Living in Turbulent Times

Rollercoaster

A few days ago I had coffee with a friend of mine who works for a large, successful corporation. 

He mentioned to me that in the challenging business climate, things had gotten tougher and many of his colleagues were no longer as happy with their positions as they used to be. This is a common theme that I’ve noticed all over the place recently. But in the case of my friend, he also mentioned that his dissatisfied colleagues were waiting for “things to calm down” and become more stable before they did anything risky. Then he made a fantastic counterpoint, which I want to share.

The world economy is going through some serious changes right now. Bubbles are forming, currencies are failing, and power is shifting in major ways. Those people who try to shelter themselves from any and all risks are probably going to (a) be waiting a lot longer than they bargained for and (b) miss out on lots of opportunities. Those who are more comfortable coping with risk and forging ahead with their ambitions regardless of this, are more likely to succeed and lead happier lives.
So, perhaps now is a good time to re-examine our tolerance for risk. And buckle up for the next few years—it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

New Read: Rework by 37 Signals

I’ve been reading a lot of great things about the new book “Rework” from the guys behind 37 Signals (makers of popular project management software, Basecamp). 

After perusing Michael Hyatt’s glowing post on the book, I couldn’t resist buying a copy for myself.

Billionaire Mark Cuban even wrote this blurb for Rework:
 
“If given a choice between investing in someone who has read REWORK or has an MBA, I’m investing in REWORK every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur.”
 
I look forward to tucking into this one soon!
 
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5 Lessons from Billionaires - Based on Real Life Interactions

My good friend Roger Norton recently wrote a thought provoking blog post describing some of the lessons he had learned from billionaires.
During years of working in the super yacht industry, Roger spent a large amount of one on one time with his various bosses (the yacht owners), all of whom were members of the richest club on Earth. I remember hearing a lot of inspiring, interesting, and sometimes downright wacky stories from him on this topic. 

In his post he shares some of the conclusions he made about the mega-wealthy, based on his observations. These include:
1. You can become a billionaire in any area. The professional range and disciplines of Roger’s bosses varied wildly, from financial traders to fishing tycoons.

2. Anyone can be a billionaire. The social circumstances from which the individuals came from mattered far less than their willingness to pursue to their ambitions. 3. It take a certain type of person. A certain mindset or way of thinking was common among them, exemplified by tenacity and critical thinking.

4. Having loads of money doesn’t change you, it just lets you be more you. Money is simply the ultimate enabler.
5. All rich people have enemies. I’m not convinced that this applies to everyone, but Roger did notice a certain paranoia among several of his bosses.

For more detail, I suggest reading Roger’s original post.