It is easy to get lost in the admistrivia of day-to-day life. Here is a quick antidote for that.
International Space Station astronaut Don
Pettit lived on the station for about a year, and took many pictures while up there. The results of his innovative photographic work and passion have changed
the way we see earth from space.
Next, astrophotographer Christoph Malin took thousands of Pettit's individual photos and animated them, adding clips of Pettit giving a talk about his stay aboard
the ISS and his photography there. He also set it to music, creating a simply stunning time-lapse video.
The result is certainly worth watching. So, set aside 16
minutes of your busy day, sit back, and soak this in: “The ISS Image Frontier”.
The video presents an interesting perspective of our planet.
Many astronauts, even from back in the Apollo days, talk
about an incredible feeling they get after a few days in space. As they gaze on
the Earth from above, they lose their feeling of borders and nationality. The
Saudi astronaut Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud, who flew on the Space Shuttle in
1985, commented on this, saying ,
“The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day
we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one
Earth.”
On a different note, the technique where they create a composite view of a visual time series is facinating. It makes the invisible visible ... and has many uses in the big data space as well. Very cool!
Last week I got an insightful lesson from someone I'd never heard of before. His name is Itay Talgam, and he used to conduct the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
He was the keynote presenter on the opening night of a business conference ... and somewhat surprisingly his message was about leadership.
Some people take the word "conductor"
and assume it means "leader." However,
taken a different way, "conductor" might
mean "connector."
Neither is "right," but which would you consciously choose for it to mean for you, your business, or your trading?
To figure out what conductors do, we watched some videos of well-known conductors conducting their orchestras.
Some were the center of attention, some helped highlight the performers, while others focused on connecting the audience to the music.
Some were stiff, others almost danced with their orchestra and the audience.
Likewise, some were control freaks who micro-managed every nuance of a performance, while others simply let the orchestra play.
Some showed passion; others showed control.
Again, there are countless variations; and the point is that it was easy for each of us to choose what seemed right (and what didn't). Obviously, this works as a metaphor for business, interactions with people, or even how you trade and manage a portfolio.
If you were hiring a conductor, what would you be looking for, and how would you want them to engage ?
With that in mind (time for a little introspection), how do
you show-up, and what do you do? Are there other ways for you to perform your roles and duties that might get better results?
On a different topic, when you experience great classical music … who should get the credit?
Acceptable answers might include the conductor, the orchestra, the composer, even the audience.
Assuming that a conductor should get their fair share of the credit and blame for a performance, what do they do (or what could they do) to impact the results?
Obviously, the conductor is the focal point letting people know when to do the thing that they do. So there's clearly a communication and coordination component. Taken too far, and it strips some of the "magic" from the performers and the performance.
According to Talgam, the best conductors manage the process, while leaving the details to the performers. This allows them a fair bit of control, without the stifling effect on innovation or art.
From my perspective the same is true in trading. I don't want a portfolio manager to be the trading system ... instead I want a dynamic and adaptive selection of the right systems at the right time.
One of the examples was that a flute player asked the conductor how they would know it was time for them to come in ... The conductor's answer was "it's time to come in when you can no longer stand being out."
Leonard Bernstein
was shown as an example of a great conductor. After working with the Vienna Philharmonic for many years, some of the best performances occurred while he did apparently little.
Upon closer inspection, you could see that he was sending them cues using: facial expressions, the pace of his breathing, a nod of his head, the movement of his body, the direction of his gaze, and through countless
other little things.
Obviously, you can't rely on such things at the beginning, but once people really know what to do, one of the best things you can do is help them find opportunities to do what they do best, and then to get out of the way to let them do it.
A thread on popular net board, AskReddit, posed the question, "What is the most beautiful song you've ever heard?"
The challenge was simple:
Think to yourself, what is the most beautiful song you have ever heard, im not talking about your favourite song, or the most technical, or something that made you cry, I just want to know the song that made you say 'holy shit... I could die to this.'
After thousands of comments, a strong list was assembled and filtered. Ultimately, the 100 most upvoted songs became a public Spotify playlist.
Selections range from classical to punk and from pop to indie. The result was interesting and varied.
I had the perfect holiday gift planned. We were going to go to Cirque du Soleil's 'Kooza' show. Jennifer and Zach both missed an earlier show because they were out of town. Cirque is magical enough that I didn't mind seeing it again. So, when I saw a daily deal touting "Kazoo La La' at the Cirque Theater, I jumped on it.
On the day of the show, we got dressed up and drove downtown. Our GPS told us to go one way;
but I remembered where the show was ... only it wasn't there. Since it was
approaching curtain time and we were feeling the time pressure, I followed the GPS to its destination and tried not to argue.
There was a huge line, and very little organization or process (which we thought was very unlike our prior experiences with Cirque du Soleil). Nonetheless, we get to our seats, the curtain rises, and we laugh that someone struggling to do a circus act. Then we start to
look at each other, because it dawns on us that the person struggling is not a clown pretending to struggle, is truly someone who's not very good at what they're doing.
To make a long story short, we bought a ticket to see Kazoo La La, which in no shape or form is related to Cirque du Soleil's Kooza.
Yes, it was disappointing, and we left at the intermission. However, we had a great time. We laughed at the show and ourselves. Then we took the extra time we had
went to
marble slab creamery for ice cream.
The point is, it's not what
happens,
it's what you do.
This is true in trading, in business, and in life. All you can control is how you show up, what you focus on, and what you make something mean. The quality of the experience is still up to you.
I wish you peace and happiness for the holiday season.
Here is a clip of Jimmy Fallon and Christina Aguilera using office supplies and used them as instruments to perform Christina's "Your Body."
Here is the "Instrument" list:
stapler, iPhone keypad, coffee pots with pencil drumsticks, roll of sticky tape, water cooler jug, tissue box & elastic band guitar, spiral notebook (a.k.a. the "tear snare"), keyboard washboard, paper clip shaker, and scissors.
There is no escaping "Gangnam Style," the meteoric dance craze performed by South Korean rapper Psy.
OK, it has a catchy tune and fun dance moves ... but how do you explain the
incredible global response to "Gangnam Style," a song that's almost
entirely in Korean?
Imagine being a performing artist who has a song what's on the top of the charts. Now imagine how much time and effort you put in to getting that song "just perfect." The perfect phrasing; when to breathe just a little bit deeper in order to hit that note; the gestures and dance steps to make it even that much more special ...
Now imagine the other side of artistry ... The fact that it's "perfect" means that it's no longer challenging. How do you convey something special if it's no longer special to you?
It's just as true for business person is it is for a performing artist; there's always something new -- and there is always a possibility of something more.
Below is a music video put together by the artist called Gotye. You probably know him from his “Somebody That I Used To Know” video, which has now been played more than 300 million times.
The version below isn't the music video that made him famous. Instead, he put this video together solely from clips that he found on the Internet of people either imitating, innovating, or parodying his original work of art.
Watch Gotye's "Somebodies" ... In some ways, it may be better than the original.
What a great reminder that you can always find "just a little bit more" if you're committed to searching for it hard enough.
