The Jenius ran across on article on NFL teams and their current passion for a business book, namely The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, written by Patrick Lencioni. Even before reading the book, the basic tenets of its premise are well worth looking into.
Told in the form of a fable (a format made popular again by Eli Goldratt's The Goal and the One Minute books), Five Dysfunctions centers on how a team goes from "worst-to-first," overcoming these five negatives:
1) Absence of trust
2) Fear of conflict
3) Lack of commitment
4) Avoidance of accountability
5) Not attending results
Without trust, no team spirit can emerge and no teamwork is possible. Fear of conflict, often an offshoot of lack of trust, stifles creativity and energy, destroying commitment. Without commitment, no one is accountable and results are basically random accidents in the dark rather than true outcomes.
So the first thing to do is build trust. Simple, right? Obviously not. Even a Fool can see when a team isn't meshing or making a real effort, but not even a Jenius can come up with the right solution every time.
Still, being aware of the problem and defining it is half the battle. At this point, a discussion about how the five dysfunctions apply to Puerto Rico would be like shooting Fools in a barrel, so let's aim (pardon the pun) a little higher: How can You create an effective team right now? One capable of tackling a worthy (in your estimation) goal?
Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
08 December 2005
07 December 2005
The Year Of The Internet
For those of you who'd like another perspective on Puerto Rico, along with a myriad of ideas well-worth pondering, drop by Kevin Shockey's Portal al Exito. He's back, he has something to say and The Jenius is happy about that.
Here's a prediction: 2006 will be the Year the Internet Industry in Puerto Rico comes of age. That means that by December of next year, the impact of Internet-based companies will be felt throughout the local economy. In addition, the Internet will finally make the breakthrough needed to become a true part of the daily life of a significant number of Us, rather than the dilettantish plaything/worktool of a tiny percentage.
It won't happen in 2006, it will culminate. The work of many people will come together and critical mass--the tipping point, to borrow a phrase--will be reached and in a few years, amateur analysts and would-be historians will point to 2006 as the year the Internet happened in Puerto Rico.
Why?
Because if simply has to happen now. We can't afford to wait any longer. We don't have any more time to waste and there's simply too much talent and intellect being poured into this effort to have it come to nothing.
Mark it on your calendar. It's going to be superb.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Here's a prediction: 2006 will be the Year the Internet Industry in Puerto Rico comes of age. That means that by December of next year, the impact of Internet-based companies will be felt throughout the local economy. In addition, the Internet will finally make the breakthrough needed to become a true part of the daily life of a significant number of Us, rather than the dilettantish plaything/worktool of a tiny percentage.
It won't happen in 2006, it will culminate. The work of many people will come together and critical mass--the tipping point, to borrow a phrase--will be reached and in a few years, amateur analysts and would-be historians will point to 2006 as the year the Internet happened in Puerto Rico.
Why?
Because if simply has to happen now. We can't afford to wait any longer. We don't have any more time to waste and there's simply too much talent and intellect being poured into this effort to have it come to nothing.
Mark it on your calendar. It's going to be superb.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
06 December 2005
Factbites
The Jenius is focusing on brevity these days...
There are several hundred search engines scouring the Internet and you might use more than one. If you do (use more than one), then you're in a minority. Most of Us make do with one search engine for almost all Our searches.
However, the exploding complexity of the Internet makes the end results of these searches increasingly unsatisfying. One can learn to make the searches more relevant, but that takes time, thought and tenacity. We'd rather another "T" get the job done right: technology.
One of a growing class of search engines is Factbites, a service that seeks to contextualize search results in order to give the user a more accurate picture of what the results mean. In Jenius terms, this moves the results further along the spectrum from data (isolated points of fact) to information (data in context.)
Drop by Factbites and compare the results of a search to those of Google, Yahoo! or MSN. Suggestions for the test are terms such as globalization, dadaist and patrimony. If you like, let Me know what you think of the difference (if there is one.)
Then, please take one more step: Imagine what We could do if We found a way to facilitate turning the right information into the right kind of knowledge.
Far-fetched? Seems to Me it might be just around the corner...
The Jenius Has Spoken.
There are several hundred search engines scouring the Internet and you might use more than one. If you do (use more than one), then you're in a minority. Most of Us make do with one search engine for almost all Our searches.
However, the exploding complexity of the Internet makes the end results of these searches increasingly unsatisfying. One can learn to make the searches more relevant, but that takes time, thought and tenacity. We'd rather another "T" get the job done right: technology.
One of a growing class of search engines is Factbites, a service that seeks to contextualize search results in order to give the user a more accurate picture of what the results mean. In Jenius terms, this moves the results further along the spectrum from data (isolated points of fact) to information (data in context.)
Drop by Factbites and compare the results of a search to those of Google, Yahoo! or MSN. Suggestions for the test are terms such as globalization, dadaist and patrimony. If you like, let Me know what you think of the difference (if there is one.)
Then, please take one more step: Imagine what We could do if We found a way to facilitate turning the right information into the right kind of knowledge.
Far-fetched? Seems to Me it might be just around the corner...
The Jenius Has Spoken.
05 December 2005
Bellado
This one won't take long.
Making the world a better place, one person at a time is an honorable sentiment. However, in Our jaded present, it sounds and feels more like sentimental tripe than inspiring thoughts. Our loss.
Then, along comes an idea so simple and obvious, so right, that you wonder why it hadn't been done before. And you get a glimmer of hope, if the darkness has become too deep.
Go visit Bellado.org. Don't think about it, just go. Here's another incentive: You get a free gift. No strings, no joke; an honest-to-goodness free gift.
Mine arrived today.
Yes, The Jenius joined Bellado. It seemed the right thing to do. Now and every day hereafter.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Making the world a better place, one person at a time is an honorable sentiment. However, in Our jaded present, it sounds and feels more like sentimental tripe than inspiring thoughts. Our loss.
Then, along comes an idea so simple and obvious, so right, that you wonder why it hadn't been done before. And you get a glimmer of hope, if the darkness has become too deep.
Go visit Bellado.org. Don't think about it, just go. Here's another incentive: You get a free gift. No strings, no joke; an honest-to-goodness free gift.
Mine arrived today.
Yes, The Jenius joined Bellado. It seemed the right thing to do. Now and every day hereafter.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
02 December 2005
Autonomy Thoughts: Part I
Unlike usual blog routine, this post precedes in both topic and order its second part. So you can read straight through (down to yesterday's post) rather than reading the end then finding the beginning. Unusual, right? Maybe it'll catch on...
The Jenius was recently upbraided in a private communication over what were considered “persistent attacks on (Puerto Rico’s) status issue, without a HINT of a solution.” (Emphasis as in the original.) For those of you who want to agree or disagree, here’s the Truth on statehood, a needed swipe at commonwealthers and an overdue wake-up call to independentistas.
As for attacking without solutions, guilty as charged. Time to correct that.
Autonomy: n. independence, self-government; independence consisting of self-determination.
Rather than seeking mindless absorption into a disdainful maw, angling like wretches for contemptuous parasitism or engaging in more addle-pated jingoistic playacting, let’s aim for what We can achieve: self-government. The option takes into account four undeniable realities:
1) Puerto Rico will never actively seek independence. The idea that Puerto Rico can stand on its own feet and thrive in the modern world is anathema to over 95% of Us. Sad, but True.
2) The U.S. has a solidly valuable captive market in Puerto Rico and upsetting that balance would hurt them where they live: the bottom line.
3) Puerto Rico will never achieve any majority vote worth pursuing: neither independence (see #1) or statehood (see here, but in short, because the U.S. won’t grant it.)
4) The Puerto Rico-U.S. relationship is worth preserving if the economic and political arrangement can be improved. The current status is politically untenable to the U.S.: We are a colony, pure and simple. Being a colony, with a colony’s political limitations, is humiliating to Us and yet We don’t get Our act together and decide what to do about it.
Therefore, with autonomy as Our guide, We can seek a solution. Not the “autonomy” commonwealthers ask for, defined as “Give me more money and more freedom, but don’t ask Us for anything in return, okay?” The Jenius is talking about autonomy in the sense of partnership, sitting as an equal to and with the U.S.
