|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-
Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – November 12th, 2017
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- Many Strategies Fail Because They're Not Actually Strategies. (HBR)
- The Purpose of Sleep? to Forget, Scientists Say. (CS)
- What is Unique Ability? (StrategicCoach)
- UPS Drivers Don't Turn Leftand It Saves Them 10 Million Gallons of Gas a Year. (Qz)
- Eugenics 2.0: We're at the Dawn of Choosing Embryos by Health, Height, and More. (TechReview)
- Why Investors Should Trade Futures. (TheStreet)
- Saudi Arabia Arrests 11 Princes, Including Billionaire Alwaleed Bin Talal. (NYT)
- Investment Queen: A Look at Elizabeth II's Fortune. (AP News)
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Just Sold $1.1 Billion Worth of His Stock. (CNN)
- Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett Now Have More Money Than Literally Half of America Combined. (Inc)
-
Before and After The Snap: What Can Business Learn From Football?
The NFL has been in the news a lot recently (mostly for controversy … kneeling during Anthems, companies blaming poor sales on the decline in NFL TV ratings, concussions, and Jerry Jones trying to fire the Commissioner).Nonetheless, I am impressed by the product NFL teams put on the field week-after-week and year-after-year.Recently, I took some friends to The Star, which is the Cowboys' new world headquarters and training facility (and, as a side note, cost more to build than the Cowboys' stadium).
This post seems like it is about football … but it is really a playbook of things we can do in business.
What Can Business Learn From Football Teams?
If you get a chance to watch an NFL practice … I highly recommend it. It is an awesome experience and opportunity for a businessperson.
Each time I've watched a practice session I've come away impressed by the amount of preparation, effort, and skill displayed.The Cowboys' coach is Jason Garrett. He is detail-oriented and intellectual. His pedigree … he is a Princeton graduate who played quarterback in the NFL.
During practice, there's a scheduled agenda. Practice is broken into chunks, and each chunk has a designed purpose and a desired intensity. There's a rhythm, even to the breaks.
Every minute was scripted. You could tell there was a long-term plan … but, there was also a focus on the short-term details (many details).
They alternate between individual and group drills. Moreover, the drills run fast … but for shorter time periods than you'd guess. It is bang-bang-bang – never longer than a millennial's attention span. And they move from drill to drill – working not just on plays, but the skillsets as well (where are you looking, which foot do you plant, how do you best use your hands, etc.).
They use advanced technology (including advanced player monitoring, bio-metric tracking, and medical recovery devices … but also things like robotic tackling dummies and virtual reality headsets).
They don't just film games, they film the practices … and each individual drill. Coaches and players get a cut of the film on their tablet as soon as they leave. It is a process of constant feedback, constant improvement, or constant renewal.
How you do one thing is how you do everything. So, they try to do everything right.
Pro football is one thing. College football is another. But, even in high school, the coaches have a game plan. There are team practices and individual drills. They have a depth chart, which lists the first, second, and third choice to fill certain roles.
The focus is not just internal, on the team. They focus on the competition as well. Before a game, the coaches prepare a game plan and have the team watch tape of their opponent in order to understand the tendencies and mentally prepare for what's going to happen.
During the game, changes in personnel groups and schemes keep competitors on their toes and allow the team to identify coverages and predict plays. Coaches from different hierarchies work in tandem to respond faster to new problems.
After the game, the film is reviewed in detail. Each person gets a grade on each play, and the coaches make notes for each person about what they did well and what they could do better.
Think about it … everyone knows what game they are playing … and for the most part, everybody understands the rules, and how to keep score (and even where they are in the standings).
Imagine how easy that would be to do in business. Imagine how much better things could be if you did those things.
Challenge accepted.
-
Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – November 5th, 2017
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.- The Most Important Skunk Works Rules for Your Success. (Inc)
- Scientists Find out How Hope Protects the Brain. (BigThink)
- Music Produces Pleasure in Similar Way as Drugs, Sex. (NewsWeek)
- A New Tool Lets You Visualize the Spread of Fake News. (SeanLawson)
- Donald Trump Calls out Mark Cuban on Twitter, Says Mavs Owner 'Not Smart Enough to Run for President'. (SportsDay)
- CME Plans to Launch Bitcoin Futures by Year-end. (CNBC)
- Confessions of an Artificial Intelligence Hedge Fund Manager: Howard Getson. (WealthFormula)
- Stick with Numbers When Judging Trump's Rally. (Bloomberg)
- The Mother of All Financial Bubbles: "This is the Very Definition of Unsustainable". (ZeroHedge)
- These are the Four Questions Y Combinator Uses to Identify the Next Unicorn. (Quartz)
-
Resisting the War on Science: Sifting Through the Bullshit.
