My learning/reading this week (W48 2018)

1) [MINDS AND MACHINES WITH ANDREW MCAFEE] Reid Hoffman: The Sage of Silicon Valley

Source: http://andrewmcafee.org/podcast/interview-with-reid-hoffman/

[Excerpt]
Reid Hoffman on the secret of Silicon Valley
Reid Hoffman: The modern secret of Silicon Valley to understand is this: we are not just tech inventors, we are tech business inventors.

Move quickly, get data, it is one version of Blitzscaling. [...] The winner is the first to scale. And you want to have your learning curve moving a lot faster than other people's learning curve.

Reid Hoffman on capital and property as social utility to assert influence
Property is a social attribute, not a natural physical attribute. We grant and enforce certain social utility (on it).
[/Excerpt]

2) [Forbes] Mohanbir Sawhney: 5 Lessons Apple Can Learn From Microsoft's Comeback

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mohanbirsawhney/2018/11/30/5-lessons-apple-can-learn-from-microsofts-comeback/#1c62fa8f1fdd

[Excerpt] Take your lumps and move on. There is a Turkish proverb – “No matter how far you have gone down the wrong road – turn back!”

Under Ballmer, Microsoft made some bad acquisitions. After buying Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, Microsoft is abandoning Skype Classic and folding Skype for Business into Microsoft Teams, a single platform for intelligent communications. After failing to enter mobile phones, Microsoft made an ill-fated move by purchasing Nokia for $7.2 billion. Satya Nadella moved decisively to cut Microsoft’s losses by taking a $7.6 billion write-off (more than it paid for the business). Instead of chasing the mirage of Windows on mobile devices, Microsoft is now focusing on putting its software on Android and iOS platforms.On my Android phone, I use Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook for email, the Cortana intelligent assistant and the Microsoft Launcher. While Apple hasn’t made major failed acquisitions (although its $3 billion acquisition of Beats is somewhat questionable), it has ceded ground to Microsoft in the power user segment. As Microsoft forges ahead with high-end devices like the Surface Studio and Surface Hub, Apple needs to correct course by innovating at the high end of the computing market, particularly for creative professionals. [/Excerpt]

3) [Linkedin Pulse] Adam Bryan: Reimagining Work to Elevate Rather than Eliminate Humans

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/strategic-chro-reimagining-work-elevate-rather-than-eliminate-bryant

[Excerpt] David Reimer: Over the course of your career, were there leaders you worked for who created headwinds for you to do the kind of work you wanted to do?

Ellyn J. Shook: No, because that’s thinking like a victim. It may sound corny, but I believe you have power over yourself, and no one else has power over you. To say that you had a leader who limited you just meant that you didn’t use your full creativity to figure out how to influence or get them to understand a different point of view. I’ve worked for very tough leaders who didn’t always see my perspective, which is fine, but I’ve always learned from them. [/Excerpt]

4) CNN: Why Microsoft is a better bet than Apple

Source: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/28/investing/microsoft-apple-market-cap-big-tech-analysis/index.html

[Excerpt] Over the last couple days, Microsoft and Apple have been taking turns as the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Don't be surprised if Microsoft eventually puts Apple in its rear view mirror for good.

Microsoft is regaining ground from the once missing boat - Social Media Platform by acquiring Linkedin
Microsoft is generating strong sales from worker productivity tools like Office and the LinkedIn social network as well as its cloud businesses -- namely the lucrative Azure hosting unit.The success in these businesses -- LinkedIn revenues were up 33% in Microsoft's last quarter while Azure sales surged 76% -- validates Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's strategy to reinvent Microsoft as a social media and cloud computing company. [/Excerpt]

5) [Forbes] Aislinn Murphy: LinkedIn Cofounder Reid Hoffman On His Billion-Dollar Impact Investing Bet

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/aislinnmurphy/2018/10/03/linkedin-cofounder-reid-hoffman-on-his-billion-dollar-impact-investing-bet/

[Excerpt] Forbes: What do you look for when you make an impact investment?

