Sunday, May 15, 2011
Building endurance
In sport like in anything else, endurance is key. If you can't beat your opponent. And that is in any endeavor. Then out-endurance him. You'll be surprised how effective this strategy can be. And as I said, that is in any, and I really mean, any activity you can think of.
Here's the links:
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The Brosseau Syndrome
The Brosseau Syndrome is very interesting to study on a strategic level. What is the Brosseau Syndrome? I'm sure you've encountered it at least once in your life.
Have you ever met someone that seams to do nothing, does minimal efforts what so ever and they just happen to have what ever they want from life and/or from people? That's the Brosseau Syndrome. And I am not talking here about the people that works hard for several years in shadows, accumulating failure over failure and then succeeding. For those people we only see their success and people says "oh my god they're so lucky!" but they don' know how many work and sacrifice they have put in their endeavor. No, no. I'm truely talking about the people that genuinely does nothing or not much, and they end up with everything.
They're the ones who applies for a dream job and just happen to have it on the first or second interview. They're the ones who get the dream house by the river because they just happen to pass by while the house holder was planting the "for sale" pole. They're the ones that gets the corner offices jobs doing minimal jobs...
There is something to be studied there. There is two things that I see up front. First they are good at timing. Second their mind works with what I call the "magic thinking".
Timing: I guess this is something that can be learned. You need to be aware and become ultra sensitive of your environment. The slight change in opinion, people, thoughts, balance of power, etc... can be an opportunity. A thin opening in the door which is all you need to gently put your foot in the door and make your way.
Magic thinking: Speaking of "putting your foot in the door", the Broseau Syndrome people are very good at that. They are like Nike, they "Just Do it!" For us mortals, we keep a polite distance. We don't want to disturb or anoy. So we don't ask, we don't do, we don't demand, we don't tell. The Broseau Syndrome people, just get in with a light head and genuinely aim for what ever they want. And perhaps its a reason why they get it.
I remember once I was in a restaurant with a female collegue that had the "Magic thought" hability. When the waitress came to take our order my female collegue, with a big smile, asked "I wonder if there is any specials for birthdays? It's my birthday today". And the waitress answered: "why of course! It is 50% off for your birthday". See! Me, on my birthday I wouldn't have dared to ask such a question. But my collegue did. And she got her way.
Why do I call it the Broseau Syndrome? I named it after Ruth Ellen Brosseau a freshly elected deputy for the NPD party at the Canadian national government.
Miss Brosseau applied to be elected in a region that she had never visited. A mostly french speaking region, miss Brosseau speaks very few french. She is a young single mother living in her father's house. In a country where it is the general belief that, to be in politics one must have experience and a Resume as long as the left arm. She's a student or was a student not long ago. She never ever campaigned in the region she applied to be elected and a few weeks before the elections, she took a vacation to Las Vegas. And guess what? She got elected! Thank you very much people of the new circonscription, you just landed her a job for the next four years at over $100 000 per year salary.
Now I have just one thing to say to miss Brosseau: Congratulation!
As I said in the beginning of this post, there is people who has it. The Life seams to take a pleasure to please them. And I am sure that there is a behavior patern there that can be scrutinized and replicated.
Have you ever met someone that seams to do nothing, does minimal efforts what so ever and they just happen to have what ever they want from life and/or from people? That's the Brosseau Syndrome. And I am not talking here about the people that works hard for several years in shadows, accumulating failure over failure and then succeeding. For those people we only see their success and people says "oh my god they're so lucky!" but they don' know how many work and sacrifice they have put in their endeavor. No, no. I'm truely talking about the people that genuinely does nothing or not much, and they end up with everything.
They're the ones who applies for a dream job and just happen to have it on the first or second interview. They're the ones who get the dream house by the river because they just happen to pass by while the house holder was planting the "for sale" pole. They're the ones that gets the corner offices jobs doing minimal jobs...
There is something to be studied there. There is two things that I see up front. First they are good at timing. Second their mind works with what I call the "magic thinking".
Timing: I guess this is something that can be learned. You need to be aware and become ultra sensitive of your environment. The slight change in opinion, people, thoughts, balance of power, etc... can be an opportunity. A thin opening in the door which is all you need to gently put your foot in the door and make your way.
Magic thinking: Speaking of "putting your foot in the door", the Broseau Syndrome people are very good at that. They are like Nike, they "Just Do it!" For us mortals, we keep a polite distance. We don't want to disturb or anoy. So we don't ask, we don't do, we don't demand, we don't tell. The Broseau Syndrome people, just get in with a light head and genuinely aim for what ever they want. And perhaps its a reason why they get it.
I remember once I was in a restaurant with a female collegue that had the "Magic thought" hability. When the waitress came to take our order my female collegue, with a big smile, asked "I wonder if there is any specials for birthdays? It's my birthday today". And the waitress answered: "why of course! It is 50% off for your birthday". See! Me, on my birthday I wouldn't have dared to ask such a question. But my collegue did. And she got her way.
Why do I call it the Broseau Syndrome? I named it after Ruth Ellen Brosseau a freshly elected deputy for the NPD party at the Canadian national government.
Miss Brosseau applied to be elected in a region that she had never visited. A mostly french speaking region, miss Brosseau speaks very few french. She is a young single mother living in her father's house. In a country where it is the general belief that, to be in politics one must have experience and a Resume as long as the left arm. She's a student or was a student not long ago. She never ever campaigned in the region she applied to be elected and a few weeks before the elections, she took a vacation to Las Vegas. And guess what? She got elected! Thank you very much people of the new circonscription, you just landed her a job for the next four years at over $100 000 per year salary.