There seems to be a rising movement of anti-intellectualism and homegrown "experts" believing they know more than experts who have spent their careers creating informed opinions based on textbooks, peers, and experience.
"I saw it on facebook", "I googled my symptoms and it's definitely Lupus", "That's just a hypothesis, there's no proof…"
It is increasingly difficult for people to discern what's real from what's fake, and it's undermining the authority of experts. \
Experts make mistakes, and scientists and doctors are constantly learning, but having well-informed experts who can challenge those mistakes and create solutions. We wouldn't have the world today without that established knowledge base.
So how do you become better informed?
First off, acknowledging expertise, and searching for credible sources is paramount. Researching dissenting opinions and sources from the opposite side of the spectrum can also provide insight.
If most the news sources you follow are liberal-biased, don't neglect to research the other side of the spectrum and vice versa. Otherwise, you can end up in an echo chamber. When looking at studies or articles, be aware of fallacies and learn to spot bad science.
Finally, remember that none of that is a substitute for a proper education.
While we can learn a lot from the internet, it's easy for our understandings to lack nuance or context.
Be careful.
-
Wealth Formula – Howard Getson and Buck Joffrey Talk The Future of Trading
I'm excited … because I've been at Joe Polish's Genius Network Annual Event this weekend.
Genius Network is a business group that also serves as an advisory board, counselor's office, and idea factory.
It brings brilliant minds and industry transformers together in a forum focused on innovation, creative disruption, and possibility.
Peer groups, like this, help you set (and raise) standards.
They help bring new capabilities, but also new possibilities, new found energies and a reconnection to your purpose, mission, and values.
This is a great place to meet extraordinary people.
Buck Joffrey is one of them. He is a doctor, an international best selling author, member of Genius Network, and host of WealthFormula (which is a podcast where he educates professionals on how to build lasting wealth).
Buck recently interviewed me for WealthFormula. We talked about old-world trading versus new-world trading … and where I think A.I and Machine Learning have the best opportunities to add alpha and help investors make and keep more money.
You can listen to it below (or subscribe to his podcast on iTunes, Android, or RSS).
-
Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – October 29th, 2017
Mike Keefe via InToonHere are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds. (NewYorker)
- North Korea's next Menace May Be a Biological-Weapons Arsenal. (Apple)
- 4 Billion Years of Technology in One Infographic. (VisualCapitalist)
- Half of the World is Now Connected to the Internet: Study. (NetworksAsia)
- The Principles of Quantum Team Management. (FirstRound)
- Data is Giving Rise to a New Economy. (Economist)
- Apple Vs. Google Company Structure, as Seen through Patents. (FlowingData)
- The $74 Trillion Global Economy in One Chart. (VC)
- How Dangerous is a Stock Market of Mindless Robots? (Wall Street Journal)
- An Investing Legend Who's Nailed the Market at Every Turn Just Got Even More Bullish on Stocks. (BI)
-
What Do You Buy Someone Who Has Everything?
I'm getting cynical, I understand planned obsolescence … but has it occurred to you that Apple could make their phones act sluggish just before the launch of a new version?
My phone has been driving me nuts. So, (as I write this) I'm up at 2 am to place my order for the new iPhone X.
On one hand, it satisfies my desire for the new and shiny … but, on the other hand, it makes it harder for my wife.
Buying gifts is often hard. But it gets harder when the giftee already has everything (or buys it himself).
That is where Neiman Marcus comes in.
Every year since 1959, Neiman Marcus has published a Christmas Book. Primarily comprised of normal Neiman Marcus offerings … the book also contains pretty amazing "fantasy" gifts. For example, who doesn't want a rose-gold Cobalt Valkyrie-X private plane (worth $1.5 million) …
Neiman MarcusI don't know about you, but it's a little feminine for me.
Or, there is a private Submarine (worth $20,000,000).
Neiman MarcusBut that is only good if you don't have one already.
You can check out NM's 2017 Fantasy Gift List, here, and get a personal trip to Champagne, France or a pair of specially commissioned His and Hers Rolls Royces.
Let me know if you have any good gift ideas. I'm always looking for them.
