“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Work Life Integration
The biggest or classic discussion in work environments is the need for “work life balance”. I totally become puzzled with this notion of work life balance – as if they are two separate parallel universe.
I believe in work life integration rather than balance, probably cause I view my work as life and personal and not a separate universe.
I learned ( and still learning) with time how to handle this integration in a way that does not spoil the fun in work or the fun in time off or when I am with my loved ones or taking a break. The core of the learning is a bit of clarity on what is the noise and what is a needed timely step forward that cannot wait cause I am in a week end.
The “Tough but Possible” Mindset!
In listening to an interview with Peter Thiel talking about his book Zero to One, there were a lot of questions about why did the Paypal founders a.k.a. Paypal mafia become the engine of a lot of further successful startups and investments: Tesla, SpaceX, YouTube, Linkedin, Palantir, Facebook…etc.
Thiel described the characteristics of the startup journeys specially in the early phases of discovering the product market fit – Three variations: Easy and Possible, Impossible, Tough but Possible. Microsoft which was built in perfect timing was easy and possible, some others hit the impossible, but the ones like Paypal who lived through the tough but possible witnessed a real transformation.
Yeah, the best mindset is created from the successful “Tough but possible” journeys! This mindset makes us accept the risk and toughness as part of the game while waking up every day and taking one step forward…
Photo credit:By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use
Photo Description: Back row from left: Jawed Karim, co-founder Youtube; Jeremy Stoppelman CEO Yelp; Andrew McCormack, managing partner Laiola Restaurant; Premal Shah, Pres of Kiva; 2nd row from left: Luke Nosek, managing partner The Founders Fund; Kenny Howery, managing partner The Founders Fund; David Sacks, CEO Geni and Room 9 Entertainment; Peter Thiel, CEO Clarium Capital and Founders Fund; Keith Rabois, VP BIz Dev at Slide and original Youtube Investor; Reid Hoffman, Founder Linkedin; Max Levchin, CEO Slide; Roelof Botha, partner Sequoia Capital; Russel Simmons, CTO and co-founder of Yelp
Beautiful Aswan!
A family ritual for the past few years is going to Aswan towards end of year; cruising the Nile up and down in a folouka – with our music, fruits, nuts, drinks and books!
We only stop towards end of day in “Gharb Soheil” to eat delicious tajin food and get some tea. It took us time to understand the food system; because they eat very early if you did not book your “Wagba” you will find no food by end of day – so if you will eat in a local spot then reservation is needed. And no menu, most original nubian restaurant operate by you ordering one vegetable + pick between meat and Chicken and you get rice, salad, bread on top for free.
I learned about Nubia and its two languages “Kenzy” and “Fijiki” and its different history. I have always thought that Nubia is only in Egypt but it extended beyond to Sudan. The tribes of Fijiki who used to live by the Nile in a beautiful spot were forced to move out when the dam was built. They had to relocate to spots that had no water and most reminisce on this era. Two very famous Egyptians figures are from Aswan, and both are Fijiki: Mohamed Mounir (The King – who is a personal favorite of mine! ) and General Tantawi.
The king has a beautiful house now on the Nile, fame got him back a spot on the Nile! Tantawi who is a very respected local, plays a vital role to calm situation regarding the land allocation to the people who moved. Usually nubian are scared to talk politics so i will stop here:)
I became addicted to the mood of this trip, it has a meditation effect on me. The beauty of Aswan is beyond words; its original nubians are beyond nice and pleasant.
P.S. We have now two guys whom we call as soon as we land – the folouka guy and the chef Mahmoud – text me if you ever need their numbers, they are highly recommended! Staying or visiting Hotel Cataract is also very recommended.
I love the Ahmed Mounib song where he talks about the country of gold – most think it is Egypt while it is on the nubian part that they lost when they were forced to move, I am sure it was a breathless beautiful spot…
And since i mentioned Ahmed Mounib, here is my absolute favorite in his voice. احمد منيب ربك هو العالم
The Engine of Prosperity!
When you get great people in a beautiful functional space, magic unfolds. Creative spaces are a real passion that i have. I was recently attending a presentation on Herman Miller concept of the Living Office, which is a human centered approach to the workplace, part of the presentation was the chart of the engine of prosperity. It describes elements of what makes work thrive – feeling good when you come to work and feeling pride and sense of the community is essential…
Prosperity is generated when the following elements come into a dynamic equilibrium:
= Passion of both the individual and the Organization.
= The needs of the individual, for example those laid down in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
= The desire of the individual to generate income and an Organization to create profit.
= The needs of the workforce and the Organization.
