A case study on How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity.
The bottom line: you must have talented people, especially in the entertainment industry. But what you really need is an environment... a SYSTEM... that fosters the creativity. Yes, it sounds simple, but it difficult in practice.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Manifesto for slow communication
Article in the WSJ Weekend on how e-mail and texting are ruining our lives. Yes, we've heard this refrain before, but this article is pretty unvarnished in it's critique. Highly recommended reading.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Before US - Mexico Game
Instead of rotating its national team coaches every couple years (a practice that I've never really understood), the US soccer team sticks with coaches (click here for an interview with Sunil Gulati of the US Soccer Federation). I like this, and it seems to make sense from a win-loss perspective, too. An example from football: Bill Cowher faced a good amount of pressure in his first ~10 years as coach of the Steelers. But the Rooney family (the owners) committed to Cowher, and won the Super Bowl. Cowher is now mentioned as a "top candidate" whenever coaching vacancies come up. I hope the US sticks with Bradley.
Prediction: the US gets it done in Azteca (2-0); goals by Onyewu and Donovan.
Prediction: the US gets it done in Azteca (2-0); goals by Onyewu and Donovan.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Quick Update
A few rushed thoughts from business school. Apologies for the poor grammar.
- The workload is demanding, but manageable. I can't remember a moment since I arrived here that's been "free." I'm either studying, socializing, or exercising. It doesn't feel overwhelming, though.
- My apartment building is basically a dorm room. A weekend ritual quickly emerged: jumping in the apartment pool at night on the weekends. It happens just about every night, it seems.
- CEB has prepared me very well for business school: analyzing a problem, understanding the facets of a corporation (my experience in Internal Audit actually helps a lot here - I know what people are talking about when they talk shop about procurement, HR, etc.; I can hang with these conversations). Perhaps the best preparation CEB gave me was how to work in teams. More on this...
- The big realization so far: the topic of leadership matters - a lot. At Fuqua, leadership is a huge emphasis. I never really "got" leadership until I read Coach K's book on the subject (a gift from Dad last Christmas... pre-Duke). Thus far, Fuqua has emphatically reemphasized the importance of leadership, and that important qualities CAN be taught. Last week we did an all-day ropes course, which was far different than the typical ropes course at summer camp. With a group of professionals, you have stronger opinions and egos. It's one thing to LEARN about particular leadership (i.e. "teamwork") characteristics in an academic setting, but it's another thing to EXPERIENCE. CEB prepared me very well to work in teams - especially how to get the most out of very competent individuals. Certain principles that I used to take for granted have been reaffirmed through our "team building" experiences, such as: know the rules before you play the game, make sure you have the information you need before rushing into a decision/action, when you're rushing you'll make mistakes, "process" is too often underrated in relation to the "great man" theory of leadership, etc. All of these things seem like no-brainers, but I confess that I didn't "get" the importance of them until recently... it's really cool to go through a ropes course, make mistakes, and then discuss "why did we screw up? Why did we succeed?" Very cool stuff with broad applications.
- I'm very lucky to have a great "small group", with whom I will do all my group projects for the next 2.5 terms. We're a diverse group - 3 guys and 3 girls - from: Alabama (me), Michigan, Honduras, Australia, Connecticut, and Thailand. Making this team a cohesive, tight, well-oiled machine over the next few months is a challenge I'm looking forward to.
- I'm doing well in class. I've kept up with the readings, and am participating well in class discussions.
- Conclusion from academic work: the importance of the stability, consistency, and predictability of institutions that surround business (such as government, infrastructure, political participation, etc.). The interdependence of one institution upon the other is very, very important.
Last week, Coach K spoke at an orientation session. I was front row. Two basketball insights he had from coaching the US Olympic team to the gold medal:
1) Nobody outworks Kobe. That's why he's the best.
2) LeBron is a physical freak. Really.
3) Kevin Durant will be the next big star in the NBA. The kid not only has skills, but he's a natural leader: humble and incredibly hard working.