Now I have just one thing to say to miss Brosseau: Congratulation!
As I said in the beginning of this post, there is people who has it. The Life seams to take a pleasure to please them. And I am sure that there is a behavior patern there that can be scrutinized and replicated.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Links of the week
The secret power of time
Interesting thoughts and ideas.
I love how they handle the idea that, in enterprises, you must be optimistic or you loose your job. This is so true. I've been able to see this behavior many times. The people in command simply don't want to know the truth. They just want you to comfort them in the idea that the Earth is flat.
Very interesting and insightful. It trows in the garbage a whole bunch of preconceived ideas.
Friday, May 6, 2011
They Railed About Food, And Harvey Took Action
This is an excellent article en read in the Investor's Business Daily a few weeks ago. Very insighful on how to read your environment and get a competitive advantage over your competition.
Innovate: He gave train travelers long-sought satisfaction.
The early years of rail travel were tainted with bad food at stations.
Passagers had to deal with spoiled meat and coffee made with alkali-tainted water.
Service crawled, with meals arriving as the train was about to depart.
The uneaten portions could then be scraped off the plate and reserved for the next arriving train.
Fred Harvey (1835-1901) had been victimized by such hospitality in his travels as a railroad ticket and freight agent.
And he said enough.
He knew he could provide high-quality food and service at an affordable price.
And spotting the lousy competition, he kwew he could make a fortune doing it.
So when the head of Atchison, Topeka & Santa-Fe Railway offered Harvey the chance to run a tiny restaurant in its Topeka, Kan., depot in 1876, he bit on the deal.
The immigrant entrepreneur established a string of Harvey House restaurants and hotels - America'sfirst national chain in stations along the expanding Santa-Fe railroad.
Many historians say Harvey's hospitality and Harvey Girls - the well-groomed and well-trained women he brought in to staff his establishments - civilized the rough-and-tumble West at the end of the 19th century.
The Santa-Fe sped with the food and hospitality of Fred Harvey, says Walter Borneman, author of "RivalRails: The Race To Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad."He calls Harvey that company's "ace in the hole."
"The Santa-Fe pretty quickly came to realize that, hey this is something that people are talking about in a positive way," Borneman told IBD. "And if you keep floks warm and well-fed, they will come back to you."
It is a simple concept. But in Harvey's time, it was a novel one.
Across The Atlantic
Harvey was born in England to Charles and Ann Harvey. The family went broke when he was young, and by his teenage years the boy was living with an aunt in London.
In 1853, the 17-year-old boarded a steamboatfor New York in search of a better life, according to Stephen Fried, author of "Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred HarveyBuilt a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West."
He soon found a job as a pot scrubber at Smith & McNell's, a popular New York city restaurant. There he learned the business from the establishment's quirky proprietors, Henry Smith and T. R. McNell.
They taught him the importance of quality service, fresh ingredients and the handshake deal.
Harvey quickly worked his way up to busboy, waiter and line cook.
After 18 months he set off for New Orleans.
Soon he headed noorth to St. Louis, running a saloon and restaurant with a partner.
But his partnership - and the nation - were soon divided over the Civil War. Harvey abhorred slavery. His partner was a Southern sympathizer, ran off to join the Confederate cause and took everything the two had saved - about $1,300, according to Fried, or $33,000 in today's dollars.
With the business dead, Harvey moved farther West to St. Joseph, Mo. He dabbled in river shipping, then helped devise a system to speed up mail delivery by sorting it on trains.
Before long, Harvey was working for the railroad itself as a ticket and freight agent. The war was still raging on in the East, but everyone knew that when it ended, the race would be back on to connect the vast West by rail.
Eastern railroads went as far as Missouri. Harvey and his family moved to Leavenworth, on the Kansas side of the Missouri River, in anticipation of the coming tracks.
There was tragedy in his life, too. His first wife, Ann, died giving birth to their second son when they lived in St. Joseph.
He soon remarried, to Sally. But in Leavenworth in 1865 Harvey lost his first two sons - Ann's children - to scarlet fever.
Sally then bore more children in Leavenworth. Harvey would live
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wisdom about crowds
In its edition of April 23rd, The Economist went with an article that is interesting. It's called Wisdom about crowds.
I strongly recommand it. For if you get close to the stock market for a while, or Forex or any financial market. You will realize that it has nothing to do with the theory of random walk. You get to realize that it is all masse movement and crowds psychology.
So if you can understand crowds psychology and if you can model it to some extent. Then you have a edge over people on the Stock Market.
Strategically speaking this is a very interesting thought. I wonder if someone could take the scientists findings in The Economist article, and apply it to the stock market?
Food for thoughts.
I strongly recommand it. For if you get close to the stock market for a while, or Forex or any financial market. You will realize that it has nothing to do with the theory of random walk. You get to realize that it is all masse movement and crowds psychology.
So if you can understand crowds psychology and if you can model it to some extent. Then you have a edge over people on the Stock Market.
Strategically speaking this is a very interesting thought. I wonder if someone could take the scientists findings in The Economist article, and apply it to the stock market?
Food for thoughts.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Links of the week
One link today. But a major one. Other than being a masterpiece of the genre, the music and the actors play. This part of the movie The good, the bad and the ugly contain a fundamental statement on the philosophy of life: forward to minute 5:56.
After listening to the philosophy of life it presents. Ask yourself: Which one do I want to be?
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