Business Blog
What goes around. To say thank you, pay it forward.
Pay it forward to repair the world. Over my career I have been blessed by the many people have coached me, helped me, and given me a break here or there. In the vast majority of these cases, reciprocity is impossible because of our unsymmetrical positions and these angels have helped me out without any realistic expectation that I could return the favor. So, pay it forward.
Magic Elixirs for Business. How to succeed in business.
As one explores the dark and dangerous corridors of business one sometimes chances upon magic elixirs that can reduce monstrous challenges to a more manageable size. A few of these elixirs are illuminated. In other words, how to succeed in business.
Woe be the average man, averages lie
Woe be the average man. Averages lie. So do standard deviations.
Tricks of the trade. Business tricks that win
Not all of business is deep strategic thinking and disciplined execution. There are lots of lesser techniques and business tricks that are more like the business analogy of the sports technique of drawing the foul. Not exactly “noble” or sportsmanlike, but such tricks have won many a game.
The best and worst job in the company is general management
The best and worst job in the company is general management. It is like being captain of a ship.
So you want to ship the product before it is done?
In some industries it is completely alien to think about shipping the product before it is completely ready, but in others it is regrettably common.
Recommended reading
Recommended reading. Recommended business books.
Definitions of common financial terms
Tongue in ear definitions of common financial terms to make you laugh while you cry
Yet another year of the black swan
Whenever I lose more than a million dollars I feel compelled to sit down and think about what lessons I learned. I paid for them. The year of 2008 was, alas, highly educational. I remember the story about Solomon to whom God offered the choice of either great wisdom...
The Time has Come for Style and Fashion in Electronics. Electronics as Fashion.
1994 essay on fashion and style in electronic artifacts. Electronics as fashion means products will be differentiated by their style and design.
Needed: Digital Assistants That See and Hear
1994 essay on digital assistants and sensors
Poetry and Cleantech Investing
Cleantech investing requires scales that create awe
Metrics for Cyclical Businesses
By examining the scatterplot of profit from operations vs the revenue for a profit and loss unit, one can learn a lot about how the business manages through industry cycles. The discussion includes fixed and variable costs and gross margin of cyclical businesses
A Model for Return on Engineering Expenses
The connection between return on engineering expense and the model of the overall business
Stock buyback strategy
Stock buyback actions are mostly done at the wrong time