Blog de Cortes
In Blog de Cortes, Hernan shares his stream of consciousness. Topics include business, entrepreneurship, business etiquette and protocol, business execution, family and dynasty, business history and biography, influence and communication, innovation and creativity, business law, leadership and management, marketing and sales, negotiation, business philosophy and wisdom, science and technology, personal and organizational success, social trends, personal and organizational warfare, and personal wealth.
To subscribe, click here.
The Great Great Company Debate
In many important ways, my introduction to business as an intellectual activity came through Tom Peters' vignettes on Jim Leherer's "Nighly Business Hour". No stodgy suit and tie for him, he was like a born-again preacher telling businesses to repent! His main theme, continued in books such as Thriving on Chaos, was that businesses had to continually reinvent themselves in order to survive and grow. But was he right?
We Can Watch the World Devoured In Its Pain
In today's issue of the Wall Street Journal, "What Are the Odds of a Depression?", professor Robert Barro provides an estimate based on his research: 20%. Investor's Business Daily has concluded that "Capital [has gone] on Strike". And the New York Times, in "When Consumers Cut Back: An Object Lesson From Japan", denouced the thrifty, those who produce more than they consume, as "dead weight". Some politicians have even gone so far at so suggest call it a criminal act that justifies wealth confiscation. Meanwhile, Europe, which only two months ago was gloating that its democratic socialism would shield it from economic turmoil, is beginning to sound the alarm.
Rescuing Altruism
Imanual Kant was one of the most influential philosophers of the 18th century. But he is perhaps best known for his worst idea: that doing good, behaving morally, requires performing a selfless duty. Nowhere is the absurdity of this bad idea is better illustrated than in the debate over altruism.
The Devil's Guide to Argument and Debate
Almost from its beginnings as a distinct, identifiable systematicly studied discipline in fourth century BC Greece, rhetoric, the study and mastery of persuasive discourse, has been the subject of intense criticism. The Greek Sophists, who perfected the art in the emerging democracy of Athens, were generally regarded as a dangerous element of society. Plutarch dismissed them as men with "political shrewdness and practical sagacity" while Plato, in particular, regarded them as "masters of the art of making clever speeches."
Survivalism 101
The Cortes household has always been reasonably well-stocked but we had never, until recently, taken the formal step of preparing for a disaster. Emergency preparedness (aka survivalism) was just something on our to-do list. Mrs. Cortes decided it was time to stop talking and start doing and so, after doing a little research, we put together three kits, one for each car and one for home.
Features and Benefits
One of the oldest debates in entrepreneurial circles is the question of whether a given attribute is a feature or a benefit. Those of an engineering background tend to nominate features as benefits while those with a business background tend to seek more abstract attributes as benefits.
Zimbabwanomics
According to the Wall Street Journal, in "Fed Weighs Idea of Buying Treasurys as Focus Shifts", the US Federal Reserve is about to start printing money to fund the US deficit. Because that is, essentially, what buying treasuries entails. Call it Zimbabwanomics.
Pursuing Excellence
I just finished a great book, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin (book synopsis). Colvin provides an excellent analysis of the age old debate about the role of talent and hard work in excellence. Not only does he answer the question, to my satisfaction at least, he provides some very valuable guidance based on his answer.
Is the Other Shoe About to Drop?
The US, and most of the world, is now officially in economic recession. The question on everyone's mind is how deep and long will it be? Most economists are predicting a down first half and then a bounce in the second half that may, or may not, make up for the first half. But that may be too optimistic.
Software is a Machine in the Form of a Song
A friend, who hangs his shingle as a patent attorney, was dismayed, disgusted actually, by the recent business model patent ruling, which raised the bar for claimants and has been interpreted by some as a ruling in favor of entrepreneurs and trolls. He argued that the ruling was deeply flawed but the truth is that patent law itself is fundamentally flawed. And when you base arguments on a flawed foundation you can't help but make flawed arguments.
Gathering Storm Clouds
It looks increasingly as if a recession is, indeed, coming our way at last. This time the epicenter will be the financial sector but, as with all recessions, there will be a credit crunch that will tax those who have grown dependent on cheap and easy capital. What can you do to prepare, survive, and thrive?
Personal Choice Theory
Economics is a branch of social science that is primarily concerned with wealth and poverty. Adam Smith is generally regarded as the first economist, the first to frame the problems and apply scientific thinking their solution. Unfortunately, modern economics reflects the weaknesses as well as the strengths of his initial approach to the subject.
Sophisticated Simplicity
One of the most deceptively appealing concepts is that of simplicity. I have encountered no end of "experts" who cite the example of the Apple iPod in arguing for simple models and interfaces. The thinking seems to be that as simplicity is a virtue then less is more. The problem is that this idea, while not outright wrong, is dangerously simplistic and thus an example of the problem itself.
The Cortes Conjecture
Thinking about free will, consciousness, and indeterminism brings to mind the Cortes Conjecture. The best way to explain the Cortes Conjecture is in contrast to the scientific method. The scientific method is built around procedures for establishing and confirming theories (to be more precise, for disconfirming candidate theories). Roughly speaking, the scientific method leads to a reliable understanding of reality. More generally, there is a knot of related methodologies including objectivity skepticism, reason, and deduction, and beliefs such as cause and effect that, taken together, form a particular philosophical view which is generally referred to as hard materialism.
Inoculating Against Affluenza
Mrs. Cortes and I recently spent a day away from home and one of our topics of discussion was, as always, our children. We were both appreciating how modest they were in their expectations. What, she asked me, accounted for that?
What Recession?
Are we in a recession? This had been the most anticipated recession in history, it's been predicted for at least five years. And as expansions go, this one is more than a bit gray in the beard. And it's generally agreed that the last couple quarters have been weak, at best, with loose credit and a weak dollar presaging stagflation. Some have even predicted another depression.
Happiness is a Warm Gun
In today's Wall Street Journal is an article , "Trigger Happy", by Arthur C. Brooks which uses Barak Obama's recent ill-chosen words about bitter people clinging to guns and religion as a launch point into the psychology of gun owners.
Acquiring Happiness
A new study, "Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox" by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers has made waves by demonstrating some basic common sense. It turns out that money can buy happiness.
Anatomy of Design
What is design? How important is it to the process of product development? In Sketching User Experience: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design, Bill Buxton says, "Design is choice. The role of design is to find the best design."
Next
| 