This would focus on changing two major facets of Our current shipwrecked relationship:
A) Voluntary application of Federal laws to Puerto Rico. At present, Federal laws are imposed on Us with highly-limited scope for appeal. By limiting Federal authority to what We feel is applicable gives Us a greater degree of self-determination and immediately places Puerto Rico as a negotiating partner with the U.S.
B) Phased reduction of some Federal benefits along with a reduction of economic controls currently imposed by the U.S. At present, We have no control over Customs or treaties and many of Our tax programs must pass U.S. scrutiny. Let’s reduce and remove those controls as We reduce and maybe even remove some Federal benefits. Programs like Social Security, Medicare and Veteran’s benefits would remain intact, but the rest would be reduced as Puerto Rico takes greater control of its economic present and future. The power to pursue Our best economic interests is fundamental to making the most of Our growth potential.
Let’s start somewhere and these two launch points, obvious as they are, are large enough to make a difference, but manageable enough to be functional for seriously-minded, focused negotiators. If We can ever find them.
But: Aren’t these points that have been under discussion for decades? In fact, yes, and as to why they haven’t been signposts of progress is the topic of My next post.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
The Jenius was recently upbraided in a private communication over what were considered “persistent attacks on (Puerto Rico’s) status issue, without a HINT of a solution.” (Emphasis as in the original.) For those of you who want to agree or disagree, here’s the Truth on statehood, a needed swipe at commonwealthers and an overdue wake-up call to independentistas.
As for attacking without solutions, guilty as charged. Time to correct that.
Autonomy: n. independence, self-government; independence consisting of self-determination.
Rather than seeking mindless absorption into a disdainful maw, angling like wretches for contemptuous parasitism or engaging in more addle-pated jingoistic playacting, let’s aim for what We can achieve: self-government. The option takes into account four undeniable realities:
1) Puerto Rico will never actively seek independence. The idea that Puerto Rico can stand on its own feet and thrive in the modern world is anathema to over 95% of Us. Sad, but True.
2) The U.S. has a solidly valuable captive market in Puerto Rico and upsetting that balance would hurt them where they live: the bottom line.
3) Puerto Rico will never achieve any majority vote worth pursuing: neither independence (see #1) or statehood (see here, but in short, because the U.S. won’t grant it.)
4) The Puerto Rico-U.S. relationship is worth preserving if the economic and political arrangement can be improved. The current status is politically untenable to the U.S.: We are a colony, pure and simple. Being a colony, with a colony’s political limitations, is humiliating to Us and yet We don’t get Our act together and decide what to do about it.
Therefore, with autonomy as Our guide, We can seek a solution. Not the “autonomy” commonwealthers ask for, defined as “Give me more money and more freedom, but don’t ask Us for anything in return, okay?” The Jenius is talking about autonomy in the sense of partnership, sitting as an equal to and with the U.S.
This would focus on changing two major facets of Our current shipwrecked relationship:
A) Voluntary application of Federal laws to Puerto Rico. At present, Federal laws are imposed on Us with highly-limited scope for appeal. By limiting Federal authority to what We feel is applicable gives Us a greater degree of self-determination and immediately places Puerto Rico as a negotiating partner with the U.S.
B) Phased reduction of some Federal benefits along with a reduction of economic controls currently imposed by the U.S. At present, We have no control over Customs or treaties and many of Our tax programs must pass U.S. scrutiny. Let’s reduce and remove those controls as We reduce and maybe even remove some Federal benefits. Programs like Social Security, Medicare and Veteran’s benefits would remain intact, but the rest would be reduced as Puerto Rico takes greater control of its economic present and future. The power to pursue Our best economic interests is fundamental to making the most of Our growth potential.
Let’s start somewhere and these two launch points, obvious as they are, are large enough to make a difference, but manageable enough to be functional for seriously-minded, focused negotiators. If We can ever find them.
But: Aren’t these points that have been under discussion for decades? In fact, yes, and as to why they haven’t been signposts of progress is the topic of My next post.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
01 December 2005
Autonomy Thoughts: Part II
The first half of this post appears the day after this one, as contrary to usual blogging routine. In case you landed here first and want to see how this all came about, feel free to click here.
If Puerto Rico has been negotiating for greater political and economic freedom since the 1940s, and especially since the 1952 inception of the current Quasimodo status, then why haven’t We advanced a whit in over 50 years?
Even a Jenius can see why:
-- We cannot make up Our minds about what We want as an “ultimate status.”
-- We fear independence, so We don’t push for it. The U.S. has a good thing going with Puerto Rico (economically), so they don’t push for independence either.
-- The U.S knows statehood ain’t happening for Puerto Rico, so they don’t push it to Us (except for political campaign contributions and brainless statehooders still fork money over in large quantities...although sometimes it isn't their own.)
-- “Culminating” the current commonwealth status is like culminating nausea: the end result is just ugly any way you look at it.
-- Appealing to the United Nations for a resolution is like appealing to Barney the Dinosaur: all you get is a limpid song and dance you’ve heard too many times before.
-- We lack the capability—and authority—to walk away from what is clearly a dysfunctional relationship. When your greatest negotiating weapon is eliminated and you’re at the mercy of the opposing party, your options then become bad, horrible and ghastly.
-- Creating that “We’re walking” capability is not a viable option unless the authority to do so can be achieved by creating an internal mandate, a majority vote that says “Either We fix this mutually or We’ll fix it Our way.”
Gasp.
Is The Jenius advocating unilateral action? A—gasp!—revolution?
Not yet. First We need to express Yes/No options, unlike the ill-fated series of plebiscites-for-ego that former governor Pedro “I’m Too Stupid To Notice Corruption In My Underwear” Rosselló thrust upon Us several years ago and have led to more nothingness, if that’s possible.
The series of plebiscites, to be completed in two years, would be:
-- Continue commonwealth as it is?: Yes/No
-- Amend the Constitution to allow full negotiating powers to resolve Our status?: Yes/No
-- If no agreement can be reached with the U.S. in one year, do We act unilaterally?: Yes/No
-- Do you approve of Our new Constitution?: Yes/No
A majority "Yes" vote in the first, or any majority “No” vote in the second or third plebiscites ends the process right then and there. (A “No” vote for a new Constitution, of course, requires further work in that line.) By defining the problem (commonwealth: yes or no?), indicating a seriousness of purpose (amending Our Constitution) and giving Us the power to negotiate as equals—a power We have always had—We can stop this Foolish futzing around and get down to some serious growth.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
If Puerto Rico has been negotiating for greater political and economic freedom since the 1940s, and especially since the 1952 inception of the current Quasimodo status, then why haven’t We advanced a whit in over 50 years?
Even a Jenius can see why:
-- We cannot make up Our minds about what We want as an “ultimate status.”
-- We fear independence, so We don’t push for it. The U.S. has a good thing going with Puerto Rico (economically), so they don’t push for independence either.
-- The U.S knows statehood ain’t happening for Puerto Rico, so they don’t push it to Us (except for political campaign contributions and brainless statehooders still fork money over in large quantities...although sometimes it isn't their own.)
-- “Culminating” the current commonwealth status is like culminating nausea: the end result is just ugly any way you look at it.
-- Appealing to the United Nations for a resolution is like appealing to Barney the Dinosaur: all you get is a limpid song and dance you’ve heard too many times before.
-- We lack the capability—and authority—to walk away from what is clearly a dysfunctional relationship. When your greatest negotiating weapon is eliminated and you’re at the mercy of the opposing party, your options then become bad, horrible and ghastly.
-- Creating that “We’re walking” capability is not a viable option unless the authority to do so can be achieved by creating an internal mandate, a majority vote that says “Either We fix this mutually or We’ll fix it Our way.”
Gasp.
Is The Jenius advocating unilateral action? A—gasp!—revolution?
Not yet. First We need to express Yes/No options, unlike the ill-fated series of plebiscites-for-ego that former governor Pedro “I’m Too Stupid To Notice Corruption In My Underwear” Rosselló thrust upon Us several years ago and have led to more nothingness, if that’s possible.
