Daily_post 01/17/2012

  • We don’t find happiness by looking within. We go outside and immerse in the world. We are called to a higher purpose by the inescapable circumstances that are laid out on our path. It’s our daily struggles that define us and bring out the best in us, and this lays down the foundation to continuously find fulfillment in what we do even when times get tough.
    Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, and what the world needs. We’ve been told time and again to keep finding the first. Our schools helped developed the second. It’s time we put more thought on the third.
    What big problems are you trying to solve?

    tags: happiness passion wp hbr

  • Don’t make me put it up on eBay | Domain Maximus
    But what bothers me is this: what next? What happens when the country goes to polls again? Who do you vote for? Who do I vote for? Why do I vote for them?… Growing up, sporadically, in this politically charged, fairly well-informed environment means that I like to think before voting.
    And the more I think about the next Lok Sabha polls the more… I am left thinking…
    if I had to make a decision, I am going to do it on the basis of a wishlist. So here I am going to put out a list of things I’d like to see the next government do. Some of them may be impossible due to constitutional process. And some of them may seem irrelevant to the vast majority of readers. But it is my wishlist. And these are issues that I care about. I am pretty sure not one politician will read this blogpost. But at least the process of writing it down will help me as we get closer to the ballot box. It will help me take a call.

tags: politics india sidin friends wp

  • Three Star Leadership Blog: Fundamental Advice for a Young Leader
    Make a deliberate, concentrated effort to get better…
    Most great leaders are also good managers and supervisors. All three kinds of work come with the job. Master them all.
    This is a people game. People with their knowledge and relationships are the only source of sustainable competitive advantage. Master the arts of relationships and communication. Learn to help others develop their knowledge and relationships…
    You are more likely to regret the things you failed to try than the things that didn’t turn out as you expected. So try stuff.
    You are less likely to remember the details of your triumphs than the people who were with you at the time. So work on relationships. You are more likely to measure the impact of your life by its affect on other people’s lives than by counting the trophies in your trophy case. So concentrate on contribution.

tags: leadership advice leader management people wp

  • Schlep Blindness
    I soon learned from experience that schleps are not merely inevitable, but pretty much what business consists of. A company is defined by the schleps it will undertake. And schleps should be dealt with the same way you’d deal with a cold swimming pool: just jump in. Which is not to say you should seek out unpleasant work per se, but that you should never shrink from it if it’s on the path to something great.
    The most dangerous thing about our dislike of schleps is that much of it is unconscious. Your unconscious won’t even let you see ideas that involve painful schleps. That’s schlep blindness.
    The phenomenon isn’t limited to startups. Most people don’t consciously decide not to be in as good physical shape as Olympic athletes, for example. Their unconscious mind decides for them, shrinking from the work involved…
    How do you overcome schlep blindness? Frankly, the most valuable antidote to schlep blindness is probably ignorance.
    Ignorance can’t solve everything though. Some ideas so obviously entail alarming schleps that anyone can see them. How do you see ideas like that? The trick I recommend is to take yourself out of the picture. Instead of asking “what problem should I solve?” ask “what problem do I wish someone else would solve for me?”

tags: technology Startups business ideas wp

  • This Is Generation Flux: Meet The Pioneers Of The New (And Chaotic) Frontier Of Business | Fast Company
    Any business that ignores these transformations does so at its own peril. Despite recession, currency crises, and tremors of financial instability, the pace of disruption is roaring ahead. The frictionless spread of information and the expansion of personal, corporate, and global networks have plenty of room to run. And here’s the conundrum: When businesspeople search for the right forecast–the road map and model that will define the next era–no credible long-term picture emerges. There is one certainty, however. The next decade or two will be defined more by fluidity than by any new, settled paradigm; if there is a pattern to all this, it is that there is no pattern. The most valuable insight is that we are, in a critical sense, in a time of chaos.
    To thrive in this climate requires a whole new approach…a mind-set that embraces instability, that tolerates–and even enjoys–recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions…
    The pragmatic course is not to hide from the change, but to approach it head-on. Thurston offers this vision: “Imagine a future where people are resistant to stasis, where they’re used to speed. A world that slows down if there are fewer options–that’s old thinking and frustrating. Stimulus becomes the new normal.”
    To flourish requires a new kind of openness. More than 150 years ago, Charles Darwin foreshadowed this era in his description of natural selection: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives; nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” As we traverse this treacherous, exciting bridge to tomorrow, there is no clearer message than that.

tags: technology generation flux Change learning inspiration wp

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