Reid Hoffman: I always look for the same reasons to make an impact investment. First, I look for entrepreneurs with both a bold long-term vision and the resilience and creativity to bring their idea to market. Second, I like opportunities and models that have the potential for massive scale. That is, can this solve needs for millions to even hundreds of millions of people? Finally, I look for unique insights and advantages the entrepreneur has that others might not. Why is their approach the one that's going to achieve scale sustainably? When entrepreneurs make a persuasive case for their unique thesis that has these characteristics, I'm in. I will put money into an organization with the goal of that organization becoming self-sustaining. In that case, the tax status of the recipient is unimportant - the eventual return on ‘investment’ is the sustained impact of that organization.

Forbes: When did you start impact investing?

Reid Hoffman: My personal goal has always been helping our evolution into humanity. When I started working, I did not have spare capital – so I immediately joined a few non-profit boards to help. These boards reflected skills I had – like OpenVoice, a non-profit helping teens of all incomes find their voices and speak truth to each other and the world. After PayPal’s sale to eBay in 2002, I now had capital to start investing. At that point, I joined the Mozilla and Kiva boards – to start working on both freedom on the internet and economic empowerment in developing countries – and started looking at impact investments. [/Excerpt]

6) [San Francisco Chronicle & SFGate] Isobel Asher Hamilton: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt listed the '3 big failures' he sees in tech startups today

Source: https://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Former-Google-CEO-Eric-Schmidt-listed-the-3-big-13436308.php

[Excerpt] Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has listed the three "big failures" in tech entrepreneurship around the world.

1. PEOPLE STICK TO WHO AND WHAT THEY KNOW

"Far too often, we invest mostly in people we already know, who are working in very narrow disciplines," Schmidt wrote in his draft.

In his speech, Schmidt pegged this point closely to a need for diversity and inclusion. He said companies need to be open to bringing in people from other countries and backgrounds.

He said entrepreneurship won't flourish if people are "going to one institution, hiring only those people, and only — if I can be blunt — only white males."

During the Q&A, Schmidt specifically addressed the gender imbalance in the tech industry. He said there's a reason to be optimistic about women's representation in tech improving, predicting that tech's gender imbalance will vanish in one generation.

2. TOO MUCH FOCUS ON PRODUCT AND NOT ON PLATFORMS

"We frequently don't build the best technology platforms to tackle big social challenges, because often there is no immediate promise of commercial return," Schmidt wrote in his draft.

"There are a million e-commerce apps but not enough speciality platforms for safely sharing and analyzing data on homelessness, climate change or refugees."

Schmidt's omitted this mention of socially conscious tech from his final speech, but did say that he sees a lot of innovation coming out of network platforms, which allow people to connect and pool data, because "the barrier to entry for these startups is very, very low."

3. COMPANIES AREN'T PARTNERING UP EARLY ENOUGH

Finally, Schmidt wrote in his draft that tech startups don't partner enough with other companies in the modern, hyper-connected world. "It's impossible to think about any major challenge for society in a silo," he wrote.

He said in his speech that tech firms have to be ready to partner "fairly early." He gave the example of a startup that wants to build homecare robots.

"The market for homecare robots is going to be very, very large. The problem is that you need visual systems, and machine learning systems, and listening systems, and motor systems, and so forth. You're not going to be able to do it with three people," he said.

After detailing his failures in tech entrepreneurship, Schmidt laid out what he views as the solution. He referred back to the Renaissance in Europe, saying people turned their hand to all sorts of disciplines, from science, to art, to business.