The series of plebiscites, to be completed in two years, would be:
-- Continue commonwealth as it is?: Yes/No
-- Amend the Constitution to allow full negotiating powers to resolve Our status?: Yes/No
-- If no agreement can be reached with the U.S. in one year, do We act unilaterally?: Yes/No
-- Do you approve of Our new Constitution?: Yes/No
A majority "Yes" vote in the first, or any majority “No” vote in the second or third plebiscites ends the process right then and there. (A “No” vote for a new Constitution, of course, requires further work in that line.) By defining the problem (commonwealth: yes or no?), indicating a seriousness of purpose (amending Our Constitution) and giving Us the power to negotiate as equals—a power We have always had—We can stop this Foolish futzing around and get down to some serious growth.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
30 November 2005
First World Veneer?
Some years ago, a blowhard who pretended to be My friend said "Puerto Rico is a Third World country with a First World veneer."
Said blowhard, from the Italian side of Brooklyn, wouldn't have known veneer from a venereal disease until the needle plunged into his ass...but he had a point.
Pardon the pun.
Look hard at this Puerto Rico of the early 21st century from a First World perspective: Overpopulated. Highly dependent on welfare. Insufficient infrastructure. Politically corrupt. Debt-ridden (though that isn't really considered a bad thing, for it's largely personal debt, bred by consumption.) Ecologically damaged and damaging.
Now let's look at it from a Third World perspective: Rich. Protected. Stable. Educated. Comfortable. Technological. By and large, We've got it good. But is the "First World" merely a covering for what is really "Third World" reality, a sort of "lipstick on a pig" situation?
Let's get nasty: According to statehooders, it is. To these brainless cads, Puerto Rico can only be "saved" by absorption into a country that exploits Us without caring much, rather like a pimp with an ugly-but-eager whore. To statehooders, We are nothing unless We "rise" to being admitted into the Union, thus absolving Our "ugliness" with the "true essence of Americanism."
Gag.
What about commonwealthers, do they see Us in the same way? Yes, but their limp-wristed "solution" is to throw the whole L'Oreal line at the "pig." More makeup! That's the ticket! Forget about changing what We're perceived to be, let's just cover it all up! With money, of course.
Puke.
The independence statues? They, now they reject the notion that We are anything but First World. "Yankee go home and take your crap with you!" is their battle cry. Yeah! But then you ask them the simple question "Then what?" and they quickly begin grunting and snuffling in apparently random fashion, while clutching their dollar-stuffed wallets (made of...pigskin?) with fervid zeal.
Retch.
Let's reach beyond petty politics and look at some real answers. Is Puerto Rico a Third World country? No. Are the "First World components" home-grown? Some, but not all. Does this mean that these components are mere window-dressing, lacking true substance? No. Only a blowhard with his face in the Mafia's crotch could think that.
But can We become--fall back into being--a Third World country? Yes. Not as easily as many of Us think, but yes, it can happen. And though the probabilty is certainly smaller than the perception of its being possible, it is this real fear that independentista leaders have consistently--stupidly--failed to address and overcome.
Statehooders prey on it with campaigns of fear promising that "Uncle Moneybags" can cure it all with a gracious "Come on in!" Commonwealthers try to pretend the fear isn't real and yet that it can be papered over in greenbacks and childish abdications of responsibility.
Here's a tip: We are what We are. We will become what We choose to become. We cannot let others--wherever they may be--choose for Us.
We must choose. We must choose.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Said blowhard, from the Italian side of Brooklyn, wouldn't have known veneer from a venereal disease until the needle plunged into his ass...but he had a point.
Pardon the pun.
Look hard at this Puerto Rico of the early 21st century from a First World perspective: Overpopulated. Highly dependent on welfare. Insufficient infrastructure. Politically corrupt. Debt-ridden (though that isn't really considered a bad thing, for it's largely personal debt, bred by consumption.) Ecologically damaged and damaging.
Now let's look at it from a Third World perspective: Rich. Protected. Stable. Educated. Comfortable. Technological. By and large, We've got it good. But is the "First World" merely a covering for what is really "Third World" reality, a sort of "lipstick on a pig" situation?
Let's get nasty: According to statehooders, it is. To these brainless cads, Puerto Rico can only be "saved" by absorption into a country that exploits Us without caring much, rather like a pimp with an ugly-but-eager whore. To statehooders, We are nothing unless We "rise" to being admitted into the Union, thus absolving Our "ugliness" with the "true essence of Americanism."
Gag.
What about commonwealthers, do they see Us in the same way? Yes, but their limp-wristed "solution" is to throw the whole L'Oreal line at the "pig." More makeup! That's the ticket! Forget about changing what We're perceived to be, let's just cover it all up! With money, of course.
Puke.
The independence statues? They, now they reject the notion that We are anything but First World. "Yankee go home and take your crap with you!" is their battle cry. Yeah! But then you ask them the simple question "Then what?" and they quickly begin grunting and snuffling in apparently random fashion, while clutching their dollar-stuffed wallets (made of...pigskin?) with fervid zeal.
Retch.
Let's reach beyond petty politics and look at some real answers. Is Puerto Rico a Third World country? No. Are the "First World components" home-grown? Some, but not all. Does this mean that these components are mere window-dressing, lacking true substance? No. Only a blowhard with his face in the Mafia's crotch could think that.
But can We become--fall back into being--a Third World country? Yes. Not as easily as many of Us think, but yes, it can happen. And though the probabilty is certainly smaller than the perception of its being possible, it is this real fear that independentista leaders have consistently--stupidly--failed to address and overcome.
Statehooders prey on it with campaigns of fear promising that "Uncle Moneybags" can cure it all with a gracious "Come on in!" Commonwealthers try to pretend the fear isn't real and yet that it can be papered over in greenbacks and childish abdications of responsibility.
Here's a tip: We are what We are. We will become what We choose to become. We cannot let others--wherever they may be--choose for Us.
We must choose. We must choose.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
29 November 2005
Educational Reform Idea 01
When The Jenius takes over the swampland known as the Education Department (which is more likely to happen than unicamerality), the first Idea to be implemented will be that teachers--all teachers--will have to recertify themselves every 5 years.
Let the howling begin.
The recertification will involve a minimum of 300 hours of continued education and a comprehensive exam that will include subject matter and teaching techniques. For a teacher to receive or keep his/her license, s/he must pass the test and complete the minimum requirement of continued education hours.
The exams, covering every major subject matter (English, Spanish, Math, Sciences, History/Social Studies, Art, Music and Physical Education) and grade levels (1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12), would be open to all teaching candidates, without restriction. Yes, without restriction. If a person graduated in English, but has a passion for teaching sciences, that person should be allowed to compete for the license that they want. The key word is compete. A candidate may take as many exams as s/he wishes, to enhance their job potential and maybe improve their skills.
Candidates are ranked on the exam on a 10-point system. Results of "6" or less must re-take the exam. A second result of "6" or less and the person is placed on the waiting list to fill those positions that are left over after the passing candidates have selected their positions. (Yes, selected. What's the point of striving for excellence if you can't use it to improve your options?)
As for continuing education, teachers are the only professionals who don't have to stay current or even be competent with the newest information in their field. Accountants, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, social workers and mental health workers all have minimum requirements. Teachers should not be exempt and with a 2-month window they can use every year, 60 hours a year to become a better teacher is a criteria long overdue.
To enhance teaching potential and effort, salaries and bonuses will be tied to exam results and accumulated hours. Teachers with high exam results and the minimum number of hours would get more money. (The extra monies will come from implementing Idea 02; topic for another day.)
By recertifying, teachers would have to face up to the need of being competitive in their chosen field(s), open the door to otherwise qualified candidates who lack either academic credentials or experience, push the boundaries of conformity in education to encompass innovation and remove the overwhelming weight of deadwood-disguised-as-teachers We currently pay salaries to.
Suggestion: Mention this idea to a teacher. Note how the more incompetent ones--the ones who bitch and moan and complain and drag their carcasses to and from the classroom and couldn't teach their way out of a paper bag--are the ones most likely to hate this Idea. Note how the competent teachers will tend to agree with the Idea: they know what it takes to be good, even great, and are willing to put forth the effort. We need more of those teachers and fewer of what often seems the whiny majority.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Let the howling begin.
