1980's logic vs. 2000's -

"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.

Greed is right.

Greed works.

Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.

And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

- from the movie wall street

Greed still reigns strong in America and the world but I think there is a developing movement towards a charitable lifestyle. Just look at companies like Starbucks and Google who are raising the level of worker appreciation or Billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffet donating their Billions to help change the world. Greed for more than you actually need is ok if the rewards are meant to help the greater good.

hitting a bullseye -

The following quote comes in handy for me when work gets overwhelming. I find it can be a big help to concentrate on the little things as opposed to the end result I need to achieve.

"As the Zen archers teach: a person hits the bullseye not through wanting to hit it, but through performing correctly all the actions and processes that lead up to letting the arrow fly."

simplify -

"Simplify, simplify..."

"One simplify would have sufficed."

- H.D. Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson in response

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"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

- from The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy and the slogan of seventh generation products

john f. kennedy on neutrality -

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"Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality."

- John F. Kennedy

starbucks ceo, howard shultz, on what prompted their insurance policy -

The following are excerpts from "pour your heart into it", a book about the creation of starbucks. In them chairman and ceo howard shultz discusses what lead him to institute a company wide insurance policy, offered even to part-time workers.

"One of the terrible tragedies, for me (shultz says), was the fact that my father passed away before he could witness what I achieved."

"If your dad had been successful," (shultz' friend says), "maybe you wouldn't have had as much drive as you have."

"My friend was probably right. Part of what has always driven me is fear of failure, for I know too well the face of self-defeat."

"I finally came to terms with my bitterness and learned to respect the memory of what my dad was, instead of regretting what he was not. But it was also wrong that in America, land of dreams, a hard-working man like him couldn't find a niche where he could be treated with dignity."

"It was a strange but fitting coincidence that during my dad's final months, my major preoccupation at work was building trust with the employees at starbucks. I saw on some of their faces the same doubts about the intentions of management that my father had expressed so often to me. People felt undervalued and uncertain about their future, and at times they directed their anger at me, as he had."

"But I was no longer a helpless kid. I was in a position to do something about the insecurity and lack of respect that seemed to be becoming far too commonplace in much of American business."

"Within a year...I did."

virgin founder richard branson on charity and "dire straits" -

Richard Branson, the owner and founder of the virgin group, has recently committed to donating proceeds of coming years profits to charity. The total amount donated to charity could reach 3 billion dollars.

I read Branson's book recently, "losing my virginity", and he is certainly one of the most interesting entrepreneurs around and has been brilliant in building a brand name.

But he has had to overcome many obstacles, including British Airways attempt to destroy him, and the following excerpt from his book describes one of the more humorous bumps in his road. He has just met the band "dire straits" for dinner in anticipation of signing them the next day on the virgin label. This was very early in the history of virgin so it was a big deal.

"On the evening before we were due to sign contracts, we took the band out to our favorite greek restaurant off Westbourne Grove to celebrate it. It was an enjoyable meal. Since all the negotiations were out of the way we could relax and look forward to producing the record. At the end of the meal the Greek owner came out carrying two saucers, one upturned on top of the other. With a conjurer's flourish he lifted off the top one to reveal ten marijuana joints. I rarely took drugs after my LSD experience but this seemed a nice way to end the evening, and in order not to offend the restaurant manager, who clearly thought he was doing us all a great favor, I took one. Everyone smoked a joint and the evening wound down."

"The next morning Dire Straits called up and told us that they were going with PolyGram. No reason was given. Simon and I were horrified. We couldn't believe it."

"What's the matter?" Simon asked. "We've got everything in place. There's nothing more to agree."

"No reason," they said and cut off all communication with us.

"There was nothing Simon and I could do to persuade them to change their minds. It was only ten years later when I read a book about Dire Straits that two little sentences explained it:" "The band did not sign with Virgin since they thought that Virgin had plied them with drugs before signing to befuddle them."

"That well meaning, spontaneous gesture by the Greek manager, which Dire Straits had seemed to enjoy at the time, cost Virgin Records over 500 million. Meanwhile, Dire Straits went on to become one of the worlds top bands, with their album Brothers in Arms selling eighteen million copies."

cure for depression is?

"I've found the cure for depression is action, and action is the basis for the environmental philosophy at patagonia. Since our main reason for being in business is to work on changing the way governments and corporations ignore our environmental crisis, action is absolutely necessary."

- Yvon Chouinard (founder and owner of patagonia) in his book, "let my people go surfing"