Untying the Knot

Re-reading Lori Gottlieb’s March 2008 Atlantic article about settling — after being reminded of it by reading Caitlin Flanagan’s recent article in the Atlantic about being reminded of female adolescence and re-reading Lisa Belkin’s October 2003 New York Times Magazine cover story about highly educated women choosing to leave their careers for the joys of motherhood — has reminded me of yet another article: “Untying the Knot” by Melanie Thernstrom, published August 23, 2003 in the New York Times Magazine.

This article tells the sad story of the courtship, marriage, and divorce of Max and Kate to discuss marriage, divorce and love in modern times.

The truth is that most Americans do not marry for power, money and status. Nor do they marry out of social and economic necessity, as in an earlier era. They marry for love. Yet an enduring truth of our time is that marriage dissolves as often as it holds. So how is it that ordinary love ordinarily fails? If love is, as Wallace Stevens suggests, a dwelling ”in which being there together is enough,” how does silence fall on a thousand evenings and the possibility of intimacy flicker and die? How do lovers become lonely?

It’s a very sad article, but worth reading. A friend sent it to me when it was first published and I’ve kept it and re-read it about once a year since then.

Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.

-Howard Aiken

This was quoted by Jessica Livingston in the introduction of Founders at Work: Stories of Startup’s Early Days, which I recently read (click here to read all my posts on this book).

I found this quote both humorous and fascinating and it makes me wonder how much truth there is to it.

I would guess that with early-stage technology, which the companies featured in Founders at Work were known for, terrific life-changing ideas would easily be dismissed by critics.

But in other situations, I would guess that the inventors’ and founders’ fear that someone might steal their idea isn’t that far off.

Another quote that got me thinking in this book was the idea that “Companies take shape based on the personality characteristics and human interaction characteristics of the founders” — Ray Ozzie said this in Chapter Seven but the idea was echoed throughout the book. Just one chapter back, in Chapter Six, Mitchell Kapor said, “These types of companies tend to reflect the personalities and interests of their founders. Microsoft is very much cast in Bill Gates’s images; and Apple, Steve Jobs; Borland, Phillippe Kahn.”

I wonder how accurate this observation is.

Anyway, lots to think about after having read this book. No interest in starting a tech company, even after reading the success stories from this book.

In case you’re curious, here’s the Table of Contents:

Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii

1 Max Levchin: Cofounder, PayPal 1
2 Sabeer Bhatia: Cofounder, Hotmail 17
3 Steve Wozniak: Cofounder, Apple Computer 31
4 Joe Kraus: Cofounder, Excite 61
5 Dan Bricklin: Cofounder, Software Arts 73
6 Mitchell Kapor: Cofounder, Lotus Development 89
7 Ray Ozzie: Cofounder, Iris Associates, Groove Networks 103
8 Evan Williams: Cofounder, Pyra Labs (Blogger.com) 111
9 Tim Brady: First Non-Founding Employee, Yahoo 127
10 Mike Lazaridis: Cofounder, Research In Motion 141
11 Arthur Van Hoff: Cofounder, Marimba 153
12 Paul Buchheit: Creator, Gmail 161
13 Steve Perlman: Cofounder, WebTV 173
14 Mike Ramsay: Cofounder, TiVo 191
15 Paul Graham: Cofounder, Viaweb 205
16 Joshua Schachter: Founder, del.icio.us 223
17 Mark Fletcher: Founder, ONElist, Bloglines 233
18 Craig Newmark: Founder, Craigslist 247
19 Caterina Fake: Cofounder, Flickr 257
20 Brewster Kahle: Founder, WAIS, Internet Archive, Alexa Internet 265
21 Charles Geschke: Cofounder, Adobe Systems 281
22 Ann Winblad: Cofounder, Open Systems, Hummer Winblad 297
23 David Heinmeier: Hansson Partner, 37 signals 309
24 Philip Greenspun: Cofounder, ArsDigita 317
25 Joel Spolsky: Cofounder, Fog Creek Software 345
26 Stephen Kaufer: Cofounder, TripAdvisor 361
27 James Hong: Cofounder, Hot or Not 377
28 James Currier: Founder, Tickle 387
29 Blake Ross: Creator, Firefox 395
30 Mena Trott: Cofounder, Six Apart 405
31 Bob Davis: Founder, Lycos 419
32 Ron Gruner: Cofounder Alliant Computer Systems; Founder, Shareholder.com 427

Index 447

Don’t be surprised if I post about this book again. I might even buy myself a copy.

Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today by Jack Welch

Last month I read Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today by Jack Welch & Suzy Welch (I read Winning in April 2008).

I really enjoyed Winning but I thought Winning: The Answers was just okay.

Each of the 74 chapters starts with a question and the questions are broken down into the following categories / sections:

Global Competition: On the Brave New World
Leadership: On Being a Better Boss
Management Principles and Practices: On Running a Business to Win
Careers: On Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Promotion
Privately Held: On Working for the Family
Winning and Losing: On Why Business is Good

And each section starts with a one to two page essay on the subject.

The Welchs write a weekly column in Business Week, called The Welch Way, answering questions about business and as they write in the introduction to Winning: The Answers much of the book comes from this no-nonsense column written in the same to-the-point optimistic style as Winning.

I particularly like Question 16, Building Trust From the Top Down:

Is there a short answer for building trust in the workplace?

-Johannesburg, South Africa

To which the Welchs begin their response with:

Yes, very short: Say what you mean, and do what you say!

I also like Question 54, Am I An Entrepreneur:

I am currently a consultant with a small organizational development firm, but I dream about starting my own business. How do I know if I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? I always experience such conflicting emotions when it comes to this issue.

-Johannesburg, South Africa

To which the Welchs reply with four questions to help the consultant answer his own questions:

1. Do you have a great new idea that makes your product or service compelling to customers in a way no competitor can match?
2. Do you have the stamina to hear “no” over and over again and keep smiling?
3. Do you hate uncertainty? If so, stop reading here.
4. Do you have the personality to attract bright people to chase your dream with you?

Some of the questions also come from talks the Welchs have given since the publication of Winning or from the lectures they have given at their respective business schools (Jack teaches as MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Suzy teaches at Babson College’s Center for Women’s Leadership).

I don’t doubt that the Welchs provide much insight in their weekly column, I just don’t like my books to feel like a bound version of such a column. Especially since such writing can quickly become outdated.

Though I suppose if you really look up to Jack Welch, this book could come in handy as a reference guide when you want to find out Welch’s ideas on a particular topic.

I recommend that folks pick up a copy of Winning to learn about Jack Welch‘s business methods and ideas but don’t bother with Winning: The Answers and just start reading Business Week’s The Welch Way on-line or just visit the Welch’s website.