The recertification will involve a minimum of 300 hours of continued education and a comprehensive exam that will include subject matter and teaching techniques. For a teacher to receive or keep his/her license, s/he must pass the test and complete the minimum requirement of continued education hours.
The exams, covering every major subject matter (English, Spanish, Math, Sciences, History/Social Studies, Art, Music and Physical Education) and grade levels (1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12), would be open to all teaching candidates, without restriction. Yes, without restriction. If a person graduated in English, but has a passion for teaching sciences, that person should be allowed to compete for the license that they want. The key word is compete. A candidate may take as many exams as s/he wishes, to enhance their job potential and maybe improve their skills.
Candidates are ranked on the exam on a 10-point system. Results of "6" or less must re-take the exam. A second result of "6" or less and the person is placed on the waiting list to fill those positions that are left over after the passing candidates have selected their positions. (Yes, selected. What's the point of striving for excellence if you can't use it to improve your options?)
As for continuing education, teachers are the only professionals who don't have to stay current or even be competent with the newest information in their field. Accountants, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, social workers and mental health workers all have minimum requirements. Teachers should not be exempt and with a 2-month window they can use every year, 60 hours a year to become a better teacher is a criteria long overdue.
To enhance teaching potential and effort, salaries and bonuses will be tied to exam results and accumulated hours. Teachers with high exam results and the minimum number of hours would get more money. (The extra monies will come from implementing Idea 02; topic for another day.)
By recertifying, teachers would have to face up to the need of being competitive in their chosen field(s), open the door to otherwise qualified candidates who lack either academic credentials or experience, push the boundaries of conformity in education to encompass innovation and remove the overwhelming weight of deadwood-disguised-as-teachers We currently pay salaries to.
Suggestion: Mention this idea to a teacher. Note how the more incompetent ones--the ones who bitch and moan and complain and drag their carcasses to and from the classroom and couldn't teach their way out of a paper bag--are the ones most likely to hate this Idea. Note how the competent teachers will tend to agree with the Idea: they know what it takes to be good, even great, and are willing to put forth the effort. We need more of those teachers and fewer of what often seems the whiny majority.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
28 November 2005
10 Rules For Web Startups
Fresh off the presses, a veritable treasure trove of rules for Webpreneurs from a man who's been there and done that to an nth degree. Evan Williams was a co-founder and CEO of Pyra Labs, better known for having created Blogger, famously acquired by that rising megacorp named Google. From Evhead comes this marvelous list of suggestions and guidelines for starting your own Web company:
Ten Rules for Web Startups
#1: Be Narrow
Focus on the smallest possible problem you could solve that would potentially be useful. Most companies start out trying to do too many things, which makes life difficult and turns you into a me-too. Focusing on a small niche has so many advantages: With much less work, you can be the best at what you do. Small things, like a microscopic world, almost always turn out to be bigger than you think when you zoom in. You can much more easily position and market yourself when more focused. And when it comes to partnering, or being acquired, there's less chance for conflict. This is all so logical and, yet, there's a resistance to focusing. I think it comes from a fear of being trivial. Just remember: If you get to be #1 in your category, but your category is too small, then you can broaden your scope—and you can do so with leverage.
#2: Be Different
Ideas are in the air. There are lots of people thinking about—and probably working on—the same thing you are. And one of them is Google. Deal with it. How? First of all, realize that no sufficiently interesting space will be limited to one player. In a sense, competition actually is good—especially to legitimize new markets. Second, see #1—the specialist will almost always kick the generalist's ass. Third, consider doing something that's not so cutting edge. Many highly successful companies—the aforementioned big G being one—have thrived by taking on areas that everyone thought were done and redoing them right. Also? Get a good, non-generic name. Easier said than done, granted. But the most common mistake in naming is trying to be too descriptive, which leads to lots of hard-to-distinguish names. How many blogging companies have "blog" in their name, RSS companies "feed," or podcasting companies "pod" or "cast"? Rarely are they the ones that stand out.
#3: Be Casual
We're moving into what I call the era of the "Casual Web" (and casual content creation). This is much bigger than the hobbyist web or the professional web. Why? Because people have lives. And now, people with lives also have broadband. If you want to hit the really big home runs, create services that fit in with—and, indeed, help—people's everyday lives without requiring lots of commitment or identity change. Flickr enables personal publishing among millions of folks who would never consider themselves personal publishers—they're just sharing pictures with friends and family, a casual activity. Casual games are huge. Skype enables casual conversations.
#4: Be Picky
Another perennial business rule, and it applies to everything you do: features, employees, investors, partners, press opportunities. Startups are often too eager to accept people or ideas into their world. You can almost always afford to wait if something doesn't feel just right, and false negatives are usually better than false positives. One of Google's biggest strengths—and sources of frustration for outsiders—was their willingness to say no to opportunities, easy money, potential employees, and deals.
#5: Be User-Centric
User experience is everything. It always has been, but it's still undervalued and under-invested in. If you don't know user-centered design, study it. Hire people who know it. Obsess over it. Live and breathe it. Get your whole company on board. Better to iterate a hundred times to get the right feature right than to add a hundred more. The point of Ajax is that it can make a site more responsive, not that it's sexy. Tags can make things easier to find and classify, but maybe not in your application. The point of an API is so developers can add value for users, not to impress the geeks. Don't get sidetracked by technologies or the blog-worthiness of your next feature. Always focus on the user and all will be well.
#6: Be Self-Centered
Great products almost always come from someone scratching their own itch. Create something you want to exist in the world. Be a user of your own product. Hire people who are users of your product. Make it better based on your own desires. (But don't trick yourself into thinking you are your user, when it comes to usability.) Another aspect of this is to not get seduced into doing deals with big companies at the expense or your users or at the expense of making your product better. When you're small and they're big, it's hard to say no, but see #4.
#7: Be Greedy
It's always good to have options. One of the best ways to do that is to have income. While it's true that traffic is now again actually worth something, the give-everything-away-and-make-it-up-on-volume strategy stamps an expiration date on your company's ass. In other words, design something to charge for into your product and start taking money within 6 months (and do it with PayPal). Done right, charging money can actually accelerate growth, not impede it, because then you have something to fuel marketing costs with. More importantly, having money coming in the door puts you in a much more powerful position when it comes to your next round of funding or acquisition talks. In fact, consider whether you need to have a free version at all. The TypePad approach—taking the high-end position in the market—makes for a great business model in the right market. Less support. Less scalability concerns. Less abuse. And much higher margins.
#8: Be Tiny
It's standard web startup wisdom by now that with the substantially lower costs to starting something on the web, the difficulty of IPOs, and the willingness of the big guys to shell out for small teams doing innovative stuff, the most likely end game if you're successful is acquisition. Acquisitions are much easier if they're small. And small acquisitions are possible if valuations are kept low from the get go. And keeping valuations low is possible because it doesn't cost much to start something anymore (especially if you keep the scope narrow). Besides the obvious techniques, one way to do this is to use turnkey services to lower your overhead—Administaff, ServerBeach, web apps, maybe even Elance.
#9: Be Agile
You know that old saw about a plane flying from California to Hawaii being off course 99% of the time—but constantly correcting? The same is true of successful startups—except they may start out heading toward Alaska. Many dot-com bubble companies that died could have eventually been successful had they been able to adjust and change their plans instead of running as fast as they could until they burned out, based on their initial assumptions. Pyra was started to build a project-management app, not Blogger. Flickr's company was building a game. Ebay was going to sell auction software. Initial assumptions are almost always wrong. That's why the waterfall approach to building software is obsolete in favor agile techniques. The same philosophy should be applied to building a company.
#10: Be Balanced
What is a startup without bleary-eyed, junk-food-fueled, balls-to-the-wall days and sleepless, caffeine-fueled, relationship-stressing nights? Answer?: A lot more enjoyable place to work. Yes, high levels of commitment are crucial. And yes, crunch times come and sometimes require an inordinate, painful, apologies-to-the-SO amount of work. But it can't be all the time. Nature requires balance for health—as do the bodies and minds who work for you and, without which, your company will be worthless. There is no better way to maintain balance and lower your stress that I've found than David Allen's GTD process. Learn it. Live it. Make it a part of your company, and you'll have a secret weapon.
