Seven Wonders by Ben Mezrich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I love Ben Mezrich’s other books where he writes about true occurrences.
In this book he tries a Dan Brown style and fails.
I would give most of the book 1 or 2 stars, though I still enjoyed it at a 4-star+ level despite all its flaws.
Hello, My Name Is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick by Alexandra Watkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This pithy little book is chock-filled with nuggets of information gleaned from Alexandra Watkins’ years of leading a top naming and branding consultancy.
Watkins shares her knowledge of how to best name companies and products, using her SMILE and SCRATCH rules as her opening gambit. As she riffs through the corporate naming space, using plenty of examples, she also utilizes plenty of humor, making the whole process of naming, and also of reading her book, fun and funny.
You can read the whole book on a 400 mile flight, but the lessons and knowledge imparted will last a lifetime.
Utilitarianism and Other Essays by John Stuart Mill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Brilliant. I am convinced that Bentham, in addition to his philosophy about morals, economics, and the government, might be a good CEO, with John Stuart Mill a natural COO to not only interpret his theories (as he has done, with his own bent and twists), but to run operations for the greatest good for all.
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation by Jeremy Bentham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In this classic, Bentham discusses the principle of utility, and principles adverse to utility, the four sources of pleasure and pain, and how to measure the value of pleasure. He then covers intentionality, consciousness, motives, human dispositions, the consequences of an act of wrong-doing, and then goes on to discuss governance and punishments and other matters. I am not that much in to philosophy, which I generally find hard to read, but this is one of the most brilliant books I have ever read. Bentham invents the ethical theory of utilitarianism, that we should do what gives the greatest good to the greatest number of people.
I looked for a winning strategy at slots, and found dozens of books on how to win at slots (e.g. Break the One-Armed Bandits, How to Win Millions Playing Slot Machines! … Or Lose Trying, Powerful Profits From Video Slots, Robbing the One-Armed Bandits, Slot Machine Buyer’s Handbook, and Slot Machines: America’s Favorite Gaming Device).
I am thinking of writing my own 3 word e-book, entitled How Not to Lose Money at Slots.
The contents will be:
“Don’t play slots!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The South Korean government is doing many things to help entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in South Korea. They are providing tax breaks and grants, and starting to untangle some of the regulations which have stymied ecommerce in South Korea, as well as genetics testing, until recently. Hopefully they will make regulatory progress to open up the country for payments services and BitCoin, which are currently not legal in South Korea.
One of the coolest programs that the South Korean government sponsors is the K-Global Startup program.
The K-Global Startup Program is a governmental incubating program for startups where innovative ideas are discovered, developed into a business and supported to go global.
This year, 45 startup companies were selected to participate in March and have been in an incubating program for 5 months.
In late September, 16 out of the 45 startups were selected as candidates for governmental grants and the opportunity to participate further in the Global program
300,000,000 KRW (Won) is being given away in grants to the top 7 teams.
I had the honor and privilege of being a judge for K-Global Startup last year (with David Lee, Jon Bradford, Pat Kinsel, and Steve Lukas) in October 2014, and today, October 8th, 2015, we’re doing it again, here in Seoul.
This year, my fellow judges are Casey Lau, Ben Levy, Tim Chae, and John Nahm, and just like last year, a documentary is being filmed today to mark the end of this phase of these startups’ journey.
Toward a Psychology of Being by Abraham Maslow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as theorized in 1943 had five levels of needs, and one can only fulfill the next level up in the pyramid once you’ve fulfilled the foundation of the need below it.
In order, Maslow’s original 5 levels were Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem, and then the top level, Self-Actualization.
Maslow’s later writings added more levels, and this later book builds upon the theories, especially about how to get the most out of your life.
Should be required reading.
The Rise and Fall of Management: A Brief History of Practice, Theory, and Context by Gordon J. Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Business presumably began with agriculture thousands of years ago, and has evolved significantly. Management theory, too, has mimiced the leaders in organizations, and various trends in industry have impacted researchers and academics, and researchers, professors and consultants, in turn, have influenced CEOs and other executives and their businesses.
Pearson’s book reviews the formal study of management, which began in the 1800s, when outside capital began to be invested in businesses by investors.
One of the early business theories was Scientific Management, pioneered by Frederick W. Taylor, who was a mechanical engineer who propagated the notion that management should design processes precisely, and reward optimal performance.
