The latest Pew Poll shows that only 64% of Governor Romney’s supporters expect their man to win, and only 17% expect their man to lose. 82% of President Obama’s supporters expect their man to win, with only 3% expecting him to lose. In theory, the question of who should win and who will win are […]
I did an informal survey of the young managers [in Google’s Associate Product Manager program] and asked each to guess if he or she would be working for Google in five years. Not a single one answered in the affirmative. When I reported this to Mayer, she was unruffled. Actually, she told me, it would […]
We’ve already been on the buying end of acquisitions ranging from the wildly successful (WikiAnswers) to the unsuccessful (Brainboost) to the aborted (Dictionary.com). Being on the receiving end has exposed me to a very different series of enlightening experiences. We’re currently in Survivor Phase. The acquisition has been completed but the new organizational chart has […]
A lot of passionate & negative reaction to Penelope Trunk’s Women Don’t Want To Run Startups Because They’d Rather Have Children in TechCrunch this past weekend. And yet I wonder to what degree people agree on some of the core issues. Let me attempt a restatement of her core argument: More Men Than Women Sacrifice Family, […]
Medical ethics begins with the principle primum non nocere, Do No Harm. It’s the first rule of management too. Not because harm caused may or may not be worse than harm not prevented. But because it is so common for managers to do more harm than good. A recent study by Nielsen Co. found that […]
I guess it’s appropriate that I work in the search industry, because as I turn 40 I’ve decided that the search is a big chunk of the meaning, and the beauty, of life. I was an insufferable know-it-all when I was 20. I had life all figured out and had no patience for hypocrisy or […]
Yom Kippur is the climax of a 40 day period of self-evaluation and repentance. The period kicks into high gear with Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year, nine days earlier. The process suffers from some of the same challenges that we face as managers with annual performance evaluations. I hate this period, and I know […]
Fantastic piece the other day by David Brooks (welcome back, David!) on humility and the lack thereof (High-Five Nation). The Joe Wilson / Serena Williams / Kanye West fiascos provided the opening to a piece that highlighted how our attitudes towards war and foreign policy changed since World War 2. WW2 ended with the US […]
After 10 years working with my wife (Rena Reich) at Answers.com I’m now watching her do great things on her own site, The Pet Wiki. So in the evening I watch my wife creating on her own and it gives me food for thought for working as part of a team the next day. It’s […]
In a few seconds last night I turned from a Toshiba fan to an enemy. Was I overreacting? Definitely. Is this an unusual reaction? No. “Toshiba says: ‘No matter what’ … unique guarantee on all laptops for free” No matter what* * Terms and conditions apply from Toshiba’s site “No matter what, terms and conditions […]