July 02, 2009

Risk vs Reward

This is a great post by Seth Godin. We are taught at an early age of the risk/reward equation. Some people have no concept of the risk and fly by the seat of their pants in everything they do daring fate to punish them. Others are so risk adverse they aren't willing to push the limit on anything. I think finding a healthy middle ground like everything in life is important. Yes, the greater the risk the greater the reward.

Risk


In Jr. High if you ask the most popular girl out you run the risk of getting rejected and being laughed at or you could end up being the coolest kid in school because you had the guts to do what no other guy would do. On Wall Street the biggest risk investments are the ones that if they go right have the biggest rewards. There isn't a big risk in T-Bills (back in the day) and therefore the gains were next to nothing. It was the safe bet with little risk and little reward. Everything in life in some way has a risk/reward equation. The key is to make sure you have some good advisors to help you weigh the cost, understand the risk, and even coach you through.

For example, there is high risk if I try to climb Mt. Rainier by myself but if I hire the best guide service in the world (IMG) run by the best climbers in the world then the risk is greatly reduced. The reward is the same but by being smart and surronding myself with the right people I can manage and reduce the risk. Nothing in life worth doing is without risks. The challenge is to fully understand the risk, manage the risk, and don't blindly walk of the edge becuase you didn't have all the right information.

June 30, 2009

The Power of a Daydream

Daydream

While I was in the military I read “The Power of Full Engagement” which really helped me hone some key skills to handle a greater workload and remain fresh and focused during long intense work sessions without a break. Since then I have learned a valuable lesson and I call it the power of disengagement. I have learned that true time away from the office and the noise of everyday life can really help you. I joke with my family that my best thinking is done on a plane. It tends to be the only time where for 3-5 hours I am 100% away from the phone and e-mail where I am forced to sit in a chair and do nothing but read and think. Business trips have become much more valuable to me due to this and I pray they don’t start putting Wi-Fi in airplanes where people can make phone calls as this one last place of solitude will be lost.

This article in the Wall Street Journal highlights the power being alone and lost in thought and how our greatest ideas come from being engrossed in the pleasure a day dream. Enjoy!

June 29, 2009

Where are those DOT COM CEOs now?

Pets Have you ever wondered where some of DOT COM CEOs are today? We all remember the superbowl ads for Pets.com and others that made a big splash on the world stage only to go bust a few years (sometimes months) later. So where did those guys go? The WSJ had a article highlighting that today. Enjoy!

June 28, 2009

Execution vs. Vision

This is a great post by author Sarah Lacy. I've read a number of her books and for anyone interested in the tech industry she is the insider who has done an incredbile job writing about it. This article I felt was very insightful. See what Sarah has to say about all this.

May 18, 2009

Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

This short 15 minute speech says it all! Stay Hungry! Stay Foolish!

May 14, 2009

Seth Godin: Leading Tribes

This is a fantastic talk by Seth Godin at the TED conference about the power of leadership and how everyone can be connected through a "TRIBE."

May 09, 2009

Twitter and Facebook help fight crime!

This is from ABC news. It is amazing how people are now using social media tools to fight crime. Online communities of people are now gathering around various issues to take matters into their own hands and make a difference in their communities. How are you using social media in your day to day life?

May 01, 2009

Why should businesses use Twitter?

If you would like to follow my updates and communicate with me via Twitter click on this link http://twitter.com/RobertDickie. It is very easy to open an account and get started communicating with this great tool! I have over 4,000 followers and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

April 13, 2009

Why does the gold standard promote economic freedom?

Have you ever asked yourself how we got in this economic mess? All the experts can make this very confusing but it reality it is very easy to understand if we dig down to the facts and get away from the political rhetoric of those in both parties who have an agenda to push. If you have followed the financial crisis at all in the past year you have probably heard talk about deficit spending, the gold standard, and inflation.  How are all three of those related? Alan Greenspan wrote an essay in 1967 titled "Gold and Economic Freedom." This is an amazing piece of work that really explains how the gold standard protects the economy and wealth and becomes a "governor" on economic engine to ensure that things don't get out of control. When the government, for its own purpose, took that governor off we were destined for a crash sooner or later. This is a powerful essay and very informative. I highly encourage everyone to read it!

Alan Greenspan's essay "Gold and Economic Freedom"

The below text was taken from the The Gilded Opinion website highlighting and promoting Alan Greenspans essay.

[Editor's note - It may surprise more than a few gold devotees to learn they have an ideological friend in none other than Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan. Starting in the 1950s, in fact, Greenspan was a stalwart member of Ayn Rand's intellectual inner circle. A self-designated "objectivist", Rand preached a strongly libertarian view, applying it to politics and economics, as well as to religion and popular culture. Under her influence, Greenspan wrote for the first issue of what was to become the widely-circulated Objectivist Newsletter. When Gerald Ford appointed him to the Council of Economic Advisors, Greenspan invited Rand to his swearing-in ceremony. He even attended her funeral in 1982.

In 1967, Rand published her non-fiction book, Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal. In it, she included Gold and Economic Freedom, the essay by Alan Greenspan which appears below. Drawing heavily from Murray Rothbard's much longer The Mystery of Banking, Greenspan argues persuasively in favor of a gold standard and against the concept of a central bank. Can this be the same Alan Greenspan who today chairs the most important central bank of them all?

Again, you might be surprised. R.W. Bradford writes in Liberty magazine that, as Fed chairman, "Greenspan (once) recommended to a Senate committee that all economic regulations should have fixed lifespans. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) accused him of 'playing with fire, or indeed throwing gasoline on the fire,' and asked him whether he favored a similar provision in the Fed's authorization. Greenspan coolly answered that he did. Do you actually mean, demanded the senator, that the Fed 'should cease to function unless affirmatively continued?' 'That is correct, sir,' Greenspan responded." Bradford continues, "The Senator could scarcely believe his ears. 'Now my next question is, is it your intention that the report of this hearing should be that Greenspan recommends a return to the gold standard?' Greenspan responded, 'I've been recommending that for years, there's nothing new about that. It would probably mean there is only one vote in the Federal Open Market Committee for that, but it is mine.'" -- Editor, The Gilded Opinion ]

If you would like to read more about free enterprise principles and economics you should read these blogs by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, authors of the best Wall Street Journal best selling book, Launching A Leadership Revolution.

April 08, 2009

Death of Newspapers?

Newspapers

Here is another post that highlights the newspaper industry's inability to face the facts and change the way they do business.  I have followed this for the past year posting many articles here on this blog. They continue to want to stick their head in the sand and build walls around their business and fight the way their customers want to view the news instead of facing the facts that the landscape has changed and that they need to adapt to this new world.  Everyone understands that web 2.0 is in full effect and that most businesses are trying to find a way to ride that wave.  In my next post I will highlight a number of businesses and leaders that understand this and are doing a great job using this mechanism to reach their customers.  Do you have any examples you would like to share?

That Whining Sound You Hear Is The Death Wheeze Of Newspapers

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