When my high school friends and I buy things as a group I always push to keep track of who paid for what and then enforce the IOUs. "We’re all friends, don’t worry about it" is a rejoinder I put up with. No longer. With BillMonk, a helpful new web service to track IOUs amongst individuals and groups online or via text messages, I can dog my friends to get paid back!
(Hat tip: TechCrunch)
Daniel Gross – a sharp Slate writer and blogger – delivers another astute proposition today when he says that the field of logistics will be driving the New Economy, yet it is rarely talked about.
I’ve always been fascinated with the logistical challenges companies like UPS, FedEx, and USPS face. The very first web site I ever visited was UPS.com (someone showed me a web browser and asked me to type in an address; the only one I knew was UPS.com since I had seen it on the side of a truck). While I don’t want to have to program complex math equations to figure this stuff out, I do enjoy the detail-oriented work of making the easy logistics of everyday life most efficient. For example, in the professional services world I think there’s a tremendous amount of logistical decisions that are made very inefficiently.
Gross correctly points out that increased international trade and increasingly sophisticated supply and demand systems at corporations will offer plenty of opportunities for the logistically-inclined to make a killing.
I really like David Brooks’ writing and topics of choice. Today he provided a friendly reminder (TimesSelect only) that by 2025 America’s population will increase by 25 million and there are some really important implications that go along with that. One of them is its impact on how we physically organize ourselves. Brooks says we will be a Nation of Villages – clusters of people that are neither cities nor suburbs.
Physical geography means less and less, but the choices people make for where to live speaks volumes about the values and needs of Americans. They’re changing.
I try to respond to each email I get but recently I’ve done a lot of referring to my blog, unable to write a personalized reply to the 175 I just got. Here are common questions and the answers. (Yes, some are quite amusing, but that goes with the territory, I guess.)
Do you have trust in Jesus Christ? Remember, He will guide you, as He has always done. No. Luck is guiding me!
I’m a young entrepreneur/aspiring businessperson. Do you have any ideas / do you want to partner / can we meet about how to start a business? I refer you to my posts on Entrepreneurship. There are people who can talk about entrepreneurial how-tos much better than me! Just do a search on entrepreneurship. There are also organizations which cater to young entrepreneurs.
Do you buy all your books or get them from the library? I buy them used off Amazon.
Your head must be huge; you must think you’re the shit, no? I hope not. If Osama is captured today I become the most meaningless piece of flesh on the planet. Please tell me when I’m full of shit.
I’m a girl in college and going to Chile soon. Do you want to come with me (it will be more than margaritas)? No thanks.
Is that a hard nipple I see in the picture of you in front of the Golden Gate Bridge? Perhaps. It was freezing.
How do you have time to balance all your commitments? I work to manage my energy, not time.
Any other articles about you out there? This SF Weekly one was a lengthy character sketch.
You must be some white rich kid if you can just jet to Switzerland for a conference. The article wasn’t totally clear on this. I was in Switzerland as part of a high school exchange program. I took a train to Zermatt, stayed in a hostel, and tried to get in to the WEF conference. I was denied.
What are your favorite books? What do you reccomend to me? I refer you to my Books posts or my full bookroll where I annotate every book I read.
My day yesterday (Wednesday) was among the busiest days of my career (rivaling LA trips with three pitches in a day).
Last November, when I spoke at a Churchill Club event on leadership, I was introduced to Jon Swartz at USA Today. I started talking with Jon regularly though we were interrupted many times by Katrina and another big piece he was working (hence the delay in publishing it). Along the way, Jon spoke with a handful of my classmates, many people in the business world who I know (like Greg Prow, Marc Benioff, Tim Taylor, Brad Feld, Trevor Traina, others), my basketball coach, my Dad, my business partner, clients. Only a few were quoted.
I woke up Wednesday at 6:40 AM to about a dozen emails from people on the east coast, mostly strangers, who read the article. I didn’t have time to process it all because I had to hustle to my 7 AM breakfast with Robin Bordoli of Mobius, who’s a really nice guy (and fellow Cole Valley-er) and he seems to be turning the corner on his blogging experiment.
After breakfast I went to school for my 8:50 AM class. Trying to concentrate on James Joyce was an exercise in futility as the emails starting pouring in and three new voicemails popped up on my BlackBerry.
At 9:45 AM I spent 20 minutes returning urgent phone calls, mostly related to the story.
At 10:10 AM I responded to some additional timely requests during my free period.
At 11:00 AM I had my math class. I went to the bathroom 5 minutes before class ended to duck outside and do a live phone interview with KOMO radio in Seattle.
At noon I spoke to an advisor and another consultant. No time for lunch or bathroom.
At 12:40 PM I had an Econ class followed by a meeting with the Head of School at my high school.
Finally, at 1:50 PM I called my partner Dave and we caught up and strategized next steps.
After my last class on American Poverty ended at 3:00 PM, I rushed downtown for a college interview at 3:30, back to the school for some quick email and then 5:00 PM basketball practice.
From 8-9:30 PM I continued to sift through the 175 emails I received and 25+ blog comments.
It was a great feeling when I lay my head on my pillow last night at 11:00 PM!