#11 (bonus!): Be Wary
Overgeneralized lists of business "rules" are not to be taken too literally. There are exceptions to everything.
The Jenius Has Quoted.
Ten Rules for Web Startups
#1: Be Narrow
Focus on the smallest possible problem you could solve that would potentially be useful. Most companies start out trying to do too many things, which makes life difficult and turns you into a me-too. Focusing on a small niche has so many advantages: With much less work, you can be the best at what you do. Small things, like a microscopic world, almost always turn out to be bigger than you think when you zoom in. You can much more easily position and market yourself when more focused. And when it comes to partnering, or being acquired, there's less chance for conflict. This is all so logical and, yet, there's a resistance to focusing. I think it comes from a fear of being trivial. Just remember: If you get to be #1 in your category, but your category is too small, then you can broaden your scope—and you can do so with leverage.
#2: Be Different
Ideas are in the air. There are lots of people thinking about—and probably working on—the same thing you are. And one of them is Google. Deal with it. How? First of all, realize that no sufficiently interesting space will be limited to one player. In a sense, competition actually is good—especially to legitimize new markets. Second, see #1—the specialist will almost always kick the generalist's ass. Third, consider doing something that's not so cutting edge. Many highly successful companies—the aforementioned big G being one—have thrived by taking on areas that everyone thought were done and redoing them right. Also? Get a good, non-generic name. Easier said than done, granted. But the most common mistake in naming is trying to be too descriptive, which leads to lots of hard-to-distinguish names. How many blogging companies have "blog" in their name, RSS companies "feed," or podcasting companies "pod" or "cast"? Rarely are they the ones that stand out.
#3: Be Casual
We're moving into what I call the era of the "Casual Web" (and casual content creation). This is much bigger than the hobbyist web or the professional web. Why? Because people have lives. And now, people with lives also have broadband. If you want to hit the really big home runs, create services that fit in with—and, indeed, help—people's everyday lives without requiring lots of commitment or identity change. Flickr enables personal publishing among millions of folks who would never consider themselves personal publishers—they're just sharing pictures with friends and family, a casual activity. Casual games are huge. Skype enables casual conversations.
#4: Be Picky
Another perennial business rule, and it applies to everything you do: features, employees, investors, partners, press opportunities. Startups are often too eager to accept people or ideas into their world. You can almost always afford to wait if something doesn't feel just right, and false negatives are usually better than false positives. One of Google's biggest strengths—and sources of frustration for outsiders—was their willingness to say no to opportunities, easy money, potential employees, and deals.
#5: Be User-Centric
User experience is everything. It always has been, but it's still undervalued and under-invested in. If you don't know user-centered design, study it. Hire people who know it. Obsess over it. Live and breathe it. Get your whole company on board. Better to iterate a hundred times to get the right feature right than to add a hundred more. The point of Ajax is that it can make a site more responsive, not that it's sexy. Tags can make things easier to find and classify, but maybe not in your application. The point of an API is so developers can add value for users, not to impress the geeks. Don't get sidetracked by technologies or the blog-worthiness of your next feature. Always focus on the user and all will be well.
#6: Be Self-Centered
Great products almost always come from someone scratching their own itch. Create something you want to exist in the world. Be a user of your own product. Hire people who are users of your product. Make it better based on your own desires. (But don't trick yourself into thinking you are your user, when it comes to usability.) Another aspect of this is to not get seduced into doing deals with big companies at the expense or your users or at the expense of making your product better. When you're small and they're big, it's hard to say no, but see #4.
#7: Be Greedy
It's always good to have options. One of the best ways to do that is to have income. While it's true that traffic is now again actually worth something, the give-everything-away-and-make-it-up-on-volume strategy stamps an expiration date on your company's ass. In other words, design something to charge for into your product and start taking money within 6 months (and do it with PayPal). Done right, charging money can actually accelerate growth, not impede it, because then you have something to fuel marketing costs with. More importantly, having money coming in the door puts you in a much more powerful position when it comes to your next round of funding or acquisition talks. In fact, consider whether you need to have a free version at all. The TypePad approach—taking the high-end position in the market—makes for a great business model in the right market. Less support. Less scalability concerns. Less abuse. And much higher margins.
#8: Be Tiny
It's standard web startup wisdom by now that with the substantially lower costs to starting something on the web, the difficulty of IPOs, and the willingness of the big guys to shell out for small teams doing innovative stuff, the most likely end game if you're successful is acquisition. Acquisitions are much easier if they're small. And small acquisitions are possible if valuations are kept low from the get go. And keeping valuations low is possible because it doesn't cost much to start something anymore (especially if you keep the scope narrow). Besides the obvious techniques, one way to do this is to use turnkey services to lower your overhead—Administaff, ServerBeach, web apps, maybe even Elance.
#9: Be Agile
You know that old saw about a plane flying from California to Hawaii being off course 99% of the time—but constantly correcting? The same is true of successful startups—except they may start out heading toward Alaska. Many dot-com bubble companies that died could have eventually been successful had they been able to adjust and change their plans instead of running as fast as they could until they burned out, based on their initial assumptions. Pyra was started to build a project-management app, not Blogger. Flickr's company was building a game. Ebay was going to sell auction software. Initial assumptions are almost always wrong. That's why the waterfall approach to building software is obsolete in favor agile techniques. The same philosophy should be applied to building a company.
#10: Be Balanced
What is a startup without bleary-eyed, junk-food-fueled, balls-to-the-wall days and sleepless, caffeine-fueled, relationship-stressing nights? Answer?: A lot more enjoyable place to work. Yes, high levels of commitment are crucial. And yes, crunch times come and sometimes require an inordinate, painful, apologies-to-the-SO amount of work. But it can't be all the time. Nature requires balance for health—as do the bodies and minds who work for you and, without which, your company will be worthless. There is no better way to maintain balance and lower your stress that I've found than David Allen's GTD process. Learn it. Live it. Make it a part of your company, and you'll have a secret weapon.
#11 (bonus!): Be Wary
Overgeneralized lists of business "rules" are not to be taken too literally. There are exceptions to everything.
The Jenius Has Quoted.
25 November 2005
Freeware Galore!
Stealing a march on The Information Soldier, The Jenius presents a website just chock-full loaded to the gills with free programs just begging to make your life easier.
The Jenius is a BIG fan of freeware: 7 of His Top 10 reasons for liking it are because it's free. (The other 3 are that it replaces Microsoft incompetence with functional goodness.)
So in the interest of giving and giving (albeit at no cost, but you know it's the thought that counts), mosey on over to Tech Support Alert and take a good long look at some seriously efficient software.
However, some nitpicks about this list. It doesn't mention Eudora as a quality e-mail option, and relegates Opera to an "also-ran" status. Having used both for almost a decade, The Jenius swears by these tools. The Eudora/Thunderbird option could go the way of the Mozilla product, but in the Firefox/Opera contest, why would a person elect the product that needs extensive customizing over the "Operiffic" completeness ready to go in seconds?
'Nother couple of nitpicks: clipboard replacement utility and "sticky note" program. I find nothing beats Yankee Clipper III as an extension of the clipboard. Plenty of storage space, auto-save, boilerplates and runs without a hitch. As for notes, I use Quicknote, a German piece of freeware genius that has more functions than a Leatherman has tools. And the litmus test--running forever without a hitch--is passed with flying colors.
So take a shopping trip down to Tech Support Alert and discover more free useful software than you can shake a stick at.
Which, oddly enough, is Microsoft's preferred method for improving its security gaffes...
The Jenius Has Spoken.
The Jenius is a BIG fan of freeware: 7 of His Top 10 reasons for liking it are because it's free. (The other 3 are that it replaces Microsoft incompetence with functional goodness.)
So in the interest of giving and giving (albeit at no cost, but you know it's the thought that counts), mosey on over to Tech Support Alert and take a good long look at some seriously efficient software.
