- Evian, that famous water brand, reads NAIVE when read backwards.

- If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?

- Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

- IF a person who plays the piano is called a pianist, a person who drives a racecar should be called a racist?

- If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

- Did you ever notice: When you put the two words “The” and “IRS” together it spells “THEIRS”?

Happy Halloween!

The latest car I have been driving have a cool feature which allows you to immediately get the mileage of the car depending on how you are driving. It is almost instantaneous, so it is really an feedback mechanism which allows you to know how to optimize your driving habits for maximum fuel efficiency.

This is a great tool as for instance, you will notice immediately that if you try to accelerate faster, you would be getting less mileage than if you accelerate gradually.

I noticed that the way I drive is wasting fuel because I normally accelerate Read the rest of this entry »

Today, my five year old son was crying. He has been beaten several times in the video game by his 9 year old brother, and he was complaining to us, the parents, that his older brother should let him win. My wife thinks that it is good he wants to take on his elder brother, and we should let him win sometime - even intentionally.

I am not sure if this is the correct way. Would you let your kids win sometime unfairly to encourage them? Would this create a dependent behavior that would otherwise make them feel that if they cannot win fair and square, they can win by complaining?

I delivered a talk on a national conference on e-commerce, and I was told to inform the audience what are the new technologies that would be applicable to small and medium size businesses.

While I do understand that there are some businesses that are always on the lookout for the hottest and new technologies, the point is that at the end there are many technologies that are ‘hot’ but hardly Read the rest of this entry »

I also echo and recommend Small Business Trends who echoed a list of Top 10 Practical blogs from About.com for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses.

I have two passions in life - management and technology. Underpinning these 2 passions is actually also a lifelong interest in logic, and whodunit mysteries.

I grew up reading detective books, and the twists and turns, as well as the logic that they have brought into the discipline stayed with me, and inspired a continuing interest in puzzle solving and IQ Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most intriguing insights that I got ( yes, I still remember it after 20 years) from the Autobiobraphy of Ben Franklin was how he was able to make friends, not by doing a favor to the person, but by letting the person do a favor FOR him.

Apparently, he discovered that for some people, “he that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than whom you yourself have obliged”.

This was quoted by Seth Godin, another original thinker whose many ideas seem to be uncommon common sense, when he tried to explain how Yale wins by using this principle.

Jeff Cornwall have an excellent piece on how to determine the business value of your company. This is a great list of things that buyers are willing to pay for, and whether you eventually plan to sell your business or not, this is actually a good list of basic things that you need to focus in making your company a better one.

Basics like market positioning, track record and reputation, state of the industry, depth of management and sales team, customer base, etc. I would like to add two: The efficiency of your systems and processes ( which I believe is very important to gain a competitive edge) and of course the strength of your technology ( research and development portfolio, patent portfolio). Some technology are bought up primarily for their research breakthroughs.

People ask me why I have so many things to write in my blog. The main thing is that I write ideas down as it occurs to me, which is the same great advice provided by Paul Allen. I think of things when in the shower, when driving, when reading blogs, when dreaming, and when in meetings. I have a small PDA where I scribble them down the first chance I have.

I agree with Paul that more than half of my ideas could have been gone if I did not write them down. IN fact, the reason I blog is simple - I want to write a book, and I don’t have time to write a book yet, but I figure I might as well blog everyday about things. I am hoping in the near future, it will have enough of my thinking recorded, that I probably will not find it easy to organize in the future.

I was talking to two business friends. They have been travelling, and they were panicking where they could check their emails. One of the things that almost every technology executive ( or a busy executive for that matter) could not afford is not to be in touch.

We were comparing notes, and trying to compare who have more responsibilities Read the rest of this entry »