"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
Must Watch or Tivo Tonight (Thursday) -- Discovery Channel, 10pm EST/PST...why below.
Steve Jobs' Final Advice -- my family will be holding Steve Jobs in our prayers -- I consider Steve the original young entrepreneur, building Apple to just under $2 billion by age 29!! His revenue was 8 times that of Microsoft at the time (Gates was also 29). I'll always remember hosting Steve back in 1986 at our LA ACE conference. Steve's first public speech after being fired from Apple, over 1100 students and young entrepreneurs heard Steve describe what it was like to build Apple and then have it ripped from his arms. And his final advice to us budding entrepreneurs -- always "follow your heart, using your head."
Toughest Question Facing Entrepreneurs -- CNN wrote an excellent piece this week on the toughest question facing entrepreneurs as shared by Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway. And it's exactly the same question Steve has been facing, but in a larger sense. Take two minutes and absorb this short article
Entrepreneurs are Close to Juvenile Delinquents -- but what's new! One of my favorite quotes from the same article by Harvard Business School psychology professor emeritus Abraham Zaleznik -- "Entrepreneurs tend to have a singular weakness that allows them to do things without checking their conscience," Zaleznik said. "Juvenile delinquents act and then try to sort things out afterward. I think entrepreneurs have this tendency." Again, take a couple minutes and read this inspiring article and then "keep doing what you do best."
Gazelles vs. Pigs -- and Thomas Friedman, the award winning journalist and author of The World is Flat and latest best-seller Hot, Flat, and Crowded, paid tribute to the role entrepreneurs and innovation must play in turning around our economy -- a lot depends on how the stimulus package is spent -- we can become pigs or gazelles, as he notes. I don't agree with his fix for education, but two out of three isn't bad. Here's a link to his Jan 10 NY Times column.
Treasure Hunter -- Tune-in -- Greg Stemm was by my side when we hosted Steve Jobs -- it's why he was the perennial Vice President (and top juvenile delinquent!) of YEO to my Presidency the first four years of YEO's existence. And Greg faced the toughest question many times over the years. Today, he is the pre-eminent treasure hunter as founder of Odyssey Marine Exploration, a fascinating publicly-traded company engaged in deep ocean shipwreck exploration. And his president, Mark Gordon, is another long time Rockefeller Habits fan and early EO member. Tonight, January 15th at 10PM EST/PST, Discovery Channel airs the world premiere of "Treasure Quest" - a new 11-episode series about Odyssey's shipwreck expeditions. For a sneak preview, visit the Discovery Channel "Treasure Quest" website http://www.discovery.com/treasure-quest. (Other time zones and international viewers should check local listings for air date and times)
"Growth Series" Posters for your Elevator or Office -- and thank you, Dennis Mease, Organizational Development Manager with global marine fabrication facility firm J Ray McDermott, for suggesting we create a poster about our Gazelles Growth Series with Pat Lencioni (Jan 28), Seth Godin (Feb 10), and Guy Parsons (Mar 17) so companies that have signed up for the series can post around their offices and in elevators reminding employees to save the dates to participate in these LIVE video webcasts. Here's a link where you can download the poster for posting. The first 250 sign-ups receive a complimentary DVD series (1250 value).
In addition to prayers -- I've reached out to Steve Jobs via a mutual friend -- all his symptoms point to an extreme lack of Vitamin C -- problems absorbing food, cancer survivor, extreme stress -- and he actually exhibits signs of scurvy. Most major clinics fail to do a simple blood plasma level test for C. I'm guessing it's almost zero. It's not the total answer, but hard charging executives pumping lots of adrenaline and facing huge stress suck up lots of Vitamin C -- and like pealed apples turning brown (oxidation) unless coated with lemon (anti-oxidation), the same chemical reactions are happening internally -- for some faster than others.