San Francisco is a great place. Weekend car traffic is usually not awful, the exceptions being certain neighborhoods and big events. Public transit is good and reliable. It's a good place to walk and is cycling friendly. On a quiet Sunday morning walkers, runners, and cyclists are out for exercise as well as for getting to a favorite cafe or meeting spot.
What struck me today on my walk to the Hyde Street Pier is just how good everyone looks running down hill. From my spot in Nob Hill, Hyde Street is downhill all the way. Being a walker has its advantages. You get to take in the sights, sounds, and smells. The slow pace allows for a certain immersion in being present. There's no rush.
There are baby strollers, dogs on leashes, elderly folks, panhandlers, and tourists. There are also lots of young, fit, fast runners. At least, they're fast going toward the Bay. They sort of just blow right by heading in that direction, their faces all smiles, the conversation with running partners lively and brisk. Once they get down to the Bay, they coast along the flats soaking up the sun and the cool breeze. Everyone looks great.
Seeing the runners headed back up the hills from the Bay is a different story. Grimaces often replace smiles. Heavy breathing replaces cheerful conversation. The running partner may be back a few paces, struggling to keep up.
It's easy to look good going downhill. How do you handle going uphill?
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
The Fix Is In!
A few years ago, two friends (Lloyd and Frank) were watching an NBA playoff game when Lloyd says, "You know, all of this is fixed, right?"
Frank: "Excuse me?"
Lloyd: "Yeah, all this NBA stuff. The outcome's already determined. The Bulls will win because without Michael Jordan and the championship narrative, no one cares about the NBA. He's the only reason anyone makes any money. So, the fix is there to keep the narrative in place. I mean nobody is really that good. Look at how people just let him do whatever he wants. This is professional wrestling just dressed up in a fancier package and with more money involved."
Frank: "So, everybody knows this and it's just a set up to separate people from their money?"
Lloyd: "Yeah."
Frank: "There must be a lot of people involved. Why do all of these thousands of people show up, and spend money on it, and even bet on the outcomes?"
Lloyd: "Oh, everyone is a part of the scam. It's no secret. People just do it because they're all stupid and have been duped."
Frank (looking at the TV): "Wow! Did you see that move?"
Lloyd (barely noticing): "That's no big deal. They just let him do that."
Frank: "They just let him sink a 24 ft fade away jumper with a guy in his face?"
"Yeah, that sort of thing goes on all the time. It's part of the fix. Anybody can do that the way they set it up," says Lloyd. Frank, head beginning to spin, blurts out,"I'm pretty sure you can't do it. I know damn well that I can't. In fact, you couldn't hit the rim from where he was even if no one was guarding you."
To one friend, pro basketball is just another example of a conspiratorial world where nothing is what it seems. No one is real (except him and the small handful of people that agree with him). The other friend seeks and finds authenticity in everyday activities.
Where do you find what's real? How do you know that it's real?
Frank: "Excuse me?"
Lloyd: "Yeah, all this NBA stuff. The outcome's already determined. The Bulls will win because without Michael Jordan and the championship narrative, no one cares about the NBA. He's the only reason anyone makes any money. So, the fix is there to keep the narrative in place. I mean nobody is really that good. Look at how people just let him do whatever he wants. This is professional wrestling just dressed up in a fancier package and with more money involved."
Frank: "So, everybody knows this and it's just a set up to separate people from their money?"
Lloyd: "Yeah."
Frank: "There must be a lot of people involved. Why do all of these thousands of people show up, and spend money on it, and even bet on the outcomes?"
Lloyd: "Oh, everyone is a part of the scam. It's no secret. People just do it because they're all stupid and have been duped."
Frank (looking at the TV): "Wow! Did you see that move?"
Lloyd (barely noticing): "That's no big deal. They just let him do that."
Frank: "They just let him sink a 24 ft fade away jumper with a guy in his face?"
"Yeah, that sort of thing goes on all the time. It's part of the fix. Anybody can do that the way they set it up," says Lloyd. Frank, head beginning to spin, blurts out,"I'm pretty sure you can't do it. I know damn well that I can't. In fact, you couldn't hit the rim from where he was even if no one was guarding you."
To one friend, pro basketball is just another example of a conspiratorial world where nothing is what it seems. No one is real (except him and the small handful of people that agree with him). The other friend seeks and finds authenticity in everyday activities.
Where do you find what's real? How do you know that it's real?
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Star Light, Star Bright
Only .000000000000001% of the stars in the universe can be seen from earth. Numbers confuse me, but that looks like 1x10-15, which is called a femto and is three orders of magnitude smaller than pico (1x10-12, or 1 trillion). If my math is right, a femto is 1000 trillion. If this is correct, then we can see 1 one-thousand-trillionth of the stars in the universe! For the sake of comparison, you are approximately .0000000001% of the earth’s population (1/7,100,000,000+). (That’s a million times larger than the “% of visible stars” number.) So, you represent a larger portion of the Earth’s population than the visible stars do of the Universe’s total star population. If this isn’t mind-boggling enough, some scientists estimate that there are 300 sextillion stars. That’s 3 trillion x 100 billion.