- The workload is demanding, but manageable. I can't remember a moment since I arrived here that's been "free." I'm either studying, socializing, or exercising. It doesn't feel overwhelming, though.
- My apartment building is basically a dorm room. A weekend ritual quickly emerged: jumping in the apartment pool at night on the weekends. It happens just about every night, it seems.
- CEB has prepared me very well for business school: analyzing a problem, understanding the facets of a corporation (my experience in Internal Audit actually helps a lot here - I know what people are talking about when they talk shop about procurement, HR, etc.; I can hang with these conversations). Perhaps the best preparation CEB gave me was how to work in teams. More on this...
- The big realization so far: the topic of leadership matters - a lot. At Fuqua, leadership is a huge emphasis. I never really "got" leadership until I read Coach K's book on the subject (a gift from Dad last Christmas... pre-Duke). Thus far, Fuqua has emphatically reemphasized the importance of leadership, and that important qualities CAN be taught. Last week we did an all-day ropes course, which was far different than the typical ropes course at summer camp. With a group of professionals, you have stronger opinions and egos. It's one thing to LEARN about particular leadership (i.e. "teamwork") characteristics in an academic setting, but it's another thing to EXPERIENCE. CEB prepared me very well to work in teams - especially how to get the most out of very competent individuals. Certain principles that I used to take for granted have been reaffirmed through our "team building" experiences, such as: know the rules before you play the game, make sure you have the information you need before rushing into a decision/action, when you're rushing you'll make mistakes, "process" is too often underrated in relation to the "great man" theory of leadership, etc. All of these things seem like no-brainers, but I confess that I didn't "get" the importance of them until recently... it's really cool to go through a ropes course, make mistakes, and then discuss "why did we screw up? Why did we succeed?" Very cool stuff with broad applications.
- I'm very lucky to have a great "small group", with whom I will do all my group projects for the next 2.5 terms. We're a diverse group - 3 guys and 3 girls - from: Alabama (me), Michigan, Honduras, Australia, Connecticut, and Thailand. Making this team a cohesive, tight, well-oiled machine over the next few months is a challenge I'm looking forward to.
- I'm doing well in class. I've kept up with the readings, and am participating well in class discussions.
- Conclusion from academic work: the importance of the stability, consistency, and predictability of institutions that surround business (such as government, infrastructure, political participation, etc.). The interdependence of one institution upon the other is very, very important.
Last week, Coach K spoke at an orientation session. I was front row. Two basketball insights he had from coaching the US Olympic team to the gold medal:
1) Nobody outworks Kobe. That's why he's the best.
2) LeBron is a physical freak. Really.
3) Kevin Durant will be the next big star in the NBA. The kid not only has skills, but he's a natural leader: humble and incredibly hard working.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Business Badasses
The best business hard-liner scenes of all time. (viewer discretion advised; mom you will not like these videos).
Glengarry Glenn Ross:
Boiler Room:
Always be Closing:
Wall Street:
Glengarry Glenn Ross:
Boiler Room:
Always be Closing:
Wall Street:
Thursday, July 30, 2009
80's
Critical item: I have an 80's party on Sunday. What should I go as? Don Mattingly or Wade Boggs would be the obvious choices, but I don't think people would get it.
Business School Observations
Here's a quick update on things.
Last week I went to "math camp", which was an 8-5, 5-day class reviewing math concepts that we haven't used in a while (calculus, statistics, etc.). I'm glad I did it, if only to know that I've done what Duke considers sufficient. Perhaps a best reason for attending math camp was that I got to meet about 70 future classmates - a significant head start on everyone else.
This week I've been working pretty hard on getting all the pre-readings done. While most business schools don't start classes "for real" until late-August, Duke requires two core classes to be taken during August: a leadership course and a course on global institutions (which is basically macroeconomics). A couple years ago, Duke pulled these courses out of the first and second-term curriculum to ease the burden of students during the first few months of school - a very smart move, in my opinion.
