Esquire magazine recently featured an article by Roy Blount Jr on the virtues of the S.O.B. -- versus the destructive emptiness of the type GSB Professor Bob Sutton has characterized in his book, The No Asshole Rule. Sutton on his blog approvingly notes Blount's critical distinction between the 'abrasive and admirable' leader and the useless, harmful creep. Creativity and dynamism can issue from the one, stagnation and demoralization from the other.
As the clean environment is staying on top of the industry and investment agendas, Vinod Khosla appears to be a top private investor for the environmental enterprises. In it's July-August issue, Fast Company magazine runs an article about Vinod Khosla and his latest venture, Calera. Calera started as an idea of Stanford University scientist Brent Contstantz about making cement without generating carbon dioxide. At the first glance this idea might seem impossible because the very process of producing cement implies the release of carbon dioxide. However, the Stanford scholar attempted to approach the problem. With the theoretical foundation laid out, Brent emailed Vinod Khosla. After an hour-long meeting, Khosla took upon himself the funding of Brent's enterprise. That is a typical style of the investor who committed around $450 million of his personal wealth into the environmental start-ups. Calera, what Vinod Khosla believes to become “our biggest win ever”, is now getting ready for opening its first cement plant and start pilot production by the end of this year. Read more in journal's print issue in Jackson periodicals collection. Stanford users can read the article online when it becomes available.
We are saddened to report that a venerable oak that has stood on the Stanford campus since the beginning -- and before -- has finally succumbed to age. The Centennial Oak, believed to have been alive at the time of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, literally fell apart in two stages this month. It was also known as the 'Alumni Oak' from the time the GSB complex opened nearby in 1965. This beautiful landmark tree with its huge sweeping branches will be missed.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies has just released their annual report entitled The State of the Nation's Housing 2008 giving a good overview on what the housing market is doing. Of especial concern has been the drop which the home building market is going through. Some of the largest home builders met this week at the annual Bank of America Home Builders Conference in New York. A presentation followed by Q&A given by Larry A. Mizel of M.D.C. Holdings, Incorporated one of the larger building companies during the conference gives an idea of what the housing industry is up against. Additionally Robert Toll, of Toll Brothers, was interviewed at the same conference with some interesting comments on new home sales statistics put out by the US Commerce Department. When he asked statisticians about sales cancellations those were not taken into account, which he thinks could explain how the numbers could be so off. Cancelations this year have risen from a yearly average of about 7% to an unheard of 33%.
The Pew Global Attitudes Project tracks a broad range of opinions across the globe, and this report  from June 2008 takes a close look at how the United States is perceived abroad. The report notes that favorable views of the United States have increased modestly since 2007 in 10 of 21 countries where comparative data are available, although it seems that many people also feel that the recent economic slump is in no small part due to the United States.
Looking for a new job? In Silicon Valley there is a growing need for data center experts. The mechanical engineers who design and run computer data centers were traditionally regarded as little more than blue-collar workers in the high-tech world. These folks are needed because torrid growth in data centers to keep pace with the demands of Internet-era computing, their immense need for electricity and their inefficient use of that energy pose environmental, energy and economic challenges, experts say.
Read more about it.
Chery, an independent car manufacturer in Anhui, China, sold 381,000 passenger cars in 2007, generating 20 billion renminbi ($2.86 billion) in sales and ranking fourth in the domestic passenger-car market. The top three are brands associated with joint ventures between Chinese and foreign automakers. Today, Chery’s Tiggo, Eastar, and A5 models can be found on the streets and roads of nearly 70 countries, and the company has seven foreign assembly plants, in Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and Uruguay.
Looking forward, McKinsey Quarterly interviewed Chery's CEO on the opportunities and the challenges the company is facing.
Related news: GM's Joint Venture Is China's Top-Selling Brand in 2007
One of our jobs as good American citizens is to get out there and spend those stimulus checks to kick start the economy. Probably a lot of people will use them to fill their gas tanks! If you need ideas on how to spend your check, read this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Now get out there and shop!
As is my habit, I note that we have a new issue of New Perspectives Quarterly in Jackson Library. I mention the NPQ because it affords an opportunity to get perspectives from thought leaders around the globe on the "big questions" of our day. This issue's topic is Post-Globalization. Contributors include Senator Barack Obama, economist Joseph Stiglitz, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Turkish thinker Halit Refig, elder Singapore statesman Lee Kuan Yew, French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, geneticist J. Craig Venter and others. The issue may be found on our Current Periodicals rack near the front of the Library.
In 2 ½ years Kevin Johnson has turned Microsoft’s customer satisfaction numbers around. One task down. Next? Figure out what to do about Google. Google collects more online advertising revenue than Microsoft draws from Windows. In an exclusive interview in the June 9, 2008 issue of Fortune, David Kirkpatrick talks strategy with the man who might run Yahoo.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talks about the blending of contents, commerce, advertising, and communities in the next 10 years. For example, if you are watching a golf match with Tiger Woods, you can use your clicker to point at the golf ball and the product/price information will be in display for you to place an order right at that moment. All advertising inventories and consumer demand will be sorted out by algorithm and with the killer application "search," the right ad will be delivered to the right place and at the right time.
Watch more Ballmer video at washingtonpost.com
The blurring of contents and advertising also delivered by Kodak CMO Jeff Hayzlett
GSB Alum and bestselling author Tom Peters draws attention on his blog to a recent reflection on Dwight D. Eisenhower. Peters remarks that the website Armchair General points out that Eisenhower's innate ability to make friends easily and gain confidence was crucial to his success as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II. Even as a West Point cadet he was known for his convivial persona. Ike's use of confidence and trust to later hold together the massive anti-Fascist alliance of oversized egos and strong personalities during the greatest war in history was no mean feat. A time to pause and reflect on the power of interpersonal relations -- and how they made a critical difference with one man at one time in history.
Bertelsmann AG is a worldwide media conglomerate that controls a hefty dose of what your read, watch and listen to on a daily basis. In an article posted today, it's reported that Hartmut Ostrowski, chief executive of Bertelsmann, is planning a cultural makeover at the company. Mr Ostrowski is looking to possibly get out of the music business for starters. Read more about it.
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