A good day for most sectors although basic materials and a few of the 800lb gorillas of tech took it on the chin a bit as this nifty chart points out.
Paul Kedrosky references these groovy charts quite a bit and I finally clicked through to learn more about this little jewel from the folks at Finviz.com. Very cool visual.
Congrats to the team at Tableau Software on their recent $10MM round. I think this company and product are really cool and had the chance to meet CEO Christian Chabot a while ago. Not only was I very impressed with him but the product is very slick and way easy to get up and running. Check it out.
Wow. Seems to be official that the US gov will be bailing out Freddie and Fannie.
From a look at the markets in Asia, the world still likes a US government guarantee. A bit of a counterpoint to those naysayers about the credibility of the US these days….
I'm still not sure if it is a good or bad thing but unlike most of the pundits, I will give some credit to those in the positions to make these decisions and believe that this was the right thing. Why? I'm not sure I totally grasp all of the angles although after reading Bob Rubin's book In an Uncertain World
Remember my post about Harvard Business School grads' career choices as an economic indicator? Well, this story from Businessweek (via Dealbreaker) points to an even more interesting one in terms of the level of B-school applications with some schools seeing double digit growth. Does the increase in applicants signal a capitulation of type-A knowledge worker types or that we are indeed swinging towards a bottom of the economic cycle? Your guess is as good as mine but it is worth noting.
Food posts have proven to be very popular on this blog with my post on cedar plank salmon consistently ranking at the top of the search engine hits I get. So I thought I would build on that and share what I whipped up a week or so ago at the request of my pregnant wife (yes, we are expecting).
During my trip to Connecticut, I had one of the best lobster rolls I have ever had at Lenny & Joe's. After sharing this experience with Marel (who was not there), "lobster equity" had to be achieved when I got home. While digging for recipes, I remembered a great meal many years ago of lobster sauteed in Irish whiskey and served in the shell. I did not know this at the time, but I was having a "Dublin Lawyer."
It is very simple – lobster, butter, Irish whiskey, and a bit of cream. Also, it is always fun to light what you are cooking on fire.
I am a huge advocate of transparency both across functional areas as well as within my team and try to share everything I possibly can as soon as I can. Sharing information vs. hoarding it is a key foundation of leadership and indicative of someone's comfort in their role and position.
I have read a handful of John Maxwell's books on leadership including The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
There are, of course, some things that must not be widely shared but calling out in advance that the goal is to share any and all information is key to effective leadership.
It is, however, important to consider if all members of your team are ready for this type of transparency and can handle the information you are sharing. Part of it is how it is packaged and presented although I have learned the hard way that this policy can cause angst and, in some cases, departures. So be it as you want to surround yourself with those that are up for a challenge and will do whatever it takes to succeed.
Much banter today about Google's entry into the browser wars with "Chrome." This piece from Henry Blodget and this video clip on TechTicker put it into proper perspective.
This is not about a new browser with clever features. It is about an all out assault on operating systems like Windows or as Blodget points out "an operating system for cloud computing." Looks like the download link is live – get it here.
Venture Vice 