Archive for the ‘Here & There’ Category
Companies And Their Bureaucracies
MMM | April 28, 2009 – 7:25 pm |
1 Comment
Most companies build their bureaucratic rules to manage the small percentage of wrong people on the bus, which in turn drives awaythe right people on the bus, which increases the need for more bureaucracy to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline, which then further drives the right people away, and so forth.
Jim Collins, Good To Great
On Motivation…
MMM | April 25, 2009 – 10:23 am | 2 Comments
Spending time and energy to “motivate” people is a waste of effort. The real question is not “How do we motivate people?” If you have the right people, they will be self-motivated.
The key is to not de-motivate them.
Jim Collins, Good To Great
Getting To The Top
MMM | November 22, 2008 – 9:25 pm | 2 Comments
I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.
I dedicate this quote to a certain someone at work that I’ve been trying to convince that the way to the top is by focusing on their job and doing it great, not obsessing about positions and money, resting assured that those things and the rest will follow automatically.
Follow Your Heart And Intuition…
MMM | September 6, 2008 – 6:54 pm | 2 Comments
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Arabic Version Of StartUpArabia Officially Launched
MMM | June 30, 2008 – 3:39 pm | 1 Comment
One of the points many people asked for after the official launch of StartUpArabia back in April is an Arabic version, insisting on how important they thought it was.
I couldn’t agree more, and it was always one of the main points in my plans for StartUpArabia; and so my answer was always that it was currently underway and that it would be ready soon enough.
Well that soon enough is now, and the Arabic version of StartUpArabia is officially launched here:
http://www.startuparabia.com/arabic/
There are a number of posts already available there that have been translated from the English version, and more of the older posts from the English version will be posted over time so that everyone who prefers Arabic can read them too. As for new articles and posts, they’ll mostly be posted on both English and Arabic versions of the site on the same day from now on.
I’m happy that this Arabic version is out now, mainly because it will widen the reach of the information about Arab startups, and also because I can now focus on the next side project for StartUpArabia, which should be coming soon too.
Last, but not least, I’d like to thank Eman Abu-Khadra, my wife, for her hard work with me on the Arabic version. If not for her help with the translation, this version wouldn’t exist now.
So, I leave you with: StartUpArabia - Arabic Version
Don’t hesitate to link to it and spread the word; I’d be really grateful.
Bits & Pieces
MMM | May 12, 2008 – 10:04 pm | No Comments
Wow, it’s been over a week since I blogged here, mainly because I’ve been very busy working on StartUpArabia, and on some new extensions and side projects for it, but also because I haven’t really been in the mood to write a well-rounded post.
This post should pretty much sum up a number of my random thoughts and some interesting links that I’d like to share.
- USA: It’s about time Hillary Clinton stopped acting foolish, it’s time for her to drop out of the race now. Barack Obama is clearly going to get the nomination, and he deserves it.
- Zimbabwe: It’s going to be a run-off now between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, even though I’m quite sure there was no need for one. Anyway, I hope there won’t be any more violence, that Morgan Tsvangirai wins and that Zimbabweans can turn a new page starting this year.
- Lebanon: What a shame! Hezbollah using their arms against Lebanese people?! Do we really need that? Thank God this situation has passed, but this has to never happen again. And would you choose a President already, for God’s sake.
- Tunisia: The Tunis Sports City project has gotten the green light from the parliament, and should be officially launched this week. It’s a huge project, only shame is that I think a lot of trees are going to have to go to make place for it.
Enough about all that though, here are some interesting links that I enjoyed and thought I’d share with you:
- Not Always Right (Funny and stupid customer quotes)
- FontStruct (Create your own fonts online)
- Geek and Poke (Funny web2.0 comics)
High Morale Makes Creativity Cheap
MMM | May 3, 2008 – 5:10 pm | No Comments
“In my experience, the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget — but never shows up in a budget — is morale. If you have low morale, for every $1 you spend, you get about 25 cents of value. If you have high morale, for every $1 you spend, you get about $3 of value. Companies should pay much more attention to morale.”
– Brad Bird, Pixar; ‘Pixar’s Brad Bird on fostering innovation in the workplace‘
[Via: Kottke]
Is Content Becoming a Commodity?
MMM | April 15, 2008 – 5:08 pm | No Comments
An interesting conversation has been going on these past days on different blogs about fractured blog comments, how bloggers are losing control and how content is becoming more and more of a commodity these days.
Here are some selected quotes about this, the first by blogger Steven Hodson in which he worries about the devaluation of his brand:
“We are being told that once we have written our posts we no longer have any say over what happens to them. In effect we are having to give up the vary basis of what gives our brand its very worth…So as we watch our pageviews and revenue streams decline because it’s now okay that the conversations can either be taken over by other services…It’s okay that someone else can build a brand off of our now non-important brand. It’s okay that any conversations over our original thoughts can take place anywhere because the home we have worked hard to build for our brand isn’t worth anything anymore.”– Steven Hodson, What Are My Words Worth?
and the second by Sarah Perez, over on ReadWriteWeb, in which she explains what it all means for us bloggers:
“What this means for us as bloggers and new media creators is that the very technologies that we have grown to love are the same forces that are turning our efforts, be them our words, our videos, our music, our photos, or anything we create, into a commodity - something that has little monetary value on its own, but in aggregate, can become something of value.”– Sarah Perez, Content Is Becoming a Commodity
Finally, I go back to a quote by Louis Gray in which he advocates adapting to where the conversation is being held:
“As a blogger, I am a content creator. I don’t want my content stolen, or reposted without attribution or under somebody else’s name. But I am also a huge advocate of RSS and continuing to adapt where the conversation is being held. Just as my blog’s RSS views have undoubtedly eclipsed my blog page views, I would not be surprised to see that more comments on my posts might eventually live outside of my blog. It would behoove me and other bloggers to be aware of the other places the conversation will be taking place, and to engage there, in my opinion, rather than railing against the continued evolution of how we’re consuming content and engaging online.”– Louis Gray, Should Fractured Feed Reader Comments Raise Blog Owners’ Ire?
What do you think?
Acts And Results
MMM | April 6, 2008 – 10:38 am | No Comments
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.Tony Robbins
Paris Orly Airport To Use Geothermal Energy For Heating
MMM | April 5, 2008 – 3:01 pm | No Comments
The owners of the Paris Orly airport, one of the two big Paris airports, have announced plans to meet a third of its heating needs from geothermal energy.
Two 1,700-meter deep shafts are to be drilled deep under the perimeter of the city’s Orly airport, where water heated by the earth’s core will be drawn upwards by natural pressure. When it reaches the surface, the water, at a temperature of 74 degrees Celsius, will be injected into the airports heating system. It will then be pumped back into the ground at a temperature of 45 C.
The Orly-Ouest terminal, part of Orly-South, the airport’s Hilton Hotel, and two business districts will be hooked up to the system from 2011.
After the results of a feasibility study, and the launch of the $17 million project in 2011, ADP (Aeroports de Paris) hopes that they will reduce the airport’s annual CO2 emissions by 7,000 tonnes from the current level of 20,000 tonnes.
