I’ve created a new blog – olivian.ro. The blog will gather some online blogs I currently have.

I will gather everything I post in a single place, it’s easier to handle for me and easier to read for you.

• 1572 lei – Sony HDR-CX130 – again, on buying a camcorder; this time it’s for real – Get a result now!

after a long process:

• My new PC – i5 2400, 8 GB RAM, SSD 60 GB, 24″ BenQ LED monitor + video camera – Get a result now!

Today, I saw a promo on eMAG:

• 1349 lei – Camera video Sony CX130, Red + Card 8 GB CX130R8GXXDI.EU – eMAG.ro
• 1599 lei – Camera Sony cu inregistrare pe memory stick HDR-CX130, Full HD, AVCHD,3,3 MPx, smile shutter, face detection, iesie HDMI,zoom optic X30,procesor Exmor,stabilizare optica – Descriere
• 1459 lei – Extreme Digital: aparat foto digital, cameră video, televizor, hardware!

OK, the price cut is not HUGE (1349 + carrying pack + extra battery is about 1.500 lei), but, still, it’s quite a cut.

I did use my camera a lot, though:

• OlivianBREDA – YouTube

OK, not a 100% fool proof rule, it may differ from person to person, from the kind of help given to the kind of help received, but it’s an idea to think about.

But my initial thought was calmed – even today some people don’t have incubator107. The just must spread.

Is it fine? Yes, I think the world is much more beautiful with hidden things. It’s good that we don’t know each other’s thoughts.

“A number of bicyclists rang their bells in anger as they passed, but Mameha didn’t seem in the least concerned. I suppose she was so certain of her place in the world, she couldn’t imagine anyone being troubled by a little matter like her blocking traffic. She took her time, holding up one coin after another from her silk change purse until she’d paid the exact fare [...]“.

I like the sentence in bold a lot. If you have a mission in life, sometimes you do some damage, but it’s only minor. ”You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”. Quite nice.

 EN: This (Blonde) fellow is looking to buy a saw to cut down some trees in his backyard. He goes to a chainsaw shop and asks about various chainsaws.

The dealer tells him, “Look, I have a lot of models, but why don’t you save yourself a lot of time and aggravation and get the top-of- the-line model. This chainsaw will cut a hundred cords of wood for you in one day.”

So, the man takes the chainsaw home and begins working on the trees. After cutting for several hours and only cutting two cords, he decides to quit. He thinks there is something wrong with the chainsaw. “How can I cut for hours and only cut two cords?” the man asks himself. “I will begin first thing in the morning and cut all day,” the man tells himself.

So, the next morning the man gets up at 4 am in the morning and cuts and cuts, and cuts till nightfall, and still he only manages to cut five cords.

The man is convinced this is a bad saw. “The dealer told me it would cut one hundred cords of wood in a day, no problem. I will take this saw back to the dealer,” the man says to himself.

The very next day the man brings the saw back to the dealer and explains the problem. The dealer, baffled by the man’s claim, removes the chainsaw from the case. The dealer says, “Hmm, it looks fine.”

Then the dealer starts the chainsaw, to which the man responds, “What’s that noise?

RO: Un taran isi cumpara o drujba din Bucuresti. Drujba era garantata sa taie 1001 copaci. Se duce taranul nostru acasa, in padure, si se apuca de taiat copaci. Dupa ce taie 1000 de copaci, drujba nu mai merge. Nervos, se duce inapoi la Bucuresti, la firma de unde cumparase drujba si le explica celor de-acolo intamplarea. Astia o pornesc bine mersi. La care taranul:
- Da’ ce-i cu zgomotul asta, bai?

How does the joke explain life? Well, in my opinion, if you want to cut wood, you should ignore everything, no matter how much the noise / discomfort is. “Just do it”.

Details:

• “Mutual Funds: Making Sense of It All” – Masterclass with Joy Chan | Maastricht School of Management Romania

Photos (full-screen):

Videos:

(idea catched at “Albert Hall e o Reșița. Atât că e pe Tamisa” – Fii eficient!)

• Path A leads to typical (“normal”, let’s say) behavior. It’s the middle path, not too much of this, not too much of that. Logic – “Everybody does it”.
• Path B leads to some sort of an extreme (“weird”, let’s say) behavior. It’s totally opposite to the middle path, it’s somewhere on the limits of behavior – “Only weird people do it”.