The Administrative Approach, pioneered by Henri Fayol, espoused the notion that management was not just a business task, and that it should be taught at university so that the skills in this area would appreciate.
Max Weber came up with the Bureaucratic Approach, which created hierarchical models of organizations which are still used today in human resources and business.
Human Relations was Elton Mayo’s notion that management should be “people-orientated”, and set forth the theory that the emotional aspects of management and people should be considered and in fact were the most useful tools in motivating people. Managers shouldn’t just dictate what to do, but should ask for input and show care and concern for their workers.
Servant Leadership took this a step further, and Peter Greenleaf suggested that leaders were there to serve their employees, as part of the inverted pyramid that Marriott later used – if you take care of your workers, and they take care of customers, that takes care of business. (cf. Marriott & Brown, 2014).
These are but a few of the management theories that have evolved over time – one could invest a lifetime studying in this area. But still, more theories will come, and more consultants will help companies implement new ideas in practice, as leadership and management have become more complex than ever before.
References – in other words, another recommendation for a book to read:
Marriott, J., & Brown, K. (2014). Without reservations: How a family root beer stand grew into a global hotel company. New York: Luxury Custom Publishing.
Slots: Praying to the God of Chance by David V. Forrest
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I rated this book 5 stars because of the interesting material, not because of the writing (which deserves 2 or 3 stars at best).
The book goes in to the slots industry at great length.
Most people who play slots have no idea what the payout is. If they knew that a slot machine pays 90% and understood what it meant (that each time they bet a dollar, they lose a dime), most of those people would not play slots.
People are not acting rationally when they play the slots, if they think that they will make money.
Of course, there is a subset of people like me that view gambling as entertainment. Though I used to count cards and can win in blackjack doing so, I gamble in Vegas and elsewhere from time to time, keep my losses to a hundred bucks or less, and when I lose, I view the experience as entertainment which I’ve gotten fair value from. I think we’re a pretty small subset, perhaps under 5% of players.
But the real reason that most people play slots is that it can be calming and addicting and make them physically feel good, as this book illustrates.
Playing slots releases dopamine, a chemical that helps transmit signals between neurons, which feels good – taking drugs can also release dopamine.
The timing of spins in the slots corresponds with breathing done during meditation, and can also help players get in to a trance-like state.
For some, playing slots can be a substitute for religious worship – in this case, they are worshiping the fickle gods of chance.
The US government has interceded and intervened in markets many times before, including some bailouts to prop up a market and/or to prevent it from collapse.
Historically, that had occurred in 1792, when the US government bailed out the 13 United States (from Revolutionary War debt), and has continued many times, including in the Great Depression, the S&L bailout of 1989, and in the collapse of Bear Stearns, and also those of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. (Woods, 2009).
Most of these bailouts were necessary, and many were efficient.
Let’s highlight the US government bailout of AIG in 2008 as efficient, but also illegal.
AIG (American Insurance Group) had bought CDSs on CDOs, insuring $441 billion of assets, but as the value of the structured debt securities backed by subprime loans declined, AIG’s credit rating was downgraded, leading to a liquidity crisis, and the US government quickly stepped in with a secured credit facility of $85 billion, secured by warrants for ~80% of AIG and its subsidiaries. (Barofsky, 2012)
The bailout was efficient since the US government got all its money back and even made $20 billion+. (Woods, 2009)
However, taking control of 80% of AIG, and expelling its chief executive, may not have been legal, and certainly was draconian (Barofsky, 2012), and in fact a recent court ruling on this issue (U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-00951) was that “On the face of it” some of the government’s actions “perhaps are unattractive and, indeed, wrongful.” Further, Judge Thomas Wheeler (the US Court of Federal Claims) ruled that the actions of the Federal Government were illegal.
Nevertheless, had the US government not intervened, AIG would likely have quickly gone in to bankruptcy, having a major effects on markets around the planet.
As far as inefficient government interventions are concerned, in the UK the government came up with a Growth Voucher Scheme to help Small and Medium sized Enterprises, but only 7000 firms instead of 20000 used the vouchers, spending £3.6m out of £30m.
There are, of course, hundreds or thousands of examples in the US, as well.
References:
Barofsky, N. (2012). Bailout: An inside account of how Washington abandoned Main Street while rescuing Wall Street. New York: Free Press.
Woods, T. (2009). Meltdown: A free-market look at why the stock market collapsed, the economy tanked, and government bailouts will make things worse. Washington, DC: Regnery Pub.
#1, the Larch! 