About three decades ago, my post-retirement plan was to emigrate to Italy and to live on the beautiful island of Sicily. Today, my emigration is a no. A soft "no" that is slowly turning into a hard one. Recently, someone asked me to join him in living in Spain. I told him that Denmark is more likely. My principle in life is having only one (1) deficiency (eg,...
Recently, soul legend Sly Stone died at the age of 82. A Dutch narrative claimed his success had important drawbacks, like "drug use and erratic behavior". Apparently, success has like 20 negative factors. Hence, the article The Paradox of Success by Bill Cole. I do recognize several of those 20 factors. My career suggests I have had success. The volume of spamming...
I've never been a fan of outsourcing as it means losing control, despite what suppliers promise in their Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Outsourcing is part of (horizontal or vertical) disintegration. I need, want and believe in (self-) control, even while knowing that it's an illusion in certain circumstances. In 1983, a Harvard Business Review article wondered:...
GeoPolitical Futures: Hu Jintao By: George Friedman Date: 24 October 2022 “An extraordinary thing happened in China at the final meeting of the party congress over the weekend. Hu Jintao, the previous president of China, was sitting next to President Xi Jinping when two men approached from the rear. Hu rose and appeared increasingly surprised and then alarmed. A few...
Recently, I posted a (Dutch) question: why is competence no longer required in political management? My question does not imply that incompetence rules. No. The same phenomenon exists in businesses, whether privately owned or publicly listed. Last but not least, my question is gender neutral. In his 1969 book, The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong,...
Several decades ago, a high school teacher demanded to know the meaning of the abbreviation 'OHVZ' on my school tests. He was angry and I was flabbergasted. I told him it meant "Op Hoop Van Zegen", or Hoping For The Best. He had been convinced my abbreviation carried a hidden insult towards him. I suppose he and I both dealt with our mutual fear of failure in a...
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