Short text, fair representation. However, there wasn’t any new information in these text that I was unaware of prior to reading the text. This is partly because I worked in the mortgage industry for three years.
Mr Bitner’s descriptions were so accurate I was sure I knew some of the characters he wrote about. The characters I interacted with were Long Islanders while Mr. Bitner’s were in Texas. Yet the characters he described felt like close work buddies and clients.
The book was well written, I enjoy reading books that are written in the first person. However, it struck me that Mr. Bitner went to great lengths to absolve himself of any blame. This may not be a big deal in other industries, but for the mortgage industry, it is typical. This was the books’ main point.
I read this book because it was relevant to me. I am not sure many out there will find this book relevant. I recommend the text to anyone who wants to read about Mr. Bitner’s confession, post disaster.
Author Archives
7
Dec 09
Book 44: Confessions Of A Sub-prime Lender.
2
Dec 09
Book 43: The Blue Sweater
Jacqueline Novogratz’s text The blue Sweater is decent. This book is on my list because it is set in Africa and more importantly the subject, development work in Africa is familiar territory. The places and people she wrote about in the first section of this book could have been my neighbors, and they probably were. Overall the grassroots efforts that Jacqueline spearheaded is remarkable, given the challenges of the African continent in the late ’80s. Her stories were a joy to read. However in some instances I would have described a few incidences differently. The Blue Sweater is a great read for anybody remotely interested in the war stories of development work. There is not doubt that Ms. Novograatz writes from the depth of vast experiences. Her most recent work is even more remarkable.
12
Nov 09
Big Red Lunch Bag
“I do not know how you eat all that food and keep your body in such good shape”. What? I was taken aback by this statement because I am abstemious and the speaker was not a close friend. He could not have known a thing about my eating habit. As I probed further, the culprit finally emerged. My bright red lunch bag. This bag was a gift and I have enjoyed carrying my big bright red lunch bag for a few months now.
The data (how much food) did not matter, but the signal (big red lunch bag) mattered. I know the statement was uttered as a complement, to make me feel good about my hyperactive metabolism. However what was even more noteworthy was the jump from data collection (I see a big red bag) to inference (he eats a lot) that I was a heavy eater sans fact check and then going ahead to make a judgement and a pronouncement on that fact. We all do this all the time.
If the unit price per share of a firm is high it must be doing well, probably a great place to work.
A candidate that interviews well will be a great manager who gets things done.
Many times what a person perceives trounces the real data, and major decisions are made based on the perceived data. A fact that smart product designers have exploited for years. In the days of personal branding you are your product manager and more than ever before the signals you send out, online or off matter greatly. Shouldn’t you be more conscious about these?
For me I will keep carrying my big red bag, as a matter of fact, I like being classified as a gym rat even though I am not one.
30
Oct 09
Focus
Imagine entering the cock pit of a jet and seeing only one instrument there, how you would feel about boarding the plane after the following conversation.
Q. I am surprised to see you operating the plane with only a single instrument. What does it measure?
A. Airspeed. I am really working on airspeed this flight.
Q. That’s good. Airspeed certainly seems important. But what about altitude. Wouldn’t an altimeter be helpful?
A. I worked on altitude for the last few flights and I’ve gotten pretty good on it. Now I have to concentrate on proper airspeed.
Q. But I noticed you do not even have a fuel gauge. Wouldn’t that be useful?
A. You are right, fuel is significant, but I can’t concentrate on doing too many things well at the same time. So, on this flight I’m focusing on air speed. Once I get to be excellent at air speed, as well as altitude, I intend to concentrate on fuel consumption on the next set of flights.
Same goes for your life. Live a balanced life.
Adapted from “The Balanced Scorecard.
17
Oct 09
Chris Anderson Discusses the Future of Free
Chris Anderson the Author of the NYTimes Best seller ‘Free’ discusses the future of Free.
15
Oct 09
Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change
Actions to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change cannot be dictated to developing countries. Developed economies ought not to dictate expectations and therefore actions to check climate change to developing economies. The local gains global pains nature of climate issues present a unique challenge that waters down the potency of the carrot and stick method. Actions against pollution and unsustainable stripping of the earth’s natural resources will only succeed if the participants in this market are motivated from within. This is a volunteer market structure and bills and ordinance should be designed with the nature of the market in mind.
I believe the climate challenge, as it relates to developing economies, will only be resolved through listening to all parties and demonstration of the commitments of the more privileged parties. Developing countries want and need to be heard. They are looking for policy makers from the western hemisphere to objectively observe climate change issues through the lens of the challenges experienced by their not so affluent co-residents of planet earth. Secondly, demonstrate, show and demonstrate again. Pointing out the environmental damage caused by the chopping of trees used as cooking firewood while driving around in a gas guzzling SUV is questionable.
At some point we will have to listen and demonstrate how the new self sustaining environmentally conscious market will be structured. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to start today?
My entry for the 2009 Blog Action Day.