All of this gets me to thinking about importance. Some cute kids in a TV commercial for a wireless communications company tell us that more is better. Advantage: stars. We also think that scarcity, or rarity, is more valuable. Advantage: humans.
Those really important people - celebrities, sports stars, titans of industry, and reality TV personalities? They are just like you - 0.0000000001% of the population.
The Desiderata has a line that goes “You are a child of the Universe, No less than the trees or the stars...” In Monty Python’s The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle sings “So remember, when you’re feeling really small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth...”
The point? Some things are bigger than we can possibly imagine. Some smaller. From where we sit, we can’t see the big picture or the small picture - only parts of each. Be amazed. Be humble. Be you.
All of this gets me to thinking about importance. Some cute kids in a TV commercial for a wireless communications company tell us that more is better. Advantage: stars. We also think that scarcity, or rarity, is more valuable. Advantage: humans.
Those really important people - celebrities, sports stars, titans of industry, and reality TV personalities? They are just like you - 0.0000000001% of the population.
The Desiderata has a line that goes “You are a child of the Universe, No less than the trees or the stars...” In Monty Python’s The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle sings “So remember, when you’re feeling really small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth...”
The point? Some things are bigger than we can possibly imagine. Some smaller. From where we sit, we can’t see the big picture or the small picture - only parts of each. Be amazed. Be humble. Be you.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
What's Plan B?
Someone asked recently what what my Plan B was, thinking that if our newest project fails we must have some sort of a backup plan. My automatic answer was that Plan B is to make Plan A work. Go ahead and laugh. It's ok. Most people do laugh at that. He certainly did. That answer sometimes makes people uneasy. It seems like a pretty unhinged thing to say - a bit mad. But, it's a completely reasonable answer. Maybe the most serious answer one can give.
My view is that a new venture is like a marriage. It requires commitment especially in the face of adversity. There are a million ways and reasons for it to go off the rails and end up a failure. Having a heightened sense of commitment and focus that one gains by not having a love interest outside the marriage tracks with not having other ventures vying for your attention too. You may still fail; but it won't be because you started dating someone else, or spending time making sure Plan B is ready to go.
When people hear that you've started a new venture that they perceive to be risky, they almost invariably ask, "Do you have a Plan B?" Chances are that if you're starting out on something they understand and they see others being successful at, then they don't worry about what you'll do if things don't work out. Lots of other considerations may enter their minds that somehow mitigate the risks that you're taking. Your mom, dad, or spouse might be much more sensitive to what will happen if you aren't successful because they may have to provide all kinds of additional emotional and tangible support in the event your idea crashes.
They want to make sure that you have some back-up - Plan B. A safety net. An escape route. A parachute. Contingency plans. Prudence practically requires having an alternative in place. It's always smart to hedge your bets, right?
Starting a new venture (compared to opening a franchise business or buying an operating company) rarely happens in a flash. The brilliant idea that ignited the fuse may have come in an instant, but getting beyond the idea to the launch of the venture is another story. From idea to inception is usually a longish, sometimes steep, and always rocky path that ultimately very few would-be entrepreneurs survive. Surprisingly few people make it. The ones who do often work nights, weekends, and holidays while sacrificing family, leisure time, and "hobbies" so that they can pursue their dream.
Eventually though they find that a Go - No Go decision has to be made. That is, they find that they've done all they can do short of a full-time commitment. Talk about launching a product or a company? It brings to mind the image of launching a rocket ship - a discrete event. You either launch or you don't. There is simply no half-measure. At launch, a commitment is made for Plan A to work. Everyone on the team has to share the crucial qualities of commitment and focus.
Obviously, this level of commitment does not guarantee success. It does guarantee that failure will not come as a result of not paying attention, though.
None of this is to say that you should spend every last bit of your resources in the pursuit of your idea. As the old saying goes, "You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." Making Plan A should include how much you are willing to invest (time and money), what milestones have to be met in order to satisfy your definition of success at any given point, and what decision points will help determine whether you continue the pursuit or end it. As long as you are continuing, you don't really need Plan B anyway. If you reach a decision point that convinces or compels you to shut down the venture, then you can set about making another Plan A and deciding what's next.
You need to structure Plan A in such a way that you know what defines success and failure; that you know when to expect to make critical decisions about continuing to work the plan; that you budget and allocate a quantity of resources to the project; that you are disciplined enough to follow the budget; and, that you are willing to make the hard decision to stick to the plan, which includes killing the project if the goals are being missed. If you do those things, then Plan B pretty much takes care of itself.
