Lessig Presentation

Great entry on "Lessig Method" of presentation with a powerful example of such a presentation by Sxip's Dick Hardt.

Weekend Reading

Spent a couple of hours reading a quick and provocative book by Seth Godin -
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
Godin's premise is simple yet hard to know if it applies to you: successful people escape from dead ends quickly while staying focused and motivated when faced with temporary set-backs. What makes this even more interesting, is that Godin argues that worthwhile tasks always have what he calls the dip - a low point where progress is no longer being made, and fun is hard to find. In fact the worse the dip, the more one is forced to produce exceptional work to just survive. Once through a severe dip, a person or company emerges stronger and often with a lot less competition (many others quit in the dip and end up as losers). The hard part, and it is not so clear from Godin's book, is to determine whether you are really in a severe dip or a well defined rut that you are afraid to get out of. To help sort this out, Godin distinguishes between quitting a tactic and quitting a strategy. To be successful, one must quit many tactics while remaining focused on a strong (and ultimately successful) strategy. Finally, he gives three questions to ask prior to quitting: 1) Am I panicking?; 2) Who am I trying to influence? and 3)What sort of measurable progress am I making?

This book, like Godin's others is definitely thought provoking, especially for entrepreneurs gutting their way through tough times. This will become a new reference in my business library.

A Manifesto Worth Reading

Elegant Solutions: Breakthrough Thinking the Toyota Way
By Matthew E. May

One million ideas a year. A culture of innovation. An intrinsic belief that good enough never is. Matthew May’s manifesto shows you how Toyota’s principles and practices will help you engage your creative spirit and bring elegant solutions to your work and life.

Starting out...

I have been thinking about starting a blog for some time...
Why now - what can I contribute - what's the point?
These are the thoughts that have held me back.
Until now!!
I have not answered these questions in any meaningful way, I have transcended them.
They are not important to what I set out to do, because this blog is less about destination and more about journey. Each day I am amazed at breadth of information and knowledge that comes at me in a multitude of directions, from personal experience to reading and web ramblings. The blog will be my attempt to leave a trace of where my journey has gone and is going. Hopefully along the way I will find some fellow travelers.