However, some nitpicks about this list. It doesn't mention Eudora as a quality e-mail option, and relegates Opera to an "also-ran" status. Having used both for almost a decade, The Jenius swears by these tools. The Eudora/Thunderbird option could go the way of the Mozilla product, but in the Firefox/Opera contest, why would a person elect the product that needs extensive customizing over the "Operiffic" completeness ready to go in seconds?
'Nother couple of nitpicks: clipboard replacement utility and "sticky note" program. I find nothing beats Yankee Clipper III as an extension of the clipboard. Plenty of storage space, auto-save, boilerplates and runs without a hitch. As for notes, I use Quicknote, a German piece of freeware genius that has more functions than a Leatherman has tools. And the litmus test--running forever without a hitch--is passed with flying colors.
So take a shopping trip down to Tech Support Alert and discover more free useful software than you can shake a stick at.
Which, oddly enough, is Microsoft's preferred method for improving its security gaffes...
The Jenius Has Spoken.
24 November 2005
Ten Questions
The following are Ten Questions Puerto Rico needs to answer to create a more positive future:
1) Are We going to continue electing Fools or are We actually going to try to elect a government that gives Us leadership?
2) Will We upgrade Our economic strategy to the 21st century or will We continue to party like it's 1969?
3) Are We going to improve Our infrastructure (electricity, water and roads) to take advantage of Our population density or are We going to let The Fools continue to live off of Our indifference to its importance?
4) Are We going to start educating Our children to develop fully functional skill-sets and creativity or will We settle for a continued process of "shut up and spit back what I almost told you?"
5) Are We going to let the U.S tell Us what Our political future is going to be or will We stand up for Ourselves and create Our own status resolution?
6) How are We going to reduce by half the ridiculous size of Our government?
7) How are We going to provide full support for entrepreneurs and global-market businesses created or based in Puerto Rico?
8) How are We going to remove the elphantine obstacles that sit on Our heads and dump waterfalls of crap on Us every day: El Nuevo Día, Banco Popular, Verizon, Ponce Cement, Chamber of Commerce, Retailers Union, Puerto Rico Manufacturing Association, DACO (Consumer Affairs Department), teachers' unions, and the Department of Education?
9) How are We going to take advantage of Our bicultural outlook to form new connections with Latin American interests worldwide?
10) What will Our Puerto Rico be in 2020?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
1) Are We going to continue electing Fools or are We actually going to try to elect a government that gives Us leadership?
2) Will We upgrade Our economic strategy to the 21st century or will We continue to party like it's 1969?
3) Are We going to improve Our infrastructure (electricity, water and roads) to take advantage of Our population density or are We going to let The Fools continue to live off of Our indifference to its importance?
4) Are We going to start educating Our children to develop fully functional skill-sets and creativity or will We settle for a continued process of "shut up and spit back what I almost told you?"
5) Are We going to let the U.S tell Us what Our political future is going to be or will We stand up for Ourselves and create Our own status resolution?
6) How are We going to reduce by half the ridiculous size of Our government?
7) How are We going to provide full support for entrepreneurs and global-market businesses created or based in Puerto Rico?
8) How are We going to remove the elphantine obstacles that sit on Our heads and dump waterfalls of crap on Us every day: El Nuevo Día, Banco Popular, Verizon, Ponce Cement, Chamber of Commerce, Retailers Union, Puerto Rico Manufacturing Association, DACO (Consumer Affairs Department), teachers' unions, and the Department of Education?
9) How are We going to take advantage of Our bicultural outlook to form new connections with Latin American interests worldwide?
10) What will Our Puerto Rico be in 2020?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
23 November 2005
Open Source Minds Grows
Open Source Minds, the group created to develop and foment projects in Puerto Rico, is becoming a non-profit organization. We have reached the point where such a structure is needed to channel the ideas and potential projects We have for education and entrepreneurial development.
Part of Our plan is to create university chapters of OSM to allow college students a forum with which to develop their ideas while We identify talent that can make a significant impact on Puerto Rico's economy. As OSM adds members--by invitation only--the range and depth of projects will increase dramatically. Therefore, a structure that allows Us to monitor activities and secure the proper funding is essential.
But the emphasis will not be on money--it will be on speed. Speed to prototype. Speed to launch. Speed to market. You can either wait for money--the traditional method--or you can get some resources and make something happen, in effect, going out and getting the money from the most likely source: the market.
To make this happen requires a special group of people, with a level of talent and dedication that is out of the ordinary. The road will be rough and the attempts may very well outnumber the successes. And yet, as aware as We are about that, We are also convinced this is what We will do--and We will succeed. Of that We have no doubt.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Part of Our plan is to create university chapters of OSM to allow college students a forum with which to develop their ideas while We identify talent that can make a significant impact on Puerto Rico's economy. As OSM adds members--by invitation only--the range and depth of projects will increase dramatically. Therefore, a structure that allows Us to monitor activities and secure the proper funding is essential.
But the emphasis will not be on money--it will be on speed. Speed to prototype. Speed to launch. Speed to market. You can either wait for money--the traditional method--or you can get some resources and make something happen, in effect, going out and getting the money from the most likely source: the market.
To make this happen requires a special group of people, with a level of talent and dedication that is out of the ordinary. The road will be rough and the attempts may very well outnumber the successes. And yet, as aware as We are about that, We are also convinced this is what We will do--and We will succeed. Of that We have no doubt.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
22 November 2005
Economic Slavery: Nina
Nina is 38 years old, has an 11-year old daughter, lives as a single mother in her own home, works for the government, makes $44,000 gross a year and she hates her life.
Not all of it, just the part that has to do with work and money. Owner of 3 credit cards, two of which are maxed out, Nina has a credit card debt of $17,000...at almost 20% interest.
Nina also is the proud owner of two "easy payment" loans, both for $5,000. Both loans have an interest rate of 26%. The first she took out in 2002 to take her daughter to Disney World. The second she took out late last year to take a cruise and shop through the Caribbean.
She refinanced the first "easy payment" loan in early 2004 to put a down payment on her car. On the contract for the refinancing, which Nina admits she didn't read, is the total amount she is paying for that first loan: $14,650. She took out $5,000, minus fees and ends up paying a little over $9,800 more for using $5,000.
The car? A 2005 Neon. Her "old" car was a 2002 Lumina. Her house? Pays $635 a month and having owned it for 12 years, she is considering taking out a second mortgage.
Nina's take-home pay is about $3,400 a month, more than twice the median family income for Puerto Rico. She has only one child, who is healthy, and attends a "cheap" private school (about $300 a month.) Nina is not so healthy: she consumes prescription painkillers in high quantities to deal with the "migraines" she gets at work. She can't wait for the weekend, takes frequent sick days, often goes out for long lunch hours and then, wracked with guilt, works like a demon for a week or two, only to slump back into loathing her job.
A job she feels she can't quit. Nina has no savings nor any investments. Her monthly debt load is $2,845 without adding in food and utilities. Nina and her daughter "live" on about $555 a month. To make ends meet, Nina often uses the employee's credit union for "short-term" loans, making her even more dependent on a job she can't stand.
Sure, you can say, Nina's an idiot. But is she? She makes more money than most people here, owns her house and lives the "normal" lifestyle of paying twice for education, buying a new car before the old one warranties out, taking a big vacation every few years and using her credit cards to shop. If that's being an idiot, then many of Us in Puerto Rico are idiots.
Nina may or may not be an idiot, but there's no doubt she's a slave. Her job and the bank "own" her. Her credit cards and loans come directly or indirectly from the same source: Banco Popular, a member of The Jenius' List. But even if they didn't, even if Nina spread her productivity out over several "masters," the situation is the same: she can't change jobs, she has no economic freedom, she is a slave.
The Truth is, Nina and the rest of the slaves, are "cash cows" for the bank, who take over 20% of their productivity in the form on interest rates. Nina works almost 2 days a week to give that money to the bank, to service the debt she chose to have, in order to live the lifestyle she believes is "right", a lifestyle promoted with overwhelming intensity evry hour of every day.
