From now through November 8 you will be inundated with political ads, tweets, postings, robo-calls, etc.

It’s worse for me. I live on the Washington/Oregon border, so I have the displeasure of being snowed by two of everything, both states, local (Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR) and, of course, Federal.

Of course, my area’s not alone; I’m sure the same thing happens to others in similar geographical areas.

So, in honor of the season, I thought I’d share something I wrote that is worth keeping uppermost in your mind at least through November 9 — and probably all year long.

“Once there was a talking horse named Mr. Ed on TV. These days there are dozens of talking asses on all kinds of media.”

Flickr image credit: #mr_ed

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over more than a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written. Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.

It’s been seven years since I met Nick face-to-face and 16 since I met him online. Much has changed in our lives, our businesses and each of our worlds, but our friendship has only gotten stronger. But the applicability of these Russian proverbs, and proverbs in general, never changes, but the wisdom they encompass grows more meaningful. Read other Golden Oldies here.

Today was a super cool day for me. I met my Russian business partner Nick Mikhailovsky, CEO of NTR Lab, for the first time, although we’ve worked together for a decade.

So when I started thinking about today’s quotes Russia was on my mind. And when I think of Russia I think of proverbs.

I find proverbs to be fascinating proof that no matter the color, culture or time there really is only one race on this planet—human.

The basic concepts of human action and interaction span the globe. In fact, I’ll bet that your culture has a saying that embodies the same concepts as these do.

War has been around as long as the human race as has the desire for peace, which only proves the truth of this proverb, “Eternal peace lasts only until the next war.”

Common sense underlies this proverb, “as long as the sun shines one does not ask for the moon,” but people rarely follow it.

Real Estate people are fond of saying that the there are only three things that matter, location, location, location, but I’ll bet that this proverb predates that by decades, if not longer. “Don’t buy the house, buy the neighborhood.”

It is well know that age is no guarantee of wisdom, knowledge or smarts, but “long whiskers cannot take the place of brains” is a more elegant way of saying it.

My next offering is one that has always been true, but has been proven in spades over the last couple of decades. “With lies you may go ahead in the world – but you can never go back.” Bernie Madoff has decades to think that one over.

“There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.” This is one that all of us need to take to heart. We need to find out about our politicians, financial managers, corporate chieftains, religious leaders and any others we choose to trust.

Speaking of politicians, we should never forget that “when money speaks, the truth is silent” and we have condoned a culture of political silence.

There is a universal applicability and truth in this proverb, “When you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge him by his heart.”

Maybe the reason for the universality of these thoughts is found in my final offering, “Proverbs are the people’s wisdom.”

Flickr image credit: Ed Yourdon

I was reading Oscar de la Renta’s obituary (fascinating guy) and a quote from him caught my eye.

“Being well dressed hasn’t much to do with having good clothes. It’s a question of good balance and good common sense.”

What grabbed me was the second sentence.

Because it doesn’t matter what you set out to do or how much money you spend on accouterments.

It doesn’t matter who you know, where you went to school, how many hours you work or how brilliant your vision.

It doesn’t matter because without balance and common sense you will fail.

Because balance and common sense are the foundation of anything you choose to accomplish.

Flickr image credit: James Jordan

We all work very hard, whether earning a living, studying in school, playing sports or any of the myriad of efforts that fill our lives.

This Labor Day I thought I’d share an attitude I work to keep foremost in my mind—no matter how difficult things are.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in a handsome, well preserved body, with a neat haircut and a nice smile,
but rather
to skid in sideways,
making as much noise as possible,
chocolate in one hand,
wine in the other,
adrenaline pumping,
body thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and screaming
“WOO HOO what a ride!”

 

As I wrote yesterday’s post, I had a personal epiphany regarding the cause and effect that has driven/is driving the escalation of ageism and sexism in the tech world.

I’m not saying I’m the first person to think of it, but I also haven’t seen or heard it put this simply.

It probably applies more to the tech world, because this is the first time in history that success—in the form of money, profile and influence—has come to a large number of people sans the experience that leads to maturity.

Moreover, many of them come from economically secure/elite backgrounds and are the children of the majority in control—mostly white and male.

What you have are thousands of boys in men’s bodies who suddenly have the financial ability to do what they want.

And what they want is to continue their frat boy life substituting work for school, but with the same partying, pranks, attitudes and immaturity of the collegiate fraternity boys they were.

It is a proven biological fact that males mature at a later age than females.