Embed Yourself in a Community of Practice!
My approach to learn a new topic besides reading can be summed up with this statement “Embed yourself in a community of practice”
If i want to learn about a topic, i just go where most of its experts hangout, even if i feel like an outsiders! I have a thick skin and not a lot of pride when trying to learn. I also embed myself in the online community of practice through Twitter and Quora. I create a twitter list of all experts or relevant people in field and when they share an opinion or an article it will be the most relevant to the topic. It is like hiring a personal curator from the industry:) Same for Quora, nothing compares to humans from industry giving personal answers. Both tools made a huge difference with my learning on new topics like: Angel Investments, Creative Spaces, Fintech, Audio Book Publishing, Digital Transformation…
We suffer from an overload of information and articles are mostly written for clicks….that is one of my ways of sifting through the noise.
Wandering Matters!
“I like things where wandering matters, i like to wander…I make sure all my meetings do not have tight agendas. I don’t like tight agendas because they assume you know where you are going…which for certain type of meeting is right, like if you are doing a business review and you are going through the metrics, that should have a good agenda. but most meetings are not like that…wandering is super important, thinking and knowing exactly where you are going is the kind of lack of humility that does not let you invent…” – Jeff Bezos on #min54 of the interview.
Sounds trivial but coming from Bezos these statements validates the kind of meetings that i take with headlines but no clear agendas and loose time…we finish when we finish…
This small point aside:) It is a good interview with a real great leader – no fuss but ruthless execution! #Recommended
The Big Short!
“Cynicism is easy. Mimicry is easy. Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.”
– @Naval
This movie makes me feel sane.
It is the true story Michael Burry who, in 2008, realized that a number of subprime home loans are in danger of defaulting and bet against the housing market. He saw it and it was so obvious yet it is just crazy how others reacted!
I watch it over and over again. It is a TRUE Story. Some might find it boring, i find it soothing – it explains to me how obvious common sense can be uncommon! And Although the letter that Michael Burry wrote while closing Scion fund is not the real one but its essence is true. The one in the movie sums it for me!
The Make/Stay in Business at Any Cost Mentality…
“Making money is not like what I thought it would be. This business kills the part of life that is essential, the part that has nothing to do with business….”
The Compliance and Cancel your Brain Mentality
“People want an authority to tell them how to value things, but they choose this authority not based on facts or results. They choose it because it feels authoritative and familiar.”
#AMustWatch
It Was a Pleasure Meeting you Charlie!
“You’ll never find a rainbow if you are looking down” – Charlie Chaplin
In summer ’17, my visit for the Chaplin’s World was mesmerizing! It was my first encounter with the “immersive museum” which brought to life the priceless cultural and cinematic legacy of Charlie Chaplin in an engaging way that allowed us to interact with the design elements and scenes to create our own memories with him and his movie characters!
The visit provoked me to learn more about Charlie Chaplin whom i perceived as a boring mute movie character in my childhood. Reading about him left me full of admiration! Admiration for his achievements in using art to illustrate meaningful messages with freedom BUT above all admiration for what this poor kid who was born on April 16, 1889 in Walworth, South London, achieved in terms of financial independence. Besides his famous actor status, He was an independent producer with studios of his own! He was kicked out of the United States in 1952 on communism charges and lived in an amazing location in Switzerland for twenty five years with his fourth wife Oona O’neill and his eight kids…Not to mention being friends with Einstein, Sophia Lauren and tons of other great personalities with whom he travelled the world.
You can have an opinion, express it freely and get punished! But if you are in a strong financial situation, they cannot break you – you can even come back and haunt them by writing books or producing new movies! Bravo Charlie. What an amazing life. I salute you!
If you are ever in Corsier-sur-Vevey, some 15 miles from Lausanne, for any reason, i strongly recommend you pass by Chaplin’s World. The tour is composed of three parts: The Manoir, The Studio and The Park .
To Compete is To Forget!
“People reflexively assume that competition is always a good thing, that it always brings out the best in people, but that is only true of people who can forget competition. The art of competing, I’d learn from track, was the art of forgetting…
You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past. You must forget that inner voice screaming, begging, “Not one more step!” And when it is not possible to forget it, you must negotiate with it. I thought over all the races in which my mind wanted one thing, and my body wanted another, those laps in which I’d had to tell my body. “yes, you raise some excellent points, BUT let’s keep going anyway…”
- by Phil knight in his book: The Shoe Dog, A Memoir by the Creator of Nike.
These statement just hit a nerve as I was discussing with a startup founder before vacation the obsession with competition! Yeah, one should see it, act but never let it interfere with how we do perform…or at least try to!