Month: September 2009
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Fences & Cages : Perspective In Contracts
This past weekend I visited the Zoo. Looking at all of these animals separated from the crowds, in some cases to product the crowds from the animal (black bear/lions/vipers) and in other cases to protect the animal from the crowds. The separation prevented me from going in and it prevented them from going out. Are…
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Jaded Memories During Conflict
Per an earlier entry on remembering things we never noticed, another place where we struggle remembering reality is during conflict. Because we as humans tend to feel and remember losses far more than we remember gains, we are far more apt to remember the negative things in a relationship rather than the positive things. Incidentally, the…
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The Cost of a Story
Since stories are inherently valuable for so many purposes, I’ve come to start looking at bad experiences as simply stories that come with a cost. Some stories are extremely expensive – having a complication in surgery, being stuck in the middle of nowhere after running out of gas and getting a flat tire. In most…
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The Power of Stories
Jose lived with his wife and children in Madrid. One morning, after a family breakfast, Jose grabbed his umbrella and left for the office. In Madrid, it rains every day and Jose had to fight his way through the wet traffic yet again. You probably read this and thought: “Yes, and?”. If I had simply…
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It won’t always be like this
As I mentioned earlier, my dad recently had knee surgery and had a serious complication that resulted in an additional 2 hour surgery requiring him to have to fast (fluids and food) for 3 days while he was still forced to walk around on his new knees. It’s hard to even imagine the discomfort that…
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Book Worth Reading: Rapt
Recently finished the book, “Rapt – Attention and the Focused Life” by Winifred Gallagher. I’ve recently been reading books on attention as I believe this will be an increasingly important theme in business and in life as the pace of change continues to accelerate. Winifred was diagnosed with cancer and this book really is about…
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ATM Trustworthiness – A Caution
In spite of verging on being paranoid when using ATM machines, we apparently fell victim to a recent scam either involving a fake ATM machine or possibly some form of ATM Skimming. So, my recommendation is to use ATM’s only at known banks or in trusted locations and be on guard for any tampering with…
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Projecting Backward From Today
I moved to India for three months back in 2004-2005. It was a great trip and I would love to return, but it is quite a bit different from the US. What I found most fascinating however, is how quickly you adapt to the changes. When we first arrived, it was very noticeable how often…
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Remembering The Non-Event : How we corrupt our own conclusions
This morning, we went to go catch a cab and I remarked that when I walk to the street that has cabs, an empty one always drives by about 1 minute before I get to the corner. Always drives by? Really? Obviously as you are walking down the street to where you catch the cab,…
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Nickel & Dime – How To Destroy Trust
I’ve recently been flying a bit and have been considering the business of nickel and diming that seems so popular with airlines these days. If the long lines for the Southwest are any indication, people are not enjoying being taken for a ride (so to speak). Compare and contrast this with the experience of buying…