Generally speaking, 18-24-year-old males aren’t known for their sensitivity or respect, let alone any kind of deep thinking.

They are known for their insecurity, irresponsibility, partying, randy mindset, dismissal of everyone outside their small circle and generally oafish behavior.

So when they trade school for work, yet have the opportunity to do so without losing their previous mindset, why would you expect them to create an environment that was different from their college days?

Or want to invite people in and spend time around those who don’t share that mentality?

Flickr image credit: speedywithchicken

I am frequently asked how to deal with arrogance, disrespect and other antisocial behavior.

Often, the people asking are looking for approaches that echo the classy insults post from 2009.

KG Charles-Harris recently provided a brilliant example of how to handle such comments, with class and amiable good will—although the recipient might not agree.

While I doubt that the following actually happened, that doesn’t change the intelligence and elegance behind the responses.

When Gandhi was studying law at the University College of London, there was a professor, whose last name was Peters, who felt animosity for Gandhi, and because Gandhi never lowered his head towards him, their “arguments” were very common.

One day, Mr. Peters was having lunch at the dining room of the University and Gandhi came along with his tray and sat next to the professor. The professor, in his arrogance, said, “Mr Gandhi: you do not understand… a pig and a bird do not sit together to eat,” to which Gandhi replies, “You do not worry professor, I’ll fly away ,” and he went and sat at another table.

Mr. Peters, green of rage, decides to take revenge on the next test, but Gandhi responds brilliantly to all questions. Then, Mr. Peters asked him the following question: “Mr Gandhi, if you are walking down the street and find a package, and within it there is a bag of wisdom and another bag with a lot of money; which one will you take?”

Without hesitating, Gandhi responded, “The one with the money, of course.”

Mr. Peters, smiling, said, “I, in your place, would have taken the wisdom, don’t you think?”

“Each one takes what one doesn’t have,” responded Gandhi indifferently.

Mr. Peters, already hysteric, writes on the exam sheet the word “idiot” and gives it to Gandhi. Gandhi takes the exam sheet and sits down.

A few minutes later, Gandhi goes to the professor and says, “Mr. Peters, you signed the sheet, but you did not give me the grade.”

The ‘trick’ is responding to the actual content, rather than the intent, and turning the put-downs back on the speaker.

A good lesson for us all.

Flickr image credit: Okinawa Soba

Do you live in Silicon Valley or one of the Silicon clones (Alley, Forest, etc.)?

Do you focus your early marketing efforts on the tech world of which you are a part?

If so, you may be in for a shock or should I say rude awakening?

The problem is that that market is not the world and much of the “common wisdom” regarding early adopters is misleading or just plain wrong.

Common wisdom says that blacks are not early adopters or a prime target market. But according to Tristan Walker, who helped build Foursquare and was entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz, that so-called wisdom is way off base.

“The demographic is starved for a company that cares about it,” he said, noting that while blacks tend to be among the early adopters and consumers of social technologies, it is rare for companies to acknowledge that or to market to them directly.

Common wisdom would expect techies to be the perfect audience for Aarthi Ramamurthy’s service that lets people try out high-end tech gear before purchasing it, but they weren’t.

“I thought it would be Google and Facebook employees with disposable income,” she said. But as it turns out, she added, it’s the “middle of the country that is very interested” in the service. (…) but much of the early adoption of its business occurred in states like Texas and Idaho.

Common wisdom says a company that sends customers boxes of personally tailored clothing would resonate with fashionistas in urban areas, but Katrina Lake, founder of Stitch Fix, found her service just as hot not only in less urban areas, but also with an unexpected customer.

“But the service was received almost as well by women in Wyoming, Alabama and Minnesota (…) Ms. Lake said she had expected her market to be busy women in their 20s and 30s who have no time to shop but want nice clothes for brunches and engagement parties. “But it turns out that concept really resonated with moms and people who were busy with their kids and families,” she said.

Common wisdom says that if you spend two years developing a product with the help and input of a specific audience they should be your customers, but that’s not always true.

The Mira Medicine Team…spent years building their first tool MS Bioscreen, which was developed for the physicians at the UCSF Dept of Neurology. So they naturally believed that their first customers would be neurologists. [They weren’t] 70 customers later they are no longer talking to neurologists.

Here are the three critical take-aways—

• Common wisdom is often wrong.
• Niches are often larger than they appear.
• ‘Should’ is a bad assumption and never a guarantee.