My readings have been really fascinating. For the leadership class, we read a few articles on Enron and the "talent myth" (a great article by Malcom Gladwell). The Institutions class is a bit more heady. The study I just read analyzes how China has succeeded in the past quarter-century despite a relative lack of things economists traditionally consider to be necessary: maximum liberalization, stabilization, and privatization. Really interesting stuff.
Orientation starts this Saturday, and everyone is scrambling to do the pre-readings and finish a software review course (that's actually useful). I'm in a pretty good position, having done just about all the readings and half of the computer stuff.
Here are some random observations:
- I severely underestimated the time it takes to move into a new apartment, get the requisite software for school, and take care of everything except actually studying. In this regard I'm in the same boat as most of my fellow students (probably in better shape, actually).
- "Fear of missing out" is thus far the biggest force at Duke. It's simple: most people are sociable, young, and want to go out. But you must study (that is, if your goal is to learn). It's hard to say no. That said, I think I'm doing a good job of balancing everything - it takes a lot of effort to network and study at the same time.
- I'm well prepared to work in MS Word, Excel, and PPT (thanks to CEB).
- Microsoft Excel, Word, and PPT 2007 (for Windows) are extremely well-designed.
- Somehow I forgot that I'm a hard worker. I like this role.
- (no offense to anyone reading this who went to Harvard but...) I'm very glad I'm not going to Harvard. Not that I had the opportunity, but I've said many times in the past week that "I can't imagine going to a school where you look around and say to yourself 'damn, everyone here is a gunner.' I simply wouldn't learn as much in that type of environment. I'd be more concerned about keeping up with everyone else than I would with learning and making good friends. At Duke, the sense of collaboration (definitely a business school buzzword) is genuine. This makes a huge difference.
- It feels great to be back in academia. I like having informed opinions instead of BS-ing. I like making connections among the things I learn.
- I like Durham a lot more than I thought I would. I was hesitant to move south, where life might be slower compared to DC. Life is slower here, but for now that's what I want to experience. It's nice to drive 5 minutes to the gym and school. It's nice to go for a run, work out in the apartment gym, sit by the pool, and get a bunch of people together to watch a movie in the apartment movie room - all of which I did today. So for now, it's good.
Back to studying.
Last week I went to "math camp", which was an 8-5, 5-day class reviewing math concepts that we haven't used in a while (calculus, statistics, etc.). I'm glad I did it, if only to know that I've done what Duke considers sufficient. Perhaps a best reason for attending math camp was that I got to meet about 70 future classmates - a significant head start on everyone else.
This week I've been working pretty hard on getting all the pre-readings done. While most business schools don't start classes "for real" until late-August, Duke requires two core classes to be taken during August: a leadership course and a course on global institutions (which is basically macroeconomics). A couple years ago, Duke pulled these courses out of the first and second-term curriculum to ease the burden of students during the first few months of school - a very smart move, in my opinion.
My readings have been really fascinating. For the leadership class, we read a few articles on Enron and the "talent myth" (a great article by Malcom Gladwell). The Institutions class is a bit more heady. The study I just read analyzes how China has succeeded in the past quarter-century despite a relative lack of things economists traditionally consider to be necessary: maximum liberalization, stabilization, and privatization. Really interesting stuff.
Orientation starts this Saturday, and everyone is scrambling to do the pre-readings and finish a software review course (that's actually useful). I'm in a pretty good position, having done just about all the readings and half of the computer stuff.
Here are some random observations:
- I severely underestimated the time it takes to move into a new apartment, get the requisite software for school, and take care of everything except actually studying. In this regard I'm in the same boat as most of my fellow students (probably in better shape, actually).
- "Fear of missing out" is thus far the biggest force at Duke. It's simple: most people are sociable, young, and want to go out. But you must study (that is, if your goal is to learn). It's hard to say no. That said, I think I'm doing a good job of balancing everything - it takes a lot of effort to network and study at the same time.
- I'm well prepared to work in MS Word, Excel, and PPT (thanks to CEB).
- Microsoft Excel, Word, and PPT 2007 (for Windows) are extremely well-designed.
- Somehow I forgot that I'm a hard worker. I like this role.