9
Oct 09
E-Newsletter From Hell
I subscribed to an industry e-newsletter a few months ago. I like e newsletters especially the super niche ones. However, subscribing to this one turned out to be a huge mistake. The content was repetitive and filled with vendors hawking product that were irrelevant to me. Even more than the poorly targeted ads the e-newsletter which was originally published once every two weeks now hits my mail box at least once a day. Sometimes twice in one day. The ultimate bait and switch. Since the publisher crossed over to the dark side, I did what you do to publishers on the dark side. I unsubscribed.
Who was I fooling; the publisher would not let me off that easy. Then I unsubscribed again, this time directly from the publishers website. He still would not drop me off his mailing list. Frustrated, I then designated the newsletter has spam. This worked for a short time, but not anymore. He sure found a way to go around the spam filter. Now I am reduced to deleting the newsletter as soon as I spot it. While this is not an efficient way to handle junk mail, my brain definitely identifies the newsletter as toxic.
Give me great content and you are permitted to sell me whatever you wish as long as it is remotely relevant to me. However trick me into signing up for anything, spam me and I will delete your newsletter and anything I associate with you for that matter. Even worse I will tell the interwebs about you.
5
Oct 09
The Nigerian Female Soccer Team and the Structural Problem
I wrote this piece a short while back for Farafina Magazine, since this blog has been receiving no attention lately. I have decided to share it with you. I hope you like it.
I do not get sport and to me sport is borderline uncool. Somehow TV got stuck on MSNBC and I am watching the coverage of the Beijing Olympics. The Nigerian Female Soccer team is playing Brazil. I missed the first 33 minutes of this soccer match. However right now Nigeria is leading Brazil, one goal to nil. No wonder my remote control is still stuck on this TV station, the score line is stroking my patriotic ego. A few minutes from this point on the match up quickly made an about turn. First it was a blunder by Nigeria’s right defender, the Brazilian striker managed to send a text book cross which was met with an equally text-bookey header from the Brazilian ace striker. This was the equalizer. First goal. Less than two minutes later the same ace striker tucked in one more goal with a rather impressive ’shagalo’, for the uninitiated that is a bicycle kick, and just like that Brazil was one goal ahead. I picked up my laptop to make this entry and before I could say Google Chrome the third goal was in. The match went into the half time break 3-1 advantage Brazil.
Surprisingly the American commentators would not stop talking about how good the Nigerian team had been. The female commenter then went on to comment that; “These girls (Nigerian) are so talented, if only they could pay more attention to the details, with a little structure throughout the year these girls will easily become world champions”. She said it with so much conviction too.
Isn’t this the microcosm of our country? So much talent and potential, if and only if some structure could be imposed, everything would be just fine. So much manufacturing potential and abundant labor, if only the infrastructure was put in place, we would rank amongst the world’s top producers of consumables. A heavy concentration of deal makers if only there was an adequate property right framework in place. An incredibly well educated population in the Diaspora if only they had a platform through which they could work with the government back home, Nigeria would experience an enormous transfer of wealth and knowledge. For Nigeria, structure is everything.
The game just ended, scoreless in the second half, the Nigerian girls came out stronger in the second half, giving more credence to the enormous potential. Now I understand why hiring foreign coaches was necessary, not because they were essentially better than their Nigerian counterparts but because they were more likely to infuse the much needed structure that is required to make anything work in Nigeria.
20
Aug 09
Book 33: The E Myth Enterprise
The E Myth Enterprise: How to Turn a Great Idea into a Thriving Business is short and straight to the point, typical Michael Gerber. The gist
of this book is that you cannot start/run a remarkable business if you only care about business. Your business has to be a reflection of you and an extension of yourself worth and values. Gerber takes a no nonsense approach to analyzing what a thriving business should possess. His discussions on the desirable skills (concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication) for entrepreneurs was full of insights. My favorite portion of the book however was the last two chapters where Gerber challenged business people to wake up and be present. His words are dead on;
The problem is that we think that we are awake That we think that we already are objective That we think that we already are individuals That we think that we already are free That we think that we think. Finally, this quote from the book sums up the book quite concisely; Mere business cannot hold the interest of an intelligent person for long, One must be interested in the dignity of one’s own life. And of the lives of those around us. Who is this book for? Entrepreneurs and entrepreneur wannabes, those looking to broaden their business philosophy and service.
3
Aug 09
The Recession and Africa
Pessimist: “The crisis could not have come at a worse time,” said Jose Gijon, chief Africa economist at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, based in Paris. “Before the meltdown, many African countries had made significant progress in attracting foreign investment and private capital, and this could derail those efforts.”
and
Optimists: If you look at the losses we’ve experienced the past couple of years in America, you have to wonder which continent is the risky one.” Soud Ba’alawy Executive Chairman, Dubai Group, United Arab Emirates; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on Africa.
We want to be active. We want to see how we can use this crisis in terms of opportunities, in terms of bringing to full value the potential of . . . the continent.” Klaus Schwab Founder and Executive Chairman, Economic Forum
Here are two professionals describing the same event, the impact of the global economic crisis on Africa’s future. If this two were doctors who would you rather see? Perspective is everything. When change occurs, some see the end of the world and missed opportunities. Others see new opportunities.
Source: NYTimes and the publication from the World Economic Forum on Africa.
