More stache

History of my stache

Over the past three weeks. From the Steve Dalton, to the Wolverine/Chester A Arthur, to the Will Forte sportscaster dude, to the Hitler. This is the story of my moustache.

But before you peruse, see this on the Trustworthiness of Beards.

WINNER

I am the official winner of the Fuqua Stache Bash "Most Impressive Growth" award. Thank you thank you all my adoring fans. Unfortunately I could not be present at the awards ceremony due to a My Morning Jacket concert, which sucked anyways.

Here is the winning face

Donate money for my Stache by Friday

click here.

$10 is the median donation - not too much for making me creep everyone out for the next week.

Choices

Which one should I go for? I'm thinking Tom Selleck is the mustache icon. I have solid growth and could pull it off, but the Orange County Chopper guy's style is tempting. I see myself as more traditional, though.

Tomorrow the beard goes...

But the mustache stays

Stache Bash

I am growing a beard to raise money for a scholarship that helps MBAs working for nonprofits (of course, I applied for the scholarship). The rules are that next week (after two weeks of growth), I've got to shave it into a mustache.

But, to raise money, I need sponsors. If you'd like to donate, click here.

Here are pictures of me after 6 and 8 days. My growth is strong, and I think I'm winning. From my dad: "I think that your beard looks quite nice. The moustache alone would also look excellent. "

1 week before I shave into a mustache. 2 weeks until I go back to normal.

Soccer Films

Last weekend I saw a public screening of a new documentary called Pelada (which is what street soccer is called in Brazil). The premise is that two ex-college soccer players (one from Notre Dame and one from Duke) travel the world looking for pickup soccer games. Very cool movie, but it's not available on DVD yet (though the website has a cool trailer).

Another soccer movie I enjoyed is Kicking It, which documents the Homeless World Cup (seriously). You can watch the entire movie here. Even though it's narrated by Colin Ferrell, it's a very good documentary. Highly recommended.

Jamie Dimon

I saw Jamie Dimon (CEO and Chair of JP Morgan Chase) speak at Fuqua today. I didn't take notes, but a couple observations from memory:

- very frank. Doesn't bullshit around. But from the guys I know at JP, they say he's a nice guy... could have a beer with him
- has three daughters, all of whom went to Duke
- Loves "Too Big to Fail" - great writing. Says the author got his part correct.
- He reads voraciously (and ticked off about 10 publications he reads regularly, including Foreign Affairs and some other policy papers).
- When talking about leadership, he said "get rid of the assholes." Our dean asked "what's an asshole?" And Dimon responded "everyone knows an asshole when you see them. You all know who I'm talking about. It's the guy in class who speaks and then everyone covers their faces because they know what's going to happen. And the funny thing is, he doesn't KNOW he's an asshole. That's an asshole for you."
- 10-15% of the world are bums who can't be straightened out.
- Dimon said that there are a lot of smart people in the world. The real differentiator is those who can clarify issues. From my Leadership class, this is "contextual" leadership - simplifying issues and bringing coherence of purpose and task.
- Big proponent of taxing the hell out of energy to change consumer behavior. Or a de-politicized cap and trade. Dimon says "one of these two things must happen."
- Predictable answer: "greed was a part of Wall Street, but greed is a part of everything."
- And of course the obligatory: "do what you love. Don't go for money. I remember graduating from HBS and agonizing over whether to take the $37K job that I liked vs. the $42K job that I didn't. TAKE THE 37K - the money DOESNT matter."
- Dimon is in favor of a "catch all" financial regulatory agency.
- Our dean asked Dimon "some people have called you a socialist." Dimon responded with a quizzical look "I am definitely not a socialist"
- Dimon's entourage was relatively small to the other big whig CEOs that come to Fuqua. I like his style.
- Extremely harsh about ethics. Said he would fire someone for fudging an expense report. Then again, he HAS to say this as the CEO.
- "The problem is not our politicians. The problem is you (pointing to the crowd), or rather 'me'. We vote these guys into office, so unless we decide to vote competent leaders up to Washington, then we're to blame."
- On campaign finance reform and whether or not corporations should be able to lobby: "it should be fair, whatever the solution is. Unions can make campaign donations. Corporations can't. Is that fair? People on the left get upset about people on the right about the same things. The two sides should just shutup and get over themselves."