If you look at this, A and B, you may feel that “Hmm, path B is soooo wrong. Look at path B. Nobody does it. Path B should totally be (pun not intended) avoided”.

What if there’s an even more outrageous solution, path C?

• Path C is so extreme, there is no definition for it. The solution to path C is to take path B and exaggerate. Break the conventions, go right into defying mode. Break all the rules. Take B and take it to another level.

Sure, there are problems with path C. Sometimes, it may not be safe, sometimes it leads to losses of some kind (relationships, self-esteem, trust in capacities, material losses, tiredness and the list can continue). Yet, you may still consider path C as a viable alternative. You may not wish to take it, it may annoy you, but the least you should do is, in my opinion, consider it. Just think about it. Take path B and make it one level more.

On the positive side, you may get some insights, by taking path C, which you wouldn’t have got with any other path. Sometimes, by taking a thing to its extreme, you may get to know it much more in depth.

“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”, on October 29, 1941, U.K. Prime Minister Winston CHURCHILL said.

Most people have business cards with titles – “I’m a marketing manager”. Instead, they should focus on skills – “I can help you with creating your brand, I can design flyers, I have skills in product development”.

My current business card does this – it’s focused on the skills I have, rather than my occupation. Very good thought.

The solution?

• Put in the address book first persons with whom you have a very good relation and with whom the cost of a call won’t be high (same network, for example).

So, I added four “Aa. First name Last name” contacts in the address book (actually, I renamed old ones). And now I’m happy with the result.

“Visibility, control and support” are the basic requirements for a successful roller-coaster business. More than this, the requirements can be applied to pretty much everything (life, relationships, other business models).

Visibility:

• For the roller-coaster business, it refers to what people can see when they turn curves. A good roller-coaster knows how to play with you, showing/hiding things from time to time.
• In real life, I may add, sometimes you show things about yourself, sometimes you hide things. You control what’s visible from yourself.
• You also need it a lot, since selling your offerings requires, first of all, visibility (the scale may differ, you may need lots of small amounts of it, but you do need it).

Control:

• On the roller-coaster, you lose control of things, you don’t have a handle to stop things, you can pretty much only yell. Yet, the roller-coaster gives you the impression that everything is handled well on its part.
• In life, you have a lot of control (sometimes, perhaps, too much, and it feels overwhelming, and perhaps we need roller coasters to have fun from losing control).
• Often times, in life, you need to pass the control to others (or even empower them to do so).

Support:

• Roller-coasters use small things to remind you that you’re in good hands (specific sounds, sometimes they stop to give you some space, they show you visually that the machine is made fine).
• In life, you actually need to offer support in order to get support (in roller-coaster business it’s the same – you offer your money and get pleasure).
• If you’re good at offering support, you probably will receive it nicely.

McDonald’s is in the real business, rather than solely on fast-food business.

Don’t you believe it?

• HowStuffWorks “McDonald’s Real Estate”
• Reader’s Paradise: McDonald’s don’t sell hamburgers, they deal in real estate !!

Quite interesting was the fact that, sometimes, the business owners themselves don’t know the business they’re in.

During an interview, I ask “What is the lesson you’ve learned at …” or “Why did you make that particular decision?”

I think this is very important. Sure, there are accomplishments and failures, sure, there is stability in a job and sometimes people switch jobs too easily, but there is a key question which needs to be answered – “What made you make that decision?”. The reasoning will, probably, reveal much more than the feeling you get by looking at a CV.

When a potential employee comes to me, I expect him to ask me for references from past people I’ve worked with. And when I want to hire someone, I ask for his references and check them out.

I noticed that in Romania, the system goes pretty well, up until some point. So, a lot of people do ask for references, but only from one person. So, people ask “do you happen to know someone who is good at …?”. And they get an answer to that. Unfortunately, they don’t go beyond this.

What I also noticed is that people tend to focus on references so much, that they ignore previous results. They tend not to ask “how can you prove you’re good at X?” or “Show me past exceptional performances”, but, instead base their judgment on a single recommendation.

When you sign a contract, you need to be able to get out of the dream you made for yourself (“Oh, with the millions I’ll make, I’ll buy myself a Ferrari”), and think rationally.