Yes, Nina may be an idiot and she is a slave. But look hard at your own situation. How close are you to falling into Nina's pit of despair? Or how far are you from climbing up to Nina's "freedom"?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Not all of it, just the part that has to do with work and money. Owner of 3 credit cards, two of which are maxed out, Nina has a credit card debt of $17,000...at almost 20% interest.
Nina also is the proud owner of two "easy payment" loans, both for $5,000. Both loans have an interest rate of 26%. The first she took out in 2002 to take her daughter to Disney World. The second she took out late last year to take a cruise and shop through the Caribbean.
She refinanced the first "easy payment" loan in early 2004 to put a down payment on her car. On the contract for the refinancing, which Nina admits she didn't read, is the total amount she is paying for that first loan: $14,650. She took out $5,000, minus fees and ends up paying a little over $9,800 more for using $5,000.
The car? A 2005 Neon. Her "old" car was a 2002 Lumina. Her house? Pays $635 a month and having owned it for 12 years, she is considering taking out a second mortgage.
Nina's take-home pay is about $3,400 a month, more than twice the median family income for Puerto Rico. She has only one child, who is healthy, and attends a "cheap" private school (about $300 a month.) Nina is not so healthy: she consumes prescription painkillers in high quantities to deal with the "migraines" she gets at work. She can't wait for the weekend, takes frequent sick days, often goes out for long lunch hours and then, wracked with guilt, works like a demon for a week or two, only to slump back into loathing her job.
A job she feels she can't quit. Nina has no savings nor any investments. Her monthly debt load is $2,845 without adding in food and utilities. Nina and her daughter "live" on about $555 a month. To make ends meet, Nina often uses the employee's credit union for "short-term" loans, making her even more dependent on a job she can't stand.
Sure, you can say, Nina's an idiot. But is she? She makes more money than most people here, owns her house and lives the "normal" lifestyle of paying twice for education, buying a new car before the old one warranties out, taking a big vacation every few years and using her credit cards to shop. If that's being an idiot, then many of Us in Puerto Rico are idiots.
Nina may or may not be an idiot, but there's no doubt she's a slave. Her job and the bank "own" her. Her credit cards and loans come directly or indirectly from the same source: Banco Popular, a member of The Jenius' List. But even if they didn't, even if Nina spread her productivity out over several "masters," the situation is the same: she can't change jobs, she has no economic freedom, she is a slave.
The Truth is, Nina and the rest of the slaves, are "cash cows" for the bank, who take over 20% of their productivity in the form on interest rates. Nina works almost 2 days a week to give that money to the bank, to service the debt she chose to have, in order to live the lifestyle she believes is "right", a lifestyle promoted with overwhelming intensity evry hour of every day.
Yes, Nina may be an idiot and she is a slave. But look hard at your own situation. How close are you to falling into Nina's pit of despair? Or how far are you from climbing up to Nina's "freedom"?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
21 November 2005
Some Acid Remarks
Be still My beating heart!
The headline in today's El Nuevo Día reads "Legislature Considered Sterile." Hallelujah! THAT should put an end to The Fools in the next generation! Yeah, bay-bee!
Turns out they were referring to the utter lack of achievement of the legislature (who will remain without a capital letter until Hell Freezes Over.) But it does give Me room to ponder...
Sterilization of The Fools would be an excellent solution. These parasites can be eliminated in one generation if We simply follow this path. Now in the spirit of The Fools' pattern of "getting things done," the sterilization can be offered as a voluntary action, but then imposed by force, preferably in the middle of the night and with as little fanfare as possible...the same way The Fools passed their last salary raise.
If sterilization doesn't fly--sort of like unicamerality: all lip, no muscle--We can try euthanasia. Start with the ones who miss the most days of "work" or who call more than one press conference a fortnight. Given their mental acumen, the lesson might actually sink in before We have to put them all to sleep. (Though My suggestion is We continue the euthanasia program anyway...just to make sure they learn.)
Why in the name of Thomas Edison's right butt cheek are We paying at least $39.95 a month for Verizon's pukey DSL service when that over-inflated comatose collection of blubberheads is touting the same service for $14.95 in the States?
Because Verizon is a de facto monopoly here and like all monopolies in a capitalist society, it gains that position, and retains it, because the government does the dirty work. Tell Me this isn't a case where money changes hands with crackhouse intensity, but with lesser morals.
Verizon, along with El Nuevo Día and Banco Popular, has long been on The Jenius' List of "Three Biggest Corporate Obstacles Puerto Rico Has." It is almost impossible to attain the position We believe Puerto Rico can achieve on a global marketplace with Verizon hogging bandwidth like a fat slut with a TV dinner. When the day comes that Verizon has to tuck tail and slime away, We will see a period of real growth. Until then, We will continue to overpay for being underserved--with Verizon, The Fools, the List and a double handful of others whose time will also come.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
The headline in today's El Nuevo Día reads "Legislature Considered Sterile." Hallelujah! THAT should put an end to The Fools in the next generation! Yeah, bay-bee!
Turns out they were referring to the utter lack of achievement of the legislature (who will remain without a capital letter until Hell Freezes Over.) But it does give Me room to ponder...
Sterilization of The Fools would be an excellent solution. These parasites can be eliminated in one generation if We simply follow this path. Now in the spirit of The Fools' pattern of "getting things done," the sterilization can be offered as a voluntary action, but then imposed by force, preferably in the middle of the night and with as little fanfare as possible...the same way The Fools passed their last salary raise.
If sterilization doesn't fly--sort of like unicamerality: all lip, no muscle--We can try euthanasia. Start with the ones who miss the most days of "work" or who call more than one press conference a fortnight. Given their mental acumen, the lesson might actually sink in before We have to put them all to sleep. (Though My suggestion is We continue the euthanasia program anyway...just to make sure they learn.)
Why in the name of Thomas Edison's right butt cheek are We paying at least $39.95 a month for Verizon's pukey DSL service when that over-inflated comatose collection of blubberheads is touting the same service for $14.95 in the States?
Because Verizon is a de facto monopoly here and like all monopolies in a capitalist society, it gains that position, and retains it, because the government does the dirty work. Tell Me this isn't a case where money changes hands with crackhouse intensity, but with lesser morals.
Verizon, along with El Nuevo Día and Banco Popular, has long been on The Jenius' List of "Three Biggest Corporate Obstacles Puerto Rico Has." It is almost impossible to attain the position We believe Puerto Rico can achieve on a global marketplace with Verizon hogging bandwidth like a fat slut with a TV dinner. When the day comes that Verizon has to tuck tail and slime away, We will see a period of real growth. Until then, We will continue to overpay for being underserved--with Verizon, The Fools, the List and a double handful of others whose time will also come.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
19 November 2005
Reducing The "Inferiority Complex"
Having opined that Puerto Rico has an inferiority complex, My readings uncovered a very appropriate post to counterbalance that first one. Curt Rosengren, self-defined as a "Passion Catalyst" (a trademarked description, you'll want to know) cites in his well-worth-reading The Occupational Adventure a post with the title "10 Tips to Kickstart Your Self-Esteem," by Julie Plenty.
The simplified list Curt posted is reproduced here:
1. Stop comparing yourself to other people.
2. Don't keep putting yourself down!
3. Using affirmations.
4. Accept all compliments graciously.
5. Take advantage of and use life coaching programmes, workshops, books on how to raise your self esteem and develop a more positive attitude.
6. Mix with positive and supportive people.
7. Acknowledge your positive qualities and skills.
8. Stop putting up with stuff!
9. Make positive contributions to others.
10. Involve yourself in work and activities that you love.
The first three listed above seem to be speaking directly to the evolutionarily-challenged economist of the article that inspired the "inferiority" post, and My suggestion is that numbers 7 and 9 be inscribed on a plaque and placed in her office.
Oddly, Curt didn't present what The Jenius believes is the key point of the list, the "11th" item: Start taking action! Self-esteem is built on making an effort, not on sitting on one's fat butt and spouting negative words and empty generalizations.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
The simplified list Curt posted is reproduced here:
1. Stop comparing yourself to other people.
2. Don't keep putting yourself down!
3. Using affirmations.
4. Accept all compliments graciously.
5. Take advantage of and use life coaching programmes, workshops, books on how to raise your self esteem and develop a more positive attitude.
