“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”
Mark Twain
Mark Twain: Photo credit: Wikipedia
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[Life Back West] January 2014 – How Do You Care for Unicorns?
You know them when you see them – which is seldom – and fully appreciate them after they’re gone and not when you have a chance to know them.
They are the type of people who rare; people by dint of background, experience, situation, skills or simply by being who are highly unique in a world where many of us are commodity plug and play.… Read the rest
What’s in Your Drinking Water?
A new cost of living index for 195 worldwide cities was recently published. If you’re living in San Francisco, only New York City is more expensive in North America – and the City by the Bay is the 9th most expensive worldwide.
Data is here.
Places like Kansas City, St. Louis, Nashville, Orlando, Salt Lake City and Austin look like bargains compared to New York City, London, Geneva, Olso, Singapore and Zurich.… Read the rest
What’s Most Important: Right Job or Right Boss?
It’s great to have choices but what if it’s a quandary?
One job offer is a role that fits you to a “T” with a boss with an awful reputation, the other is a poor-fit job with a well-regarded terrific boss.
While some thrill to have any job offer, figuring out which of these to take can be tough.
The right role fits you like a glove; it’s got stretch when you need it, and plays to your strengths, not your liabilities.… Read the rest
[Life Back West] October 2013 – Kismet?
“Kismet” the CEO asked?
“Yes, kismet,” I said. “The not-so-accidental fact that I’m working with someone who has some of the same strengths and challenges that I have. The good news? I know them well.”
The CEO’s direct report was the client, someone I’ll call “Bob,” did indeed have a skill set that reminded me of me; hardworking, a nose for the business, great rapport with people below him on the corporate pecking order, broad interests and knowledge, smart (well, maybe not that part) and the ability to be too candid when greater diplomacy was in retrospect warranted.… Read the rest
Do Software Engineers Rule the World?
A guy I met at a client firm’s baseball outing had a singular statement:
“Silicon Valley software engineers rule the world!“
Do they?
His take was based on some simple facts: the world is run on software, the best of the best software engineers are in Silicon Valley, firms can never find enough good engineers to do work that is indispensable, the jobs pay well to do fun stuff so Silicon Valley engineers must rule the world.… Read the rest