He also said:

According to a study, a lot (~80%) of the car accidents happen for lack of attention prior to doing something.

What I think about this is that this can be applied to a lot of things. When you’re in “buying mode”, you may think irrationally. When you’re offered a price cut, you tend to act fast. When someone says something which upsets you, you feel the urge to reply in the heat of the moment. When you’re on the street and see an ice cream truck, you feel you really really need it.

Yet, perhaps, a better alternative would be to try to exit that state first.

When you don’t get an answer to a question, make it more specific.

He gave an example last night: instead of asking: “Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur”, ask “What does it take to succeed in marketing for X business?” or “What do I need to do to have sales of my product?”.

So, don’t ask “What’s wrong with me?” and even “What can I improve with what I do”, but ask “What could I do better in order to …”. Even more specific is “What is the next step I need to do in order to get better at …”?

The conclusion? Be specific when asking questions, in order to get specific (and, thus, good) answers.

You need to trust other people in business.

I think – not only this is true, but you need to trust other people in life, also.

Paul KEWENE-HITE gave an example last night of buying things – you need to risk something when you buy things, thus, trust other people. Even participating at a conference is a risk. Yet, you need to do it.

Yesterday (2012.04.03) evening I took part to INSEAD (INSEAD The Business School for the World) Master Class & MBA/EMBA Information Sessions (INSEAD – MBA – Events – Europe), Tuesday 3 April 2012 from 7.00pm to 10.00pm. This event was kindly hosted by Coface Romania (www.coface.ro). Location: Radisson BLU Hotel - Hotel Bucharest – Radisson Blu Hotel, Bucharest (Atlas 1) Calea Victoriei Street 63-81 Bucharest 010065 • Romania

Photos (go full-screen):

Agenda:

• 06.45pm      Arrival and registration, welcome drinks
• 07.00pm      Welcome, introduction and brief presentation of the evening Patrick PARKER, Assistant Director of Marketing, Executive MBA Programmes, INSEAD and Cristian IONESCU, EMBA’08, President of the INSEAD Alumni Association in Romania, Country Cluster Manager, Coface Romania Credit Mgt
• 07.10pm      Master Class: “Entrepreneurship: Embracing Uncertainty” by Paul KEWENE-HITE, Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD
  Synopsis: The spectrum of industries, and companies of all sizes, routinely grapple with uncertainty. In business we plan, model, meet, agree or disagree, take action or not, and rise or fall by the integrity or failure of markets, economies, technologies, agreements, relationships, and more. Is it possible to remove uncertainty and KNOW what is the right course of action in business? Is the quest for certainty productive? What are you looking for before you decide to take action and do ‘it’ (whatever ‘it’ is)? During this master class, from the perspective of a professional entrepreneur, we will explore the role of certainty/uncertainty in good business.
• 08:15pm      Presentation of the INSEAD MBA Programme by Andrew BUENO, Assistant Director of Marketing, MBA Programme, INSEAD followed at 08.45pm by an INSEAD MBA Alumni Panel Discussion and Q&A Session held simultaneously with
•                    Presentation of the INSEAD EMBA Programmes by Patrick PARKER, Assistant Director of Marketing, Executive MBA Programmes, INSEAD followed at 08.45pm by an INSEAD EMBA Alumni Panel Discussion and Q&A Session and a questions & answers session
• 09.15pm      Networking Reception
• 10.00pm      Closing

My notes:

• The trust in other people – Get a result now!
• Getting an answer to a question – Get a result now!
• “Get out of your passion” – Get a result now!
• Asking for references – Get a result now!
• A thing to do while you’re interviewing people – Get a result now!
• McDonald’s is in the real business, rather than solely on fast-food business – Get a result now!
• “Visibility, control and support” – the requirements for a successful roller-coaster business – Get a result now!
• What title to put on a business card? – Get a result now!

