With time, I also realized that there were many people whom I met, at coffee shops or a grocery store, who were ready to disclose it all - we did not know each other. I believe they had a sense of security from that very fact that we did not know each other - their privacy was not being intruded since we would probably never meet. It feels a lot like that now - but online.

It does concern me a bit since America's culture of privacy with real people we know and the often small talk with strangers can easily lead to a lonelier slope for many. Social networks and the ability to sit alone and 'add friend's is a path of least resistance where there is no serious commitment to the relationship. It is all asynchronous and at one's own convenience. Recent studies further show this decline in the American culture.

Being a person who strongly believes that I am who I am and live a very fulfilling life because of the people around me (beginning with family), in my humble opinion, the single biggest power of these online resources is:

• The ability to enhance your reach to find and meet people (offline) whom you could not get to before.
• It compliments your face to face (pun intended) relationship and helps you sustain them on a long term basis
  
• It empowers you to surround yourself with people smarter than you
• And finally and very importantly, it enables you to be interested rather than being interesting 

Step back a little - do you have at least 2 confidantes (that an average American has)

Imagine: You are Connect-able

There was this really long time (2001-2004) in my life - also one of the best time for me in terms of growth - during the economic downturn following the dot com boom when I was the CEO of "Vocationally Challenged, Inc.' - my first foray into [a] social networking company (pun intended)

Here is is a glimpse into it through this little article I wrote when I was at it - it was of course all offline (at a local Starbucks in Portland, OR) and real face to face long-term relationships. They are all still friends including one of the baristas referred to in the article - in fact she is right in the neighborhood here on Vox! I still thrive on that - a post on its relevance and why it is relevant next.

Imagine: Make (not 'Add') Friend

It was a few days ago that I had a post called Everybody is Somebody after completing the book - Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl and so when I saw this article by Peggy Noonan in the Journal, I had to get it up here.

You can read the detailed article on how General Petraeus and Bill Frist first (that was hard) met but here is why I find it so relevant:

• It makes you think hard about the quote "If you believe in coincidence, you are not paying attention"
• Without any insight on the future, you always have an opportunity to make a big difference in some one's life and one should do it without expecting returns
  

I will wrap up with Peggy Noonan's quote in the article:
"Life is interesting, mysterious, and has an unseen circularity. You never know in any given day what's going to happen or who's going to have a big impact on you and on others. A future military commander got shot, and a future leader of the Senate stopped the bleeding"

Imagine: Give Help? .... Give Help!

It took me a while to finally finish Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl but I did! It was very profound for this pea brain since I had to read many sentences over and over again. Actually - I was very very busy too - no, seriously!

Frankl developed the concept of Logotherapy - the will to meaning - from his time and experiences at  concentration camps. I found it especially relevant since it is in stark contrast to today's frequently sighted .. or should I say "celebrity wanna-be" sitings of will to pleasure (Freud) and will to power (Alder).

I hope to bring a lot of various simple applications of it in our lives today so let  me begin with one that is probably the core of the book. According to the book, one can discover this meaning in life (which, btw, continues to change all the time but never ceases to be) in 3 different ways:

1. by creating work or doing a deed
2. by experiencing something or encountering someone
3. by the attitude we choose towards unavoidable suffering (more on this certainly later from some personal examples)
   

You can very well imagine people involved in all of the above three but (2) states directly that encountering a person like you, I or anyone can make the significant difference. Apart from the fact that you might meet that someone to change your life, the really cool part is that YOU might be that person in someone else's life. So next time look closely since as my father in-law likes to say, "if you believe in coincidence, you may not be paying attention".

Imagine: You are it!