Entrepreneurs Are "Risk Aware"

When I relocated from Silicon Valley to the DC area in December 2001, I was thrust into a wild period of "culture shock," going from one extreme on the entrepreneurship scale almost to the other. The experience--coupled with my ongoing travels and work with entrepreneurs from around the world--has helped me appreciate more some of the intricacies of this unique but critical sliver of an economy's machinery. Most specifically, I have been intrigued by the gap between non-entrepreneurs' perception of entrepreneurs and the actual reality, especially on one critical point: risk.

The "conventional wisdom" -- at least outside the world of entrepreneurs -- is that entrepreneurs are "risk lovers" or at the very least have a high tolerance for risk. However, my own experience has been that almost every successful entrepreneur I have met is more concerned with managing, mitigating, or timing risk, and only embraces risk as an essential component of an ongoing "risk-reward" analysis.

Yes, entrepreneurs have the genetic make-up to work with risk on a daily basis--not everyone has the stomach for that in their own lives. However, to say that this translates into being a "risk lover" or taking crazy/unnecessary risks is a bit of a jump. Instead, I would propose that entrepreneurs are simply more "risk aware" than most non-entrepreneurs.

For more on this topic, check out this interesting discussion.

Man v. Woman

Web 2.0: Whatever Happened to Web 1.0?

"Just Do It" (original)

Nike may have encapsulated the essence in a three-word tagline, but Theodore Roosevelt said it much more passionately and eloquently:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Life Lessons: Cal v. Stanford 1982 (aka "The Play")

I've always said that sports are terrific ways to teach (and learn) about life's most important lessons. As a Cal Bear, I have to appreciate the lessons from the wild finish to our 1982 Big Game with arch-rival Stanford:

(1) Don't ever give up on anything ... no matter how dire the situation may look.

(2) Don't ever take anything for granted ... even the surest things can disappear in seconds.

(3) You'll be amazed at what you can accomplish with teamwork, innovation, effort, and creative problem-solving.

and, most important of all ...

(4) If you're a trombone player, don't ever, ever, EVER walk onto a football field until you're absolutely certain that the football players are finished playing football!

One more lesson I've learned: the older you get, the more perspective you get. While many folks are familiar with this famous kick-off return, what's been lost to history is the way that the Stanford team had just seconds before pulled off what THEY thought was a miracle last-minute come-from-behind victory.

To emphasize these points, please enjoy the first [longer] video for proper context (and to give Stanford its proper due), as well as the second [enhanced] video (to see exactly what the heck actually happened on the field).

Enjoy these classic sports moments!

New 7 Wonders of the World

For those of you following this online voting, here are the results announced over the weekend (in no particular order):

• The Great Wall of China

• Petra in Jordan

• Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer

• Peru's Machu Picchu

• Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid

• The Colosseum in Rome

• India's Taj Mahal

In case you're curious, here are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (again, in no particular order):

• Great Pyramids of Giza

• Hanging Gardens of Babylon

• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

• Statue of Zeus at Olympia

• Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus

• Colossus of Rhodes

• Lighthouse of Alexandria

Only Pessimists are Truly Happy People

I've been using this George F. Will quote since I was in high school:

"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."

Wet Oatmeal Kisses

I just spent the past week (4th of July holiday) on the road with my family, including my 3 wonderful kids. It made me appreciate even more this old column from Ann Landers:

WET OATMEAL KISSES

The baby is teething. The children are fighting. Your husband just called and said, "Eat dinner without me." One of these days you'll explode and shout to the kids, "Why don't you grow up and act your age?" And they will.

Or: "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do. And don't slam the door!" And they don't.

You'll straighten their bedrooms all neat and tidy, toys displayed on the shelf, hangers in the closet, animals caged. You'll yell, "Now I want it to stay this way!" And it will.

You will prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't had all the olives picked out and a cake with no finger traces in the icing and you'll say: "Now THIS is a meal for company." And you will eat it alone.

You'll yell, "I want complete privacy on the phone. No screaming. Do you hear me?" And no one will answer.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti. No more dandelion bouquets. No more iron-on patches. No more wet, knotted shoelaces, muddy boots, or rubber bands for ponytails.

Imagine. A lipstick with a point. No baby-sitter for New Year's Eve, washing clothes only once a week, no PTA meetings or silly school plays where your child is a tree. No carpools, blaring stereos, or forgotten lunch money. No more Christmas presents made of library paste and toothpicks. No wet oatmeal kisses. No more tooth fairy. No more giggles in the dark, scraped knees to kiss or sticky fingers to clean.

Only a voice asking: "Why don't you grow up?" And the silence echoes: "I did."