Patrick PARKER

• Patrick Parker – France | LinkedIn

Cristian IONESCU

• Cristian Ionescu | LinkedIn
• Cristian Ionescu, Coface: Perceptia pietelor va depinde de actiunile noului guvern – Macroeconomie – Ziarul BURSA
• Profil de business: Cristian Ionescu – Forbes Romania
• Cristian Ionescu, seful Coface Romania, preia si conducerea operatiunilor din Bulgaria si Slovacia – Cariere – HotNews.ro

Paul KEWENE-HITE

• INSEAD – Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise – Paul Kewene-Hite
• The Hatchery
• Paul Kewene-Hite – Ce guru de business vin in Romania. Cat trebuie sa platesti ca sa-i vezi
• Paul Kewene-Hite
• Paul Kewene-Hite | LinkedIn

Andrew BUENO

• Andrew Bueno | LinkedIn
• Andrew Bueno | INSEAD

James Borg states that human communication consists of 93 percent body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves; however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings (see Misinterpretation of Mehrabian’s rule). Others assert that “Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior.” (source – Body language – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I tended to think that the communication was only referring to the main subject of the communication – so, if one was talking about totals in accounting, non-verbal would imply that if that person is enthusiastic, we get some feelings about it, and if the person is sad, we may get a different feeling.

To me, this was debatable – what can you learn from this, after all? It’s only a sum of money, no matter how you say it.

Nowadays, I think it does matter. What you can learn from non-verbal are things like ethics, principles, values. Sure, you can see basic things like positivity or empathy, but the moral values are even more important.

2. Google+ will keep on being unknown.

3. Raspberry Pi will succeed.

4. Facebook will launch something good.

5. Europe will be much better.

Captain Planet, a cartoon character has a key phrase:

Once his work is done, Captain Planet returns to the Earth, restoring the Planeteers’ powers. When he does this, Captain Planet reminds viewers of the message of the series with his catchphrase, “The Power Is Yours!” (source – Captain Planet and the Planeteers – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Well, an adaptation to the phrase would be “Dare to take your own power”. On the other hand, the receivers could say “The power is mine/ours!”, rather than “Thanks for the power, Captain Planet”.

P.S.: Also see:

• Act fast, without the whole picture – Get a result now!

• The Grey (2012) – One of the best movies I’ve ever seen – Get a result now!
• The Grey: La limita supravieţuirii (2012) – al doilea film care mi-a plăcut dintre toate pe care le-am văzut – Fii eficient!

and its impact on me:

• Soluția vieții – Fii eficient!

Now, a different perspective on the movie:

And a description:

“Anita had not been in Polar Zoo in about 2 months. When she returned i had the chance to film her first meeting in a long time with the wolves she spent a long time socializing from 16th of May 2008. The video is recorded in Polar Zoo and any questions related to socializing process should be taken with them. For more information about the socialized wolf pack go to http://www.polarzoo.no“

After a recent workshop (by Fundatia Calea Victoriei), some notes.

Person A communicates with person B both consciously (C) and unconsciously (I).

Fears come from unsolved complexes.

Solution to fear needs to be unconditional:

• Love.
• Forgiveness.
• Awareness.

There are three elements involved in the relation between A and B:

• A.
• B.
• The relation between A and B itself.

The opposite of love is fear

Do I agree? Nicolae STEINHARDT treasures courage a lot. It’s also an important theme in “The Grey“. I never thought of the subject in such a way. It seemed, to me, as different subjects – love / hate / indifference on one part and fear / courage on a different part.

Yet, it seems, they are, somehow, opposites on the same line.

Interesting.

But, sometimes, me, you, everybody will take the wrong decision.

What I think changes is the way in which we tend to act upon failure:

• One may be sorry to have lost the opportunity, and hold a grudge.
• Another one may be happy that the person invested the loss in finding something new.

Sure, for most of the time, the price we pay is very big, we would prefer not to pay it. Yet, sometimes, you may earn more from something which you’ve actually lost.

The advice is not “buy everything”, but “learn something from everything you decide to buy”.

• Romanians not caring about how to cross the street. I do this, although I have some other reasons than just being hurry (poor attention leads to more potential dangers, I consider, for crossing the street the right way).
• Romanians who don’t care about copyright. I do this also.
• In Romania, we tend to add Facebook friends more easily. “I know of some who have more than 1,000.” says this article. Well, I know quite a few people with more than 1,000 “friends” on Facebook. The thing is – should you apply Facebook’s rules or not? Should you be a LION on LinkedIn? How about the same on Facebook?

