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Spending Does Not Drive the Economy, Part 1

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The belief that spending drives the economy is pervasive. It manifests itself in two sub-categories: First, the belief that consumer spending drives the economy and, second, the belief that government stimulus spending assists the economy. We’ll look at each of these in turn, and then show how this relates to the topic of productivity.

The Wrong Way to Respond to a Recession

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Tom Peters writes: I see far too many of my clients, good people with good motives, obsessing on pleasing Wall Street analysts, and taking actions that may well reduce their stock’s value two to three years out. They have slashed budgets on many longer-term strategies, such as research and development, talent retention and development, even […]

Sparkcharts: Quick Overviews of Major Topics

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A few months ago at Barnes & Noble, I came across a useful set of reference tools called SparkCharts. They provide a basic outline of the major facets of all sorts of subjects. Thus, they can be a good refresher on many subjects that you would have learned in school, but which are important to […]

How to Design and Then Arrange a Room

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We’ve had to recently learn some of the best practices about how to arrange a room. Having just moved, we wanted — as much as possible — to know what we are doing as we get furniture for rooms that didn’t exist in our prior house. We are probably a bit odd here — a […]

How Economic Turmoil Breeds Innovation

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Wired has a great article on recessions and the birth of big ideas. Recessions are a time to streamline in many ways for sure, but they are also a time to thoughtfully advance — not retreat. The article says this well in many places, including this one: When VCs from Foundation Capital met with their […]

Recessions Are Not for Hunkering Down

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Recessions are for recalibrating. Do not take the approach of waiting things out, only to come out on the other side doing the same things you were doing before. The world changes too fast. The recession is a chance to give more focus to adapting to how things have changed — things that have changed […]

Don't Be a Cynic

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A cynic is: 1. a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view. 2. a person who shows or expresses a bitterly or sneeringly cynical attitude. Don’t be one of those people. Don’t be someone who thinks that everyone has ill […]

President Bush on Popularity

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In a recent interview, here’s what Bush said about popularity: Look, I’ve been popular and not so popular. But the thing that matters most in life is not one’s popularity but principles. And I am not going to sacrifice my principles on the altar of political popularity. If you chase popularity, you’ll be a lousy […]