Climbing the Wrong Hill

Culture | MIPRO

Climbing the Wrong Hill

People early in their career should learn from computer science:  meander some in your walk (especially early on), randomly drop yourself into new parts of the terrain, and when you find the highest hill, don’t waste any more time on the current hill no matter how much better the next step up might appear. Great

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Oracle’s Executive Enforcer

Excellent insight into the rarified air of Oracle’s executive management culture, particularly as it relates to a limelight-shunning powerhouse, Safra Catz: Thirty executives had gathered in a conference room on the 11th floor of Oracle’s headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif., to discuss business alliances. Ellison, as is his wont, fidgeted in his seat and grew

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Still Working Nine to Five? Why?

AdAge’s Darryl Ohrt articulates a work schedule reality many management teams and HR departments are trying to rationalize: Entrepreneurs, senior executives and serious career employees have known for a long time that the “work day” is all day — and all night. (And if you’re doing what you love, it isn’t work at all.) Meanwhile,

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Alan Webber’s Rules of Thumb

I loved Bob Sutton’s distillation of Alan Webber’s new book, The Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Yourself.  Sutton’s favorite rules: #1. When the going gets tough, the tough relax. #10. A good question beats a good answer (This, by the way, is the reason the Nobel Prize winners often

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Can Do

Maira Kalman for the NYTimes’s And the Pursuit of Happiness blog is featuring an exploration of Ben Franklin that everyone – yes, everyone – should take a few minutes to read and consider.  It sits nicely at the intersection of poignant and beautiful.   You’re seriously missing out if you don’t see the whole thing.

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That’s $1,157,442,765,409,225 Per Cigarette

I knew smoking was expensive, but this ridiculous: MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars. Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN’-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number

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What We Know to Be True

As 37signals approaches its 10th anniversary, Jason Fried’s excellent The End of the Edge Case blog post contains a closing sentiment that resonates with everyone here on both business and personal levels: As we approach our 10th anniversary, I’m reminded of what we’ve always known to be true: simpler is better, clarity is king, complexity

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