moneyball, the book

… paul depodesta hardly blinks. life with no money was filled with embarrassing little trade-offs. the trick is to know precisely what trade-offs you were making.

love the book. but not the movie.

romantic khmer graffiti

khmer graffiti with universal touch, full of romance, beautifully on a pagoda wall – m sure not a monk who did it.

other local graffiti i like include: ‘no pee’, ‘no parking’, ‘only dog pee here’ etc.

merry x-mas

Don’t get mad at me, let me be crazy about you. Merry Christmas.
always, L

book of centuries

i consider myself very very lucky to have read this book. a gift from my good friend. it’s a book of centuries.

book – steve jobs

read this beautiful book. i made my effort to orchard road to buy it.

i think he was a bit of crazy and extreme. reading the book, i see little of a normal man side in the way he worked. everything is in extreme. he ate only fruit and veg. rarely took a bath. but there wouldn’t be iphone and other very nice products without him. he wanted perfection and simplicity which i like to learn from. but he asked for such extreme that no CEO did that. I’m not sure that other people, manager or CEO will be able to produce product like him through a soft or less brutal way of order, can’t they?

he went to india to find spiritual enlightenment and he practice Buddhist zen for life. he stayed in India about 8 months. a friend of mine is very surprise and didn’t believe that steve jobs is a buddhist.

i find that everything about him is always ”too” much or ”too extreme” or other ”too” ”too”. and his success came from that ”too” things.

he learned from his father about design too. his father repair used car for sale. his father told him that even a drawer is inside a table, you gotta make it as good as well even though nobody saw it.

he was so crazy that he thought he could change the world. he did it.

don’t let what you know limit what you imagine

One of the most perplexing features of these troubled times is that so many capable people in so many fields look so lost and ineffective. Whether it’s the stubborn inefficiencies of the health-care system, the ever-rising costs of the higher-education system, even the slow-motion collapse of the US postal system, leaders with unrivaled expertise and decades of experience can’t seem to develop creative solutions to dire problems.

read it all…

understanding mid-east

i read his “the world is flat” years ago. for this one, though i bought it in 2007, i have just found time to finish it. a deep insight to israel and palestine conflict.

i watch and read news everyday about the conflict for years and from time to time, m ore questions turn up in my mind about the conflict. this book answers all and gives you a lot more. it is 20 years old, but still relevant – till a new one is written!

you won’t become an expert reading this, but you feel you know so so much about mid-east. not sure i’m right unless you try.

25 years – sir alex ferguson

his 25 years at manchester united.

the questions every manager should ask

Asking the right questions is an essential skill of a great boss. Yet many fail to inquire enough. Here are three types of questions you should be asking:

. Questions about yourself. Good managers ask themselves and others about what they could do better. Ask in a way that invites constructive, candid responses.

. Questions about plans and projects. These should both advance the work and develop the people. Tough and direct questions are ok, as long as they are in the interest of progress.

. Questions about the organization. Look for ways that the organization can function more effectively by questioning practices, processes, and structures. Ask: Why do we do things this way? Is there a better approach?

invictus

i’ve learned this from watching invictus, a movie about nelson mandela.

out of the night that covers me,
black as the pit from pole to pole,
i thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.

in the fell clutch of circumstance
i have not winced nor cried aloud.
under the bludgeonings of chance
my head is bloody, but unbowed.

beyond this place of wrath and tears
looms but the horror of the shade,
and yet the menace of the years
finds and shall find me unafraid.

it matters not how strait the gate,
how charged with punishments the scroll,
i am the master of my faith; 
i am the captain of my soul.