6. Mix with positive and supportive people.
7. Acknowledge your positive qualities and skills.
8. Stop putting up with stuff!
9. Make positive contributions to others.
10. Involve yourself in work and activities that you love.
The first three listed above seem to be speaking directly to the evolutionarily-challenged economist of the article that inspired the "inferiority" post, and My suggestion is that numbers 7 and 9 be inscribed on a plaque and placed in her office.
Oddly, Curt didn't present what The Jenius believes is the key point of the list, the "11th" item: Start taking action! Self-esteem is built on making an effort, not on sitting on one's fat butt and spouting negative words and empty generalizations.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
18 November 2005
Ban PowerPoint...Now!
The next time some presenter starts a PowerPoint presentation and then proceeds to READ EVERY DAMN SLIDE, The Jenius will do one of two things:
1) Leave the place immediately, or
2) Interrupt the presentation and ask why the person is reading to Me.
You may deem this rude, but that's your problem. My problem is that PowerPoint has given people the impression that by slicing up their presentation into slides, they now have something good to say and a crutch to depend on so that practicing and preparation can be dispensed with.
They are wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. The end result of their wrongness is a presentation so insufferably boring that avoiding it altogether or pointing out to the presenter that they are failing miserably are the only viable choices.
Edward Tufte, a lionized expert on graphic design and visual communication, has long been a scathing critic of the use (actually, the misuse) of PowerPoint. Tufte even goes so far as to call PowerPoint "evil." The Jenius contends that the evil is in using it as a shortcut to boring people and ruining any chance at meaningful communication.
Now it's true that most people are afraid of speaking in public. Surveys have shown time and again that speaking in public is frightening to more people than the idea of death. Because of this widespread syndrome, many professionals believe that PowerPoint can help a person overcome that fear and make a killer presentation. It doesn't. What it creates is a drone who can't connect with his or her audience because they have chopped information into pieces, often overloaded the pieces with too many random thoughts and end up reciting when they should be speaking.
Here are a few tips on creating better presentations. They aren't easy; they require you to think and plan. No chunky square-text-image-animation crappy cha-cha here.
1) Create a story. See your presentation as a narrative, a moment in time that has a beginning, a middle and an end. Stories are almost as old as humans: We respond to them instinctively. They are also easier to remember, for both presenter and listener.
2) Divide your story into three Acts. This is also a natural progression, where Act 1 is the problem, Act 2 is the exposition (the context of the problem and what it means) and Act 3 is the resolution. Sound complicated? Here's how The Jenius would structure a presentation on eliminating PowerPoint:
---Act 1: PowerPoint makes you less effective as a speaker.
---Act 2: Problems with PowerPoint and what this does to you and your career.
---Act 3: How to overcome the problems and boost your image/enhance your career.
Your breakdown will be different, but notice how this one is easy to follow and practically frames the entire presentation towards the goal. Instead of chopping up to fill X number of slides, We now have a narrative that can be explored within a wide range of time frames. The only difference will be the level of detail, a factor you can now control with extra precision.
3) Divide the Acts into Scenes, with one major idea per Scene. Again, simple storytelling technique. And the "one idea per scene" limit helps you keep the focus on major issues and the flow from beginning to end. And don't try to make each Act or Scene be equal in time: let your narrative set the pace.
4) If you must use PowerPoint, then use it now to create only slides that define each Act and each Scene. In the example above, one slide would say "PowerPoint makes you less effective as a speaker." The rest of the topic would be the spoken material not presented in slides. This brings the audience to you, which is the whole point of being a speaker.
5) No bullets. Period. None. Forget bullets. Don't even think about any stinking bullets. Stories are not told in bullets. Stories flow. Bullets kill (the story.)
6) Keep your slides simple. Write out all the needed material and use index cards or some other method you like to create speaker notes. (Don't use PowerPoint for that: you'll end up with bullets or a trash heap of disconnected material.) This is your "script," but don't read it to the audience.
7) Handouts should be a combination of your few slides and some of your speaker notes. Don't give this to your audience before you speak: they'll read instead of listening.
8) Rehearse. Practice! Ask yourself questions you don't want the audience to ask. Be prepared. Give a damn! If people are sitting there to listen to you, make that time valuable to them. If you do that, you will be doing something equally or more valuable for yourself.
9) Speak with energy and as far as possible, try to have fun. The more prepared you are, the easier it is to have fun and be expressive. Audiences are very polite and supportive and will be pulling for you to do well...unless you start reading your freaking over-bulleted, lame-ass slides.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
1) Leave the place immediately, or
2) Interrupt the presentation and ask why the person is reading to Me.
You may deem this rude, but that's your problem. My problem is that PowerPoint has given people the impression that by slicing up their presentation into slides, they now have something good to say and a crutch to depend on so that practicing and preparation can be dispensed with.
They are wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. The end result of their wrongness is a presentation so insufferably boring that avoiding it altogether or pointing out to the presenter that they are failing miserably are the only viable choices.
Edward Tufte, a lionized expert on graphic design and visual communication, has long been a scathing critic of the use (actually, the misuse) of PowerPoint. Tufte even goes so far as to call PowerPoint "evil." The Jenius contends that the evil is in using it as a shortcut to boring people and ruining any chance at meaningful communication.
Now it's true that most people are afraid of speaking in public. Surveys have shown time and again that speaking in public is frightening to more people than the idea of death. Because of this widespread syndrome, many professionals believe that PowerPoint can help a person overcome that fear and make a killer presentation. It doesn't. What it creates is a drone who can't connect with his or her audience because they have chopped information into pieces, often overloaded the pieces with too many random thoughts and end up reciting when they should be speaking.
Here are a few tips on creating better presentations. They aren't easy; they require you to think and plan. No chunky square-text-image-animation crappy cha-cha here.
1) Create a story. See your presentation as a narrative, a moment in time that has a beginning, a middle and an end. Stories are almost as old as humans: We respond to them instinctively. They are also easier to remember, for both presenter and listener.
2) Divide your story into three Acts. This is also a natural progression, where Act 1 is the problem, Act 2 is the exposition (the context of the problem and what it means) and Act 3 is the resolution. Sound complicated? Here's how The Jenius would structure a presentation on eliminating PowerPoint:
---Act 1: PowerPoint makes you less effective as a speaker.
---Act 2: Problems with PowerPoint and what this does to you and your career.
---Act 3: How to overcome the problems and boost your image/enhance your career.
Your breakdown will be different, but notice how this one is easy to follow and practically frames the entire presentation towards the goal. Instead of chopping up to fill X number of slides, We now have a narrative that can be explored within a wide range of time frames. The only difference will be the level of detail, a factor you can now control with extra precision.
3) Divide the Acts into Scenes, with one major idea per Scene. Again, simple storytelling technique. And the "one idea per scene" limit helps you keep the focus on major issues and the flow from beginning to end. And don't try to make each Act or Scene be equal in time: let your narrative set the pace.
4) If you must use PowerPoint, then use it now to create only slides that define each Act and each Scene. In the example above, one slide would say "PowerPoint makes you less effective as a speaker." The rest of the topic would be the spoken material not presented in slides. This brings the audience to you, which is the whole point of being a speaker.
5) No bullets. Period. None. Forget bullets. Don't even think about any stinking bullets. Stories are not told in bullets. Stories flow. Bullets kill (the story.)
6) Keep your slides simple. Write out all the needed material and use index cards or some other method you like to create speaker notes. (Don't use PowerPoint for that: you'll end up with bullets or a trash heap of disconnected material.) This is your "script," but don't read it to the audience.
7) Handouts should be a combination of your few slides and some of your speaker notes. Don't give this to your audience before you speak: they'll read instead of listening.
8) Rehearse. Practice! Ask yourself questions you don't want the audience to ask. Be prepared. Give a damn! If people are sitting there to listen to you, make that time valuable to them. If you do that, you will be doing something equally or more valuable for yourself.
9) Speak with energy and as far as possible, try to have fun. The more prepared you are, the easier it is to have fun and be expressive. Audiences are very polite and supportive and will be pulling for you to do well...unless you start reading your freaking over-bulleted, lame-ass slides.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
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