Casual Dress Friday: Best to remain silent and thought a fool…
A wise man once said, ‘Best to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.’. I first heard it from Dad, but I believe Confucius may be the one who originally said it. In either event I give you some of the dumbest things ever said. What’s most interesting is at the time, they probably seemed pretty smart, in retrospect, not so much. Enjoy and have a great weekend!
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” ~Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” ~Ken Olson, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” ~H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” ~Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” ~Gary Cooper turning down “Gone With the Wind.”
“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. ~Western Union internal memo, 1876.
“The concept is interesting… but to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” ~Yale professor on conceptual paper that became FedEx.
“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” ~Bill Gates, 1981.
“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” ~Michael Dell on Apple, 1997.
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” ~Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
Until next time…
Oil execs defend huge profits before Senate. Senators not impressed
Executives from the big 5 oil companies (Exxon/Mobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and Conoco/Phillips) testified before the Senate today, coincidentally as oil prices crossed $130 a barrel. While Today host Matt Lauer was fairly easy on Exxon/Mobil exec J. Stephen Simon last week, the Senators pulled no punches accusing the executive of acting like ‘hapless victims’ while posting record profits.
The Big 5 executives (BP America Chairman Robert Malone, Shell Oil President John Hofmeister, Chevron Vice Chairman Peter Robertson; ConocoPhillips Executive Vice President John Lowe, and ExxonMobile Senior Vice President J. Stephen Simon), appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said they know high prices are hurting people, but they said the cause is not company profits but global supply and demand. Which is the equivalent answer to the age old question, ‘why does a dog lick is balls?’ Answer; because he can! Mr Simon threw out one of my favorite priceless gems, ‘profits have been huge “in absolute terms” but must be viewed in the context of the massive scale of the industry.” He also said high earnings are needed “in the current up cycle” to pay for investments in the long term when profits will be down. Which sounded alot like an ivy league version of Charles Barkley’s defense of NBA players making millions ‘we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot of money’.
Sen Patrick Leahy of VT was having none of it. In response to Mr Simon’s ‘current up cycle’ remark Sen Leahy responded, ‘’Current up cycle,’ that’s a nice term, when people can’t afford to go to work” because gasoline is costing close to $4 a gallon.’ Sen Leahy went on to inquire what the different executives total compensation was with Mr Simon toping the group with over $12.5 million per year. I truly believe there’s a special section in hell for these guys.
Sens Specter and Feinstein (PA & CA) jumped into the fray asking again and again how the oil companies can justify profits increasing from $11.5 billion to $40.6 billion in the past five years, but received no response, except to make it clear that they sought to use their appearance before Congress to argue against new taxes on their industry. Senate Democrats recently announced an energy package that would tax “windfall” profits of the five companies. That might have public appeal, Lowe told the senators, but oil companies should not be viewed as “a scapegoat” for high prices. Lowe’s comment didn’t sit well with Sen Feinstein who added, You have “just a litany of complaints that you’re all just hapless victims of a system, yet you rack up record profits … quarter after quarter after quarter.”
In the end it was Sen Leahy who summed up the senators feelings best, “The issue is simple,” said Leahy. “People we represent are hurting, the companies you represent are profiting.” Now we’ll see what they intend to do about it. Tar and feathering anyone?
Google gets it!
I recently got an assignment at work that was in part, to search out companies that use videos as part of their hiring/recruitment processes. It was actually much easier than it sounds. First off most companies don’t use the video medium yet, but they should and I think will in time. As I started to think about the kind of company that would use video, Google was one of the first to come to mind. Let me preface what comes next by saying that I’m a HUGE fan of Google. Let’s face it they just about own the internet and the best part is they kicked Microsoft’s ass to do it. Their innovation and thought leadership in and around the internet is second to none. No small feat. I realize there are those in the blogosphere that are down on Google and how they index sites/their policies on advertising etc and that’s OK. Still others think they’ve simple gotten too big for their britches and that’s OK too.
Setting all that aside, my project was about recruiting and hiring, fortunately I’ve know a couple of people that have interviewed with Google and one that had an offer to join them. Both had nothing but rave reviews for the process and for Google as a company. Why? Because Google gets it. What I mean by that is that they understand what it takes not only to attract, but also to retain the best talent in the world.
First, we all know Google, their brand/corporate image attracts people from every walk and background, they’re a cool company and they hire only the best. But they don’t stop there, unlike many companies, they’ve realized that once they hire the best they have to keep them. To do that they roll out a list of benefits that I could talk about for days. I’m not talking about just health/dental/life insurance and vacation days, they’ve got those too. I’m talking about other benefits like onsite childcare, I’m talking about a world class cafeteria with gourmet food, I’m talking about other amenities that most companies haven’t even thought of. The best thing? Google provides it all for FREE! That’s right, free. They also offer something that most companies don’t, a comfortable worker friendly atmosphere where individuality and creativity are both encouraged and nourished. I’m talking about an open welcoming corporate culture that celebrates diversity and individuality. I used to work for a start up that was this way, at least until the start-up dollars ran out. But as they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a couple of video’s they’ve put together on working at Google and interviewing at Google (ironically Yahoo’s ‘Working at Yahoo’ video didn’t work…hmm). I hope you like them. In the meantime I’m off to update my resume.
Until next time…
