World Cafe etiquette

World Cafe etiquette

1. Focus on what matters
   
2. Contribute your thinking and experience
   
3. Listen to understand
   
4. Connect ideas
   
5. Listen together for patterns, insights and deeper questions
   
6. Play, doodle, draw

Source:

World Cafe

Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community

Pg 167

Berrett-Koehler

ISBN: 9781576752586

World Cafe hosting principles

Source:

World Cafe

Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community

Pg 174

Berrett-Koehler

ISBN: 9781576752586

Dr Doom investment observations

Dr Doom investment observations

1. There is no investment rule that always works.

If there was one single rule, which always worked, everybody would in time follow it and therefore, everybody would be rich. But the only constant in history is the shape of the wealth pyramid, with few rich people at the top and many poor at the bottom. Thus, even the best rules do change from time to time.

2. Stocks always go up in the long term.

This is a myth. Far more companies have failed than succeeded. Far more countries' stock markets went to zero than markets which have survived. Just think of Russia in 1918, all the Eastern European stock markets after 1945, Shanghai after 1949 and Egypt in 1954.

3. Real Estate always goes up in the long term.

While it is true that real estate has a tendency to appreciate in the long run, partly because of population growth, there is a problem with ownership and property rights. Real estate in London was a good investment over the last 1000 years but not for America's Red Indians, Mexico's Aztecs, Peru's Incas and people living in countries, which became communists in the 20th century. All these people lost their real estate and usually also their lives.

4. Buy low and sell high.

The problem with this rule is that we never know exactly what is low and what is high. Frequently what is low will go even lower and what is high will continue to rise.

5. Buy a basket of high quality stocks and hold.

Another highly dangerous rule! Today's leaders may not be tomorrow's leaders. Don't forget that Xerox, Polaroid, Memorex, Digital Equipment, Burroughs, Control Data were the leaders in 1973. Where are they today? Either out of business or their stocks far lower, than in 1973!

6. Buy when there is blood on the street.

It is true that very often, bad news provide an interesting entry point, at least as a trading opportunity into a market. However a better long term strategy may be to buy on bad news which has been preceded by a long string bad news. When then the market no longer declines, there is a chance that the really worst has been fully discounted.

7. Don't trust anyone.

Everybody is out to sell you something. Corporate executives either lie knowingly or because they don't know the true state of their business and the entire investment community makes money on you buying or selling something.

8. The best investments are frequently the ones you did not make.

To make a really good investment which will in time appreciate by 100 times or more is like finding a needle in a haystack. Most "hot tips" and "must buy" or "great opportunities" turn out to be disasters. Thus, only take very few investment decisions which you have carefully analyzed and thought about in terms of risk and potential reward.

9. Invest where you have an edge.

If you live in a small town you may know the local real estate market but little about Cisco, Yahoo and Oracle. Stick with your investments in assets about which you may have a knowledge edge.

10. Invest in yourself.

Today's society is obsessed with money. But the best investments for you may be in your own education, in the quality of the time you spend with the ones you love, on your own job, and on books which will open new ideas to you and let you see things from many different perspectives.

Source:

What every investor ought to know

Marc Faber ( Dr Doom )

Relais du Silence

I just came across a hotel group - Relais du Silence or Silencehotel. It's interesting to know there are hotels who understand silence. Use it as a service offer.

I feel there is too much noise in our lives. We need silence. I need short silence daily ( 5 to 30 mins ). I spend some time to myself daily. Either I meditate or just keep quiet. It is kind of refreshing for me.

Wonder if Relais du Silence offer meditation?

What made you smile today

Just harvest an idea from the happiness is earned posting ( paragraph 9 ) on Roemer's blog.

Roemer was blogging about how he makes himself happy. He does it by finding one thing that made him smile everyday. After taking a picture of that he writes down why it makes him feel that way.

What idea did I harvest?
Convert how Roemer make him happy into an idea. Give it a name. Describe its process step by step. Share the idea around.

Idea: What made you smile today?

Process:

1. Find one thing or event that made you smile everyday.
2. Take a picture of that. If you can’t, mark the memory down as a word or sentence on your mobile phone or a piece of paper.
3. Write why it make you smile.

The best idea is boss

This is something that you will often hear in the hallways at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. It means that an idea is judged solely on its own merit. A good idea can come from anywhere, from any person in any department at any level. If you've been here a long time, if you're overdue, or if you've worked on that account longer than anyone, that doesn't matter. And just because a person's title is associate creative director or management supervisor doesn't necessarily mean their ideas are automatically weighted more toward the good end of the scale. We hope that this attitude creates a wonderfully liberating environment where great ideas gush forth freely from each and every person. Or at least an environment where you feel like you can contribute even though you're not running the place.

Source:

Employee Handbook version 3.0

Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Page 13

High tech - high touch

What is high tech - high touch?

Sense from:

High tech - high touch

John Naisbitt, Nana Naisbitt, Douglas Philips

Page 26

Broadway Books

ISBN: 0767903838

It is a human lens.

It is embracing technology that preserves our humanness and rejecting technology that intrudes upon it. It is recognizing that technology is an integral part of the evolution of culture, the creative product of our imaginations, our dreams and aspirations - and that the desire to create new technologies is fundamentally instinctive. But is also recognizing that art, story, play, religion, nature, and time are equal partners in the evolution of technology because they nourish the soul and fulfill its yearnings.

• It is expressing what it means to be human and employing technology fruitfully in that expression. It's appreciating life and accepting death.
  
• It is knowing when we should push back on technology, in our work and our lives, to affirm our humanity.
  
• It is understanding that technology zealots are as shortsighted as technology bashers.
  
• It is creating significant paths for our lives, without fear of new technology or fear of falling behind it.
  
• It is recognizing that at its best, technology supports and improves human life; at its worse, it alienates, isolates, distorts, and destroys.
  
• It is questioning what place technology should have in our lives and what place it should have in society.
  
• It is consciously choosing to employ technology when it adds value to human lives.
  
• It is learning how to live as human beings in a technologically dominated time.
  
• It is knowing when simulated experiences add value to human life.
  
• It is recognizing when to avoid the layers of distractions and distance technology affords us.
  
• It is recognizing when technology is not neutral.
  
• It is knowing when to unplug and when to plug in.
  
• It is appropriate human scale.
  

High tech - high touch is enjoying the fruits of technological advancements and having it truly sit well with our god, our church, or our spiritual beliefs. It is understanding technology through the human lens of play, time, religion, and art.