I’ve started collecting my thoughts, notes, pictures, and stories from my China travels. I’ll be blogging at china.devinreams.com. Stop by, subscribe, and enjoy my musings.
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Author Archives: Devin Reams
Chasing Daylight
From the flap: “At 53, Eugene O’Kelly was in the full swing of life. Chairman and CEO of KPMG .. he enjoyed a successful career and drew happiness from his wife, children, family and close friends…Then in May 2005, Gene was diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer and given three to six months to live. Just like that.”
Put simply, Chasing Daylight is a short, sad, and truly personal account of O’Kelly’s last few months and how he tries to ‘unwind’ all his relationships.
Devin decided you can skip this one. Although it was a touching story I’d hate for people to sympathize with O’Kelly. He lived a fast-paced life as a CEO. I think he realized he had developed more business relationships than truly close, personal ones. He spends 3 weeks ‘unwinding’ with people described merely as ‘business associates’. His family dealt with this even through his last weeks of life.
Not only did the family relationship annoy me but the fact that I don’t think he really learned anything. Sure, he became less business-like and more relationship-based. Still, he seemed to be desperately making up for lost time (and failing).
There were a few good take-aways: he finished his life peacefully and ready to “transition”, he tried to make the best of a bad situation, he was fortunate to be healthy and lucid in his final days. He was lucky… sort of.
I think the best quote came in the beginning of the book:
I couldn’t hide it any longer. “The moment she grabbed my finger,” I said, “it hit me that someday I’ll have to say good-bye to her.” (referring to his newborn daughter)
But, he admittedly missed most of her life growing up. With a CEO schedule, no wonder. Plus, he died before he had the chance to take her on their final vacation together (she was 14) to Prague.
Probably because he was spending his time closing up relationships with his ‘associates’ early on…
Note to self: get your priorities straight.
Related reading: “Hold CEOs accountable for their bad parenting”, Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
Are we far too male-centric?
Are we far too male centric? Recently I’ve noticed how much wives put up with. From Eugene O’Kelly to Evan Almighty. And that’s just yesterday. It may sound naive but why are we still so very male-centric? Discussion at 9rules.
Viddler + MeToday = iPhone
I didn’t wait in line for an iPhone today. Largely because I’m on a great MyFaves Family Plan at T-Mobile. Oh, and I love my Pearl. But, today I’ve started something I attempted to do back in January: a daily video blog. Why? a) I hate failing and b) my favorite guys at Viddler are having a drawing to win an iPhone. Go get the details here. Watch me every day right here.
I’m worried too…
Danah Boyd has written some awesome papers. Her latest on social class and online social networks came to a good (tangent) point: With the hegemonic teens, I’m very worried about the stress that they’re under, the lack of mobility and healthy opportunities for play and socialization, and the hyper-scheduling and surveillance. I’m worried about their unrealistic expectations for becoming rich and famous, their lack of work ethic after being pampered for so long, and the lack of opportunities that many of them have to even be economically stable let alone better off than their parents. I’m worried about how locking teens indoors coupled with a fast food/junk food advertising machine has resulted in a decrease in health levels across the board which will just get messy as they are increasingly unable to afford health insurance.
What’s in a name?
Andre wrote an interesting article on naming products yesterday. This is where I step in and argue the opposite: names don’t matter.
I was talking with Chris one morning and we stumbled into an interesting discussion. What do you think of when you hear of some famous company names for the first time?
- Burger King and McDonalds – If you heard these two for the first time which would make you think ‘delicious’ and which would make you think tools or something?
- Maceys and Forbes – Would you know the difference between a clothing store and a business magazine? Using a last name tells me nothing about a company. Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club are awesome extensions of Sam Walton’s name.
- General Motors, Ford, Toyota – Hmm, I’d think General Motors is probably something to do with motors. Cars though? Perhaps. Ford and Toyota? No way.
- Safeway – First aid? Airbag manufacturer?
- Flickr – Something to do with light. A camera flash.
- meebo – Something about myself but I’d never think instant messaging.
- Pandora – Something bad, cluttered, uncontrollable. Wow, isn’t it all about the opposite?
- Google – I know everyone in elementary school was fascinated by the word ‘googolplex’ I’m sure I’d think of “a lot” and maybe math. Search, though? Never.
- OK Dork– Uh….
It’s amazing how many companies actually use family names. Check out the Fortune 100 list: Wells Fargo, Sears, McKesson, Morgan Stanley, Time Warner, Walgreens, Lockheed Martin, Lowes, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Merrill Lynch, Walt Disney, etc.
So, when you’re spending hours coming up with a name for your new company, product, service or feature maybe it’s not worth your time. If it’s good the name will follow…
Feel free to prove me wrong…
Can Entrepreneurship be taught?
The question is straight-forward: can entrepreneurship be taught? Unfortunately the answer is neither black nor white. The problem being entrepreneurship is an area that area that requires some expertise, some experience, and sometimes pure luck. Some argue that entrepreneurs have inherit traits that make them more capable of starting a business, producing a good, or executing a service. On the other hand, Entrepreneur magazine says entrepreneurship can most certainly be taught. In fact, they rank the Top 100 Entrepreneurial Colleges each year demonstrating the academic resources dedicated to teaching entrepreneurship. Can both sides be right?
Obviously entrepreneurship is, and will continue to be, taught. In fact, Jerome Katz from St. Louis University has studied the trend and says that
What are our priorities?
I’ve had a bit more free time lately. I took the summer off (between graduation and my full-time job) and have spent a lot of time playing, relaxing, reading. All the things I didn’t have time for just a few weeks ago. Do you know what you’d do with an extra day of free time? Just one more day each week: how would I spend it?
Would I study? Would I read a book? Would I fly a kite? Would I find new clients? Exercise more?
When you find a good answer I think you’ll see this is a good exercise in determining your personal priorities.
The truth is, you’re all very smart, very capable people. Unfortunately the time we have here is finite. We may be capable of anything, but we don’t have time for everything.
So, how do you spend your days? Is it time to move on from your current job? Is school the best use of your time? Should you spend more time to yourself or with friends watching a movie? What would you do if you had an extra day to yourself?
…why aren’t you doing that right now?
Noah’s visit
My buddy Noah came out to visit last weekend (as he mentioned). He wasn’t here to see me but he did live on my couch. Here’s a Flickr set documenting the excitement (Chipotle).
Let My People Go Surfing
I just finished one of the best un-business business books by Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia: Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
Devin decided you need to read this book. Whether you’re looking for a case study on: a successful business with happy employees, how to create a business from your passion, or what businesses need to do to help the environment.
From management tips, to HR lessons learned, Yvon brings in all his Patagonia experience (good and bad):
“…If you just ask people for help–if you just admit that you don’t know something–they will fall all over themselves trying to help. So, from there I began building the company.” -Kristine McDivitt, general manager and CEO of Patagonia for 13 years
Many people like to reference the Pareto principle and Yvon is not an exception. When talking about Patagonia’s diverse product lines:
“I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession and degree of specialization that doesn’t appeal to me. Once I reach that 80 percent level I like to go off and do something totally different…” -Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia
As one of the first environmentally-conscious companies in the world, Yvon has a lot to say about the world and what needs to happen:
“The Zen master would say if you want to change government, you have to aim at changing corporations, and if you want to change corporations, you first have to change the consumers.” -Yvon Chouinard
This is a book you can’t ignore. Especially since Yvon pioneered the ‘green business’ movement…. back in the 80’s.
What other environmental business books do you recommend?