I called GOOG-411 this morning and asked for "Pro Club, Bellevue, Washington". GOOG-411 came back with "Strip Club, Bellevue, Washington, top eight results..." I'm thinking it's my accent, but it might be targetted results.
Also, somewhat related, I recently discovered that the word is "esthetician" (as in esthetics), not as I'd previously thought "estrotician" (as in estrogen) . I think this a shame as estrotician and testrotician are great names for womens' and mens' hairdressers respectively.
Onward and upward.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
The First Post
It is said that when writing a screenplay, one should start on the day that everything changes. So it is with this blog - today is the day that I leave my corporate job, I stop working for someone else and start working for myself.
A couple of years ago, while speaking to a civic group in Seattle, I was asked what is the secret of my success. (Success is of course relative - I have had the privilege to know and work with some very successful people next to whom my accomplishments seem very modest.) I suspect they wanted something like "write down your goals", or "always call people back the same day", and I may have disappointed them with my answer - take risks and throw away your plans when something better comes along.
So it has been with my career to date. I have a degree in Computer Science from Imperial College London (my dad asked at the time: "Do you think there's a future in this computer business?"), and I have had four jobs since: Accenture, Diamond (an Accenture-like consulting company), Microsoft and Google. Each of these transitions was more like turning off the highway to investigate an interesting neon-sign, than following the the directions on a map to a known destination.
Statistically speaking leaving Google to start a company is crazy, doubly so in the middle a recession. But there are a couple of things that separate very successful people from us ordinary folks: a propensity to take risks and a high estimation of their own abilities. Other things help: being very smart; good timing; good partners; access to capital; etc. etc., but risk taking and faith in yourself mark these people out as different to the rest of us.
Or should I say the rest of you ;-)
Today is the day for taking risks and having faith in myself.
A couple of years ago, while speaking to a civic group in Seattle, I was asked what is the secret of my success. (Success is of course relative - I have had the privilege to know and work with some very successful people next to whom my accomplishments seem very modest.) I suspect they wanted something like "write down your goals", or "always call people back the same day", and I may have disappointed them with my answer - take risks and throw away your plans when something better comes along.
So it has been with my career to date. I have a degree in Computer Science from Imperial College London (my dad asked at the time: "Do you think there's a future in this computer business?"), and I have had four jobs since: Accenture, Diamond (an Accenture-like consulting company), Microsoft and Google. Each of these transitions was more like turning off the highway to investigate an interesting neon-sign, than following the the directions on a map to a known destination.
Statistically speaking leaving Google to start a company is crazy, doubly so in the middle a recession. But there are a couple of things that separate very successful people from us ordinary folks: a propensity to take risks and a high estimation of their own abilities. Other things help: being very smart; good timing; good partners; access to capital; etc. etc., but risk taking and faith in yourself mark these people out as different to the rest of us.
Or should I say the rest of you ;-)
Today is the day for taking risks and having faith in myself.
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