Flickr image credit: Chris Potter

Long before I had a career and ever since I have lived by the following rule.

Whatever information, knowledge or even wisdom you are looking to teach, share or impart, whether as official teacher, mentoring manager, friend or just interested party, is more likely to be absorbed if you follow this advice.

“People learn more when they are laughing.” –Confucius

Flickr image credit: kafka4prez

Elon Musk is everywhere these days; played up by the media as a guru and role model.

But is he?

Malcolm Berko, a financial writer who’s not afraid to say when the emperor has no clothes and with no ties to anyone but himself shares a different take on Musk in response to a reader’s question.

I understand your enthusiasm for SolarCity, founded in 2006 by the Rive brothers in collaboration with Musk. But you’re ascribing extraordinary powers to this Musk chap, who, with Peter Thiel, founded PayPal in 1998. In 2002, PayPal was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion after Musk was contentiously removed as CEO by its board of directors. Musk is kind of a geeky, spacey guy who, in late 2001, designed the project “Mars Oasis.” He intended to land miniature greenhouses on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith. But Musk put his Mars Oasis on hold when he realized that current rocket technology would not allow humans to become “true spacefaring” people. Hello! He sought to address this problem by founding SpaceX, which so far is flying in the red and running up debts. His Tesla Motors, founded in 2010 and financed with four partners, hasn’t made a dime, either, but the company has a ridiculous market cap of $18 billion. In late 2011, this wacky genius spent millions researching a new form of transportation between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and in August 2013, he unveiled his “Hyperloop,” a subsonic air travel machine relying completely on solar energy that would permit commuters to travel the 350 miles between the two cities in 30 minutes. As long as Musk has billions in the bank, he’ll be a genius, but take away his money and people will call him a fool. Meanwhile, Madison Avenue’s marketing has done a splendid job of promoting his name and reputation.

But very few things he touches turn to gold; Musk is a geek without management skills, and investors should realize this.

I have no idea how accurate Berko’s analysis vs. the media in general, but I do know that no matter who says what it’s wise to check out both sides of any story.

Not only to check it out, but to do so with an open mind.

Because even if 99 out of 100 have the same opinion that doesn’t prove that the one dissenting opinion is wrong.

It may just prove that the emperor really doesn’t have any clothes.

Flickr image credit: Huw

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

Looking for a great role model?

How about someone who founded his company 38 years ago and is still active in it?

Someone who built an amazing organization, with an incredible track record for success through every economic turn?

A financial innovator who created the first index fund available for individual investors?

Someone Time Magazine named one of the “world’s 100 most powerful and influential people” in 2004 when he was 75.

How about Jack Bogle, who founded and built The Vanguard Group.

“Vanguard now has 14,000 crew members, and it’s big business, and that doesn’t really appeal to me much. But those are the perils and blessings of success. When I get disturbed about all that size – $2.2 trillion is a lot of assets – I remind myself that we’re giving good careers to 14,000 people, and it’s a company that’s value-oriented, service-oriented, integrity-oriented.”

Bogle  offers some great wisdom, that, while it is applicable to everyone, is especially apropos for founders.

I pulled what I saw as the most important to share with you, starting with a salient quote by Frederick Buechner that Bogle used in a speech he gave at Princeton.

“To live is to experience all sorts of things. (…) Pay attention to your life.”

You can channel Jack Bogle by taking these five points to heart.

• “Follow your own instincts, try to be yourself and live your own life. I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.”

• “Other than that, it comes down to some pretty simple things: First, don’t forget your family, because in the end, that’s all you really have. Next, be a decent human being, and don’t think you’re better than anybody else, no matter what your condition of wealth or importance.”

• “Indeed, never forget the important role of luck in your life. Never, never, never, never say, ‘I did it all myself.’ Nobody does it all themselves. And when somebody has the temerity to tell me they did, I say to them: ‘That’s wonderful. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anybody who did it all themselves, but could I ask you one question: How did you arrange to be born in the United States of America?’ “

• “The struggle is what it’s all about; people ask me about success. Success is a word I almost never use. Success sounds like you’ve achieved something, it’s done.”

• “But to be corny, though not inaccurate, success is a journey and not a destination. You don’t say, ‘I’ve arrived, I’m here.’ You say, ‘I’ll try to do a little better tomorrow, and all the tomorrows after that.’”

Follow these and you’ll be known not only as a winning founder, but also as an exemplary human being.

Image credit: HikingArtist