"No one tried to put Leonardo da Vinci in a silo," he said. [/Excerpt]

7) [4think.net] 楊大輝: 情景影響力

出处: https://4think.net/%E6%83%85%E6%99%AF%E5%BD%B1%E9%9F%BF%E5%8A%9B/?fbclid=IwAR1D2ytFnhwW4rQUv-ULdPTsUAMT4xaufStc1ejduEoK4DTSBJMcgC5bSKo

[引述]先試著回答這個問題：

A君是個攀岩愛好者，他挑戰過許多危險的地點，而且在攀岩時還會表演危險動作，總是讓同行者為他捏一把冷汗。

B君在森林裡散步時遇到了一條大蛇，他發現蛇正在盯著他，他因此嚇得渾身發抖、不敢動彈。

現在，如果讓你來評價，你認為A君和B君誰更適合「大膽、勇敢」的性格描述呢？

無論你的答案是誰，你都是正確的。因為其實A君和B君是同一人，他叫做詹姆斯，以上描述的不過是詹姆斯在不同情境下的兩種反應。一個人在不同情況下，會展現出不同的性格。

那麼，上面的兩種情景裡，哪一個才是真實的詹姆斯呢？詹姆斯在遇到蛇的時候表現得如此膽小，這是不是說明了詹姆斯在攀岩時表現的勇氣，都是裝出來的呢？

你知道，兩個都是真實的詹姆斯，只是他因為不同情景而產生了不同的行為和反應而已。

[...]

我們曾談到過，直覺會在訊息不充分的情況下自信的下結論，心理學家丹尼爾·康納曼稱之為 What you see is all there is，我把它翻譯成「你以為你看見了所有」。在這裡，「你以為你看見了所有」體現在我們對他人的性格評價上——

我們會以為我們看到的行為瞬間，可以用來概括某人的一生。

這句話聽起來很愚蠢，但卻是許多人無意識中會做的事情。[/引述]

8) [MIT Sloan School of Management] Meredith Somers: 3 professional life hacks from a billionaire introvert

Source: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/3-professional-life-hacks-billionaire-introvert

[Excerpt] You don't become a Silicon Valley celebrity by being shy

When LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman hired Jeff Weiner in December 2008, he wasn’t just gaining a CEO, he was also getting a social scapegoat.

The two men had been working together for a year, and one night Weiner called Hoffman — who self-identifies as a “six-person or less extrovert” — while on the way to the company holiday party, urging the founder to reconsider his decision not to attend.

“I was like ‘No Jeff, I really hired you for a whole bunch of massive leadership skills in order to grow something of great scale, create a great culture, be a co-founder with a mission and all the rest,’” said Hoffman during a podcast interview with MIT Sloan principal research scientist Andrew McAfee. “‘But a secondary benefit is you do the holiday party. I hate holiday parties. I hate all holiday parties. So I don't have to go.’”

While Hoffman isn’t fond of long lines of fans eager to take pictures and talk business, he’s also not a full-fledged hermit. The venture capitalist said he enjoys smaller group conversations.

But the New York Times doesn’t call you “a king of connections” for nothing. Here are three practices Hoffman shared that have helped him navigate corporate life.

i) Limited serendipity

Clearing out your inbox and prioritizing your time are standard life hacks, but when it comes to success, Hoffman said, “deliberately leave some room for serendipity.”

ii) Get a reference

When Hoffman does find himself on one of those long lines of fans, or approached by a star-struck startup founder, he has a go-to response: Get a reference.

iii) Embrace your skillset

Reid Hoffman said he counts himself in the “bottom percentage” of people who would walk up and introduce themselves to a stranger at a cocktail party.

But he’s parlayed his comfort zone of small-group conversations into a billion-dollar investment portfolio at Greylock Partners.

“What I learned was that private company boards are a very good use of my skillset because more or less … they go ‘here's what we're working on,’” Hoffman said. “That's like sport, that I'm like ‘oh, I enjoy this.’ How do we solve a customer acquisition problem, how do we solve an executive hiring problem, how do we solve a competition problem, how do we solve a need to reinvent the product problem; all of these kinds of things. That’s what makes this game hard, and I enjoy that.” [/Excerpt]