May. 24 2009

The Case for Working With Your Hands

When we praise people who do work that is straightforwardly useful, the praise often betrays an assumption that they had no other options. We idealize them as the salt of the earth and emphasize the sacrifice for others their work may entail. Such sacrifice does indeed occur — the hazards faced by a lineman restoring power during a storm come to mind. But what if such work answers as well to a basic human need of the one who does it? I take this to be the suggestion of Marge Piercy’s poem “To Be of Use,” which concludes with the lines “the pitcher longs for water to carry/and a person for work that is real.” Beneath our gratitude for the lineman may rest envy.

Dec. 31 2008

You have to communicate what the mission is all the time — and how meaningful someone’s contribution is to the mission.
Charlie Rose

Sep. 12 2008

For lack of a better term, I am calling this “experience syndication” since Powered by Zappos is essentially syndicating the value of the entire experience - not just one aspect such as content or business process or infrastructure. A quick Google search reveals that would-be competitors such as Clarks Shoes, Stuart Weitzman, Bostonian Shoes etc. are already utilizing PBZ.

Experience Syndication: Powered by Zappos - O’Reilly Radar (via soxiam)

those in search of what is next?  it has already passed you by.  how do you add value?  why should someone care?  why dedicate time and attention to you?  in the end, be meaningful, make connections and provide opportunities.  these things will not only put you where you want to be but make you matter all at the same time.

Aug. 10 2008

Open Systems

In other words, think about how the term “most Americans” has some meaning, while the term “most writers” is becoming fuzzy.

Aug. 04 2008

The word “capitalize” comes from “capital,” meaning “head,” and is associated with importance, material wealth, assets and advantages. We have capital cities and capital ideas. We give capital punishment and accrue political, social and financial capital. And then there is capitalism, which is linked to private ownership, markets and investments. These words shore up the towering single letter that signifies us as discrete beings and connote confidence, dominance and the ambition to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.
On Language - Me, Myself and I - NYTimes.com (via df)