- (no offense to anyone reading this who went to Harvard but...) I'm very glad I'm not going to Harvard. Not that I had the opportunity, but I've said many times in the past week that "I can't imagine going to a school where you look around and say to yourself 'damn, everyone here is a gunner.' I simply wouldn't learn as much in that type of environment. I'd be more concerned about keeping up with everyone else than I would with learning and making good friends. At Duke, the sense of collaboration (definitely a business school buzzword) is genuine. This makes a huge difference.
- It feels great to be back in academia. I like having informed opinions instead of BS-ing. I like making connections among the things I learn.
- I like Durham a lot more than I thought I would. I was hesitant to move south, where life might be slower compared to DC. Life is slower here, but for now that's what I want to experience. It's nice to drive 5 minutes to the gym and school. It's nice to go for a run, work out in the apartment gym, sit by the pool, and get a bunch of people together to watch a movie in the apartment movie room - all of which I did today. So for now, it's good.
Back to studying.
Mayonnaise
No, I'm not talking about the Smashing Pumpkins' song "Mayonnaise," although it's awesome in its own right. No, I'm talking about the real thing.
My sister claims to have witnessed our dad eating a late-night mixture of mayo and cottage cheese in a bowl, although this may be an urban legend. Regardless, I tell the story with great pride. Since I've been back in the South, I've heard no less than 5 people willingly admit "I love mayonnaise sandwiches." I couldn't agree more.
So I snooped around for some other uses of this sublimely-delectable condiment. It turns out that people are quite creative when it comes to their mayo:
Mayonnaise can be used as a natural hair conditioner. Massage a quantity of mayonnaise into your hair, much in the same way as a normal post-shampoo conditioner. Cover your head with a shower cap and allow the mayonnaise to remain on your hair for several minutes. Rinse thoroughly and the result should be shinier and softer hair.
Use mayonnaise as a facial cleanser. Apply a layer of mayonnaise as you would a deep cleansing facial soap. After 15 or 20 minutes, wipe off the mayonnaise and rinse your face thoroughly. The oils and salt of the mayonnaise will restore moisture and remove impurities.
In case of a sunburn emergency, apply cold mayonnaise to the affected area. The coolness of the mayo will reduce the pain and the oil will provide much-needed moisture.
Some physicians are now recommending the use of mayonnaise to combat head lice infections. Certain strains of head lice have become very resistant to the traditional chemical treatments, but leaving mayonnaise in the hair overnight with a shower cap will cause the lice to suffocate and die. Comb out any remaining nits with a fine tooth comb and repeat the process seven days later.
Lubricate stubborn rings with mayonnaise. If a ring becomes too tight to remove, try applying a generous amount of mayonnaise to the entire finger, especially under the ring itself. Mayonnaise is very slippery, so it should reduce the friction well enough to allow removal of the ring.
Remove bumper stickers and residue with mayonnaise. A layer of mayonnaise applied to the remnants of a bumper sticker should soften the paper and dissolve the glue after several minutes.
Strengthen your fingernails: To add some oomph to your fingernails, just plunge them into a bowl of mayonnaise every so often. Keep them bathed in the mayo for about 5 minutes and then wash with warm water.
Remove dead skin: Soften and remove dead skin from elbows and feet. Rub mayonnaise over the dry, rough tissue, leave it on for 10 minutes, and wipe it away with a damp cloth.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Duke so Far
Here are pictures of my room (minus a kitchen table and chair, and wall hangings, which are coming)... it's very exciting stuff. Here is a link to my apartment complex.
So far, I'm having an amazing time. True, I've only been here a week, but it's obvious to me that Duke was the right choice. The one thing that's clear is that time is at a premium; there's tons of pressure to go out, which obviously clashes with the pressure to perform well academically. The tough part is that I want to do both.
So far, I'm having an amazing time. True, I've only been here a week, but it's obvious to me that Duke was the right choice. The one thing that's clear is that time is at a premium; there's tons of pressure to go out, which obviously clashes with the pressure to perform well academically. The tough part is that I want to do both.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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