Carmen CUCUL (Carmen CUCUL – the business professional whose corporate social responsibility actions impressed me the most – Get a result now!) wrote this:

fara sa trebuiasca sa intelegi de ce colegul din Brazilia ajunge dupa 30 de minute de la ora stabilita pentru intalnire, sau de ce colegul american tine mortis sa auda toate parerile si sa se asigure ca toata lumea este de acord cu o anume decizie. Concluzia este: lucrul in echipa la INSEAD, unde nici un membru nu provine din acelasi colt al lumii, este pe cat de folositor pe atat de frustrant. (source – Carmen Cucul si clopotelul absolventilor INSEAD | BlogulMBA)

Now, let’s take some counter-examples to the above.

• This is über-cool: VIDEO Mihai Razvan Ungureanu a parasit sedinta coalitiei acuzand presiuni din partea liderilor PDL care i-au cerut bani pentru anumite colegii electorale – Politic – HotNews.ro
• Nicolae STEINHARDT (Nicolae STEINHARDT – the Orthodox Christian that means the most to me – Get a result now!) did quite a few fighting against his surrounding system.
• Horia-Roman PATAPIEVICI (Horia-Roman PATAPIEVICI – The writer I admire most in this life – Get a result now!) also did some unconventional things, for his ideas (Jilava episode, “Politice” book, most of his career)
• I also like Carmen CUCUL’s example (Carmen CUCUL – the business professional whose corporate social responsibility actions impressed me the most – Get a result now!).

So, what to do?

• Cross the street by following the rules vs. arrive sooner / safer (for me only)?
• Follow copyright or not?
• Care what others care for on social networks such as Facebook / LinkedIn or not? Care for Facebook’s rules or general convention in Romania (how I perceive it)?

On one hand:

• Everybody (or a lot of people)’s doing it.
• You get some advantages of doing it.

On another hand:

• It’s wrong.

By following the rules:

• You get some personal disadvantages (I’m fine with this).
• You do the right thing.
• You choose the simple path of having rules.
• You produce some discomfort in others (sometimes, I pirate things for others. I get more friend requests than I send out.)

Right now, I don’t know. Need more research on this. I just don’t know.

Should I pirate things or not? The simple answer is “follow the rules”. The more complex answer is “follow the rules, according to the situation you’re in”. I’m just not sure.

Later Edit: I just browsed through my LinkedIn connections. I think that at least 1 in 10 persons in my list has 500+ connections. LinkedIn is not that popular in Romania, so, I think, it’s safe to assume that most of these people don’t know those 500+ connections on LinkedIn. What’s the solution? Use Mihai-Răzvan UNGUREANU’s solution?

Even Later Edit: the solution is looking at the right persons. All the above people are professionals, that’s why they’re on the blog. But there are other people, which I have as models, who wouldn’t be this strict with such rules. I can choose. I just don’t know.

Ambition to Meaning: Finding Your Life’s Purpose (Video 2009) – “Nu”-urile pentru film țin de gradul de credibilitate a mesajului. “Da”-ul pentru film vine din faptul că are o perspectivă interesantă asupra vieții, care te pune pe gânduri. Un film non-excepțional de excepție. Poate fi văzut cu subtitrare în română: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtbaOOrDQvY
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1333015/

What do I want to add?

• In life you can do mainly two things: get results of your actions, results which can be quantified and work without actually seeing results that can be quantified. In life, people tend to go doing things which can be quantified – “I work, get this amount of money, do X and Y with the money” or “I work, I get this amount of visitors, advertising is paid, I get influence, I’m on TV, I get this amount of viewers, more people buy my book, I get this money, I do X and Y with the money”. Very rarely we have moments like “I’ve touched the person so much and deeply, I’ve changed his/her life” or “Following the conversation, I changed the course of life for X”. This rarely happens. Most of the modern society is built on measuring things – X results, Y amount of money, Z number of people. “I’ve made you happier” – this doesn’t seem to count. Well, the movie’s message is that it should. I’m not so sure. But I am sure that comparing two persons: A, a successful business entrepreneur and B a lazy poet, writing poems from time to time, with very little success and impact, should not be so straightforward. Sure, it’s best to have success, to influence people and get results. But it’s just not the only thing which matters.
• You may want to read this article, somewhat based on the above thinking, this time aimed at art – Writing Wednesdays: Working on Two Tracks (source for the link – Seth’s Blog: We say we want a revolution…).