My view is that a new venture is like a marriage. It requires commitment especially in the face of adversity. There are a million ways and reasons for it to go off the rails and end up a failure. Having a heightened sense of commitment and focus that one gains by not having a love interest outside the marriage tracks with not having other ventures vying for your attention too. You may still fail; but it won't be because you started dating someone else, or spending time making sure Plan B is ready to go.
When people hear that you've started a new venture that they perceive to be risky, they almost invariably ask, "Do you have a Plan B?" Chances are that if you're starting out on something they understand and they see others being successful at, then they don't worry about what you'll do if things don't work out. Lots of other considerations may enter their minds that somehow mitigate the risks that you're taking. Your mom, dad, or spouse might be much more sensitive to what will happen if you aren't successful because they may have to provide all kinds of additional emotional and tangible support in the event your idea crashes.
They want to make sure that you have some back-up - Plan B. A safety net. An escape route. A parachute. Contingency plans. Prudence practically requires having an alternative in place. It's always smart to hedge your bets, right?
Starting a new venture (compared to opening a franchise business or buying an operating company) rarely happens in a flash. The brilliant idea that ignited the fuse may have come in an instant, but getting beyond the idea to the launch of the venture is another story. From idea to inception is usually a longish, sometimes steep, and always rocky path that ultimately very few would-be entrepreneurs survive. Surprisingly few people make it. The ones who do often work nights, weekends, and holidays while sacrificing family, leisure time, and "hobbies" so that they can pursue their dream.
Eventually though they find that a Go - No Go decision has to be made. That is, they find that they've done all they can do short of a full-time commitment. Talk about launching a product or a company? It brings to mind the image of launching a rocket ship - a discrete event. You either launch or you don't. There is simply no half-measure. At launch, a commitment is made for Plan A to work. Everyone on the team has to share the crucial qualities of commitment and focus.
Obviously, this level of commitment does not guarantee success. It does guarantee that failure will not come as a result of not paying attention, though.
None of this is to say that you should spend every last bit of your resources in the pursuit of your idea. As the old saying goes, "You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." Making Plan A should include how much you are willing to invest (time and money), what milestones have to be met in order to satisfy your definition of success at any given point, and what decision points will help determine whether you continue the pursuit or end it. As long as you are continuing, you don't really need Plan B anyway. If you reach a decision point that convinces or compels you to shut down the venture, then you can set about making another Plan A and deciding what's next.
You need to structure Plan A in such a way that you know what defines success and failure; that you know when to expect to make critical decisions about continuing to work the plan; that you budget and allocate a quantity of resources to the project; that you are disciplined enough to follow the budget; and, that you are willing to make the hard decision to stick to the plan, which includes killing the project if the goals are being missed. If you do those things, then Plan B pretty much takes care of itself.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Get To Failure As Quickly As Possible
If something isn’t going to work, when do you want to know? That relationship. That job. That great idea. When do you want to know that the whole thing is just going to be a complete bust? Most of us sit around after the implosion and lament that “if only I’d known sooner...” Our hindsight kicks in and we start thinking of the reasons why failure was obvious, or at least should have been.
Then we wish we hadn’t spent so much time, effort, or money pursuing what turned out to be a dud. If we only had a crystal ball that would show us before we got into it. We would have avoided the whole mess and done something better.
Knowing if and when failure will occur is pretty important. Maybe life-altering.
And yet, we spend a lot of time avoiding failure or maybe ignoring the inevitable. We hate to fail. It feels bad. It’s embarrassing. We feel inadequate and stupid. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Right? So, if we do it wrong...
Edison’s light bulb and Bell’s telephone both came after thousands of failures. Most real innovation comes as a result of multiple failures. Figuring out quickly that something will fail is the essence of getting to the next step - the step that may be the success.
Failure is only embarrassing because we let it be. Failure is an important key to success. Recognize the milestone for what it is. Get to it as quickly as possible. Get over it as quickly as possible. Learn as much from it as possible.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Icon, guru, warrior, rock star
A friend had an important position coming open in his company and asked another friend and me to help him scout for talent, screen applicants, and vet candidates. In the course of spreading the word about the opening, a résumé hit my e-mail one day with the cover letter below attached. Obviously, it's been sanitized a bit, but it is very real and very much un-edited. If you're looking for this guy, let me know. :-)
Friday, March 8, 2013
Recently, this list came across one of my news feeds. It's a pretty good list, but I think the one below it is better.
10 Things to Stop Doing Right Now.
10 Things to Start Doing Right Now.
10 Things to Stop Doing Right Now.
- Blaming
- Impressing
- Clinging
- Interrupting
- Whining
- Controlling
- Criticizing
- Preaching
- Dwelling
- Fearing
10 Things to Start Doing Right Now.
- Smiling
- Thanking
- Helping
- Listening
- Giving
- Tolerating
- Laughing
- Supporting
- Caring
- Being
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