The Daily Reviewer | Seth's Blog

We can do it

Mar 13, 2010 4:03am

Too often, it seems, this attitude is missing from teams, organizations or the community. It's missing because people are quick to opt out of the 'we' part. "What do you mean, we?" they ask. It's so easy to not be......

Naming tool of the week

Mar 13, 2010 2:31am

Oleg points us to http://wordoid.com/ It's a conjugator, brainstorming and domain finder, all in one. Nicely done. I've done a few posts on naming to help you get started. Here's an old one too. And while I'm sharing links, here's......

Wondering around

Mar 12, 2010 2:16am

I stumbled on a great typo last night. "Staff in the lobby were wondering around..." Wandering around is an aimless waste of time. Wondering around, though, that sounds useful. Wondering why this product is the way it is, wondering how......

Helping spread the word

Mar 11, 2010 11:56am

Since Linchpin was published six weeks ago, I've gotten some terrific email. Most of it is about individuals who used the ideas in the book to instigate a process of self-reinvention or validation. Some of the best mail, though, has......

Creating the list

Mar 11, 2010 2:21am

...is not the same as obeying the list. Do you make the list you check off, follow and work on every day? When does it get made? Who approves it? Do you identify tasks or perform them? If you had......

The Wordperfect Axiom

Mar 10, 2010 2:35am

When the platform changes, the leaders change. Wordperfect had a virtual monopoly on word processing in big firms that used DOS. Then Windows arrived and the folks at Wordperfect didn't feel the need to hurry in porting themselves to the......

The factory in the center

Mar 9, 2010 2:24am

Old time factories had a linear layout, because there was just one steam engine driving one drive shaft. Every machine in the shop had to line up under the shaft (connected by a pulley) in order to get power. That......

You rock

Mar 8, 2010 2:07am

This is deceptive. You don't rock all the time. No one does. No one is a rock star, superstar, world-changing artist all the time. In fact, it's a self-defeating goal. You can't do it. No, but you might rock five......

Losing Andrew Carnegie

Mar 7, 2010 2:43am

Carnegie apparently said, "Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory." Is there a......

Spring reading list--big ideas for idea people

Mar 6, 2010 9:44am

Readers have told me that they enjoy my off-the-wall book lists. Here's another. Science fiction, Tom Peters, Krista Tippett and even a book for touring musicians. Enjoy them. And don't forget it's okay to share books. They don't wear out....

Pulitzer Prizefighting

Mar 6, 2010 2:36am

People are drawn to existing competitions like moths to a flame. It's precisely the wrong way to succeed. Lots of journalists take significant detours in their careers and their writing in order to win a Pulitzer. Maybe not to actually......

On self determination

Mar 5, 2010 2:52am

I posted this eight years ago (!) but a reader asked for an encore. ...are we stuck in High School? I had two brushes with higher education this week. The first was at a speech I gave in New York.......

Open buying and open selling

Mar 4, 2010 2:40am

If I can sell you something without a sales call or expensive ad campaign, I can sell it cheaper. If you want to buy a business development relationship but you're not willing to negotiate, do contracts and invest a lot......

Try different

Mar 3, 2010 2:29am

The usual mantra is to 'try harder'. Trying harder is impossible when you're already trying as hard as you can. But you can always try different. Years ago, I was creating trivia questions for a product we built for Prodigy.......

"Be what losers call a loser."

Mar 2, 2010 3:18pm

Think about that for a minute or two... Sort of turns the whole idea of 'cool' upside down. From an interview with David Horvath. And my favorite new blog in ages (from an old friend and sage): Alan Webber....

Sprezzatura

Mar 2, 2010 2:55am

This is an archaic Italian word for being able to do your craft without a lot of visible effort. It's a combination of elan and grace and class, sort of the opposite of loud grunts while you play tennis or......

I don't feel like it

Mar 1, 2010 2:52am

What's it? Why do you need to feel like something in order to do the work? They call it work because it's difficult, not because it's something you need to feel like. Very few people wake up in the morning......

Everyone's model of work is a job

Feb 28, 2010 2:48am

That's the conclusion of a very long essay on startups by Paul Graham, and it's an insightful quote. The reason you feel most comfortable with a job (unless, like me, you're in the minority--a job would destroy my psyche) is......

Genius is misunderstood as a bolt of lightning

Feb 27, 2010 3:10am

Genius is the act of solving a problem in a way no one has solved it before. It has nothing to do with winning a Nobel prize in physics or certain levels of schooling. It's about using human insight and......

It's easier to teach compliance than initiative

Feb 26, 2010 2:56am

Compliance is simple to measure, simple to test for and simple to teach. Punish non-compliance, reward obedience and repeat. Initiative is very difficult to teach to 28 students in a quiet classroom. It's difficult to brag about in a school......

Two quotes and two links for a snow day

Feb 25, 2010 12:11pm

Arianna Huffington: "Self expression is the new entertainment, We never used to question why people sit on the couch for seven hours a day watching bad TV. Nobody ever asked, 'Why are they doing that for free?' We need to......

Why are you apologizing?

Feb 25, 2010 2:02am

I don't understand blog posts, emails and other messages that begin with an apology. If you're sorry to interrupt me with that spam, don't send it. If you know that yet another blog post on a topic that's not of......

Once in a lifetime

Feb 24, 2010 2:36am

This is perhaps the greatest marketing strategy struggle of our time: Should your product or service be very good, meet spec and be beyond reproach or... should it be a remarkable, memorable, over the top, a tell-your-friends event? The answer......

The doormat, the jerk and the lizard brain

Feb 23, 2010 2:05am

The best reason to be a jerk at work is that of course no one will listen to you or support you or embrace your ideas--you're a jerk. The best reason to be a doormat at work is that in......

Pennies and dollars

Feb 22, 2010 2:00am

"Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." I'm not sure this is true. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you watch the dollars, you don't have to worry so much about pennies. Big brands don't......