1,069 pages. That’s one-thousand, sixty-nine pages, and no pictures either. The text on the pages was tight to the margins too. Spending an hour may get you through a dozen pages. Thus reading Atlas Shrugged took me almost a year, and finally I have another book takeaway to present.

That being said, I enjoyed reading Ayn Rand’s famous novel. I came by it from mentions in other books and blogs I have read, as well as from reports in the media. The latter has much to do with the free-market theme of the book. Many who call themselves Libertarians consider this book from their inspiration to their manifesto. As a result, Atlas Shrugged is referred to much with regards to today’s political environment, especially in the US, and by “both sides of the aisle” in one form or another. That being said, I am not writing takeaways about politics, as I wish only to look at what I took away from it within the theme of The Hot Iron. Any other dialogue on it can be discussed over adult beverages!

With that setup, here are my takeaways from Atlas Shrugged.

Understand the big picture – Many times decisions are made in business (and life too) that have an impact within a small sphere. Even if the results of these decisions are successful, they could have a negative impact on the bigger picture. Sometimes when an action is taken locally it may have not been needed, as there could have been something globally that could have been tapped into, thus saving time and cost. More often than not, a decision is made without regard it may impact those outside of the sphere, and ultimately does.

The best way I approach this is to step back and say to myself, “what is the ultimate goal?” This type of thinking outside of the box almost always brings creative ideas.

Get the best people for the job – There are 2 ways to do this. One is to simply match the job with the best qualified individual, one who brings experience and integrity to the role. The second way is to hire someone who you believe can do the job and manage them well and give them the time and venue to learn the job. If you don’t give someone the opportunity to thrive, they won’t.

Stick to your principles – Your principles are the one thing you can truly own. When your business runs out of customers, time or money, you will still have your principles. When you compromise them, not only are you changing how you operate but also yourself. You can change aspects of how you execute and still stick to your principles. It may take more effort, but in the end you will still be you.

Know when to quit – Quitting doesn’t mean a finite termination in all cases. It could be pausing what you do or simply doing what you do best in a different venue. Quitting is often considered failure. But if you look at the big picture, you may not see that is necessarily the case.

I enjoyed the journey that was reading Atlas Shrugged and highly recommend it to everyone. I considered it a worthwhile investment of my time. Now back to my other books that stacked up over the last year.

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Book Take-Aways • Business • (5) Comments • Permalink

Thrive. It’s a word I have been thinking about a lot lately. Up until about a year ago it was not a part of my regular vocabulary. With the help of some close advisors, it was put in front of me and really hasn’t left. Nor do I want it to.

Thrive is a powerful word. It is about not just moving forward, but being propelled. It is not a word you see in mainstream media at all, but comes in heavy doses in business and motivational books. Where many are talking mere survival, we should all be thinking about thriving.

To thrive is not a single event, rather it is a journey. Many elements are needed to thrive – some are energy, time, attitude and partners. Some may be able to do it alone, and others may need the help of others… in the later case, hopefully all involved will all thrive.

Thriving takes work, focus and a positive attitude. Outside and inside forces must be continuously overcome to thrive. To some it will be easier than to others.

If you are a regular reader of The Hot Iron you will see me use the word thrive more and more. If you are not a regular reader – subscribe!

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After several weeks with a Nokia E75 mobile device, from the kind generosity from the folks at WOM World/Nokia I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I took this device on planes, trains and automobiles – even ferries – and was my only camera at a wedding. A few blog posts here at The Hot Iron were written on it too. Still, I was having a hard time deciding what I thought of the device.

Then it hit me; it isn’t for me.

It was while waiting for a train from Chicago to Milwaukee when I realized this. Standing in the tiny Amtrak lobby, I saw many people typing away on keyboard device models by Samsung and LG among others. As I observed their pecking away on their device’s full keyboards, I noticed the keys were smaller than those on the E75, which are much larger than most devices out there. The people using them were probably in their 20’s and 30’s and were very adept at “texting” as we call it in the States. As I looked at the E75 in my hands, it then dawned on me why it wasn’t for me.

Here’s my conclusion – the E75 is for the business user who isn’t comfortable with the small size of keyboards such as those on a Blackberry or even like on the Nokia E71.

Now I don’t base this on anything I have read elsewhere, only my own brainpower. As I consider myself a high-end tech user, and love the E71 the issues I had with using the keyboard on the E75 were due to the fact I was trying to use it like I did the E71 – fast, and with one hand. This is not what the E75’s slide out keyboard was designed for.

My evaluation process was more utilitarian than scientific. I simply charged the E75, put my T-Mobile SIM card in it, synced my contacts and calendar and started using it as my primary device during the trial. I did install Qik and tried the Ovi Store – actually I did them in the reverse order as I was unable to install Qik from the Ovi Store, so I went directly to Qik’s Web site to initiate the install.

As a mobile phone, the E75 works well. The best way to describe the keypad is that is similar to shingles on a house. I’ve never seen this concept before and it worked for me. The Navi key was familiar to me as I used it on the E71. Much of the use of the E75 was like the E71, including a camera on the front as well as back, ideal for self-portraits and recording video of one’s self.

It seems the main selling point of the device is the slide out keyboard. The actual sliding part was solid as the device is overall. Down the middle of the keyboard is a metal bar which I presume is for stability. When the keyboard slides out the action buttons on the phone keypad remain active as well as the Navi key, but the remaining keys are disabled. This is too bad, as it’s difficult to quickly key numbers on the keyboard and leaving them active would have alleviated this issue.

Here’s some specific regarding the E75 keyboard. There is only one function key, which you need to get to the alternate characters on keys, namely numbers. This made it hard to type traditionally or with thumbs as you would on a smaller keyboard. It was also hard for my fat fingers to press the top row of keys as it kept hitting the edge of the top of the phone from where the keyboard slides from. On top of it all, the flat keys prevented “feel” typing.

As for the camera, overall it was good and much better than I anticipated. It took decent photos in daylight as well as good video. Photos at night were somewhat grainy and those from a distance were a little blurred. I didn’t try any of the settings on the camera as I used it in auto mode always. I have uploaded some photos to a Flickr group for your perusal. I was able to get some great photos and video of my friend’s wedding which was a good thing.

Thus my conclusion that the E75 is for a low-tech business user who thinks standard keybaords on mobile devices are too small. Any other takers on this opinion?

So E75, it’s not you – it’s me. There is a match for you out there, and you two will make a great pair. Your older sibling the E71 is more my type, or it’s half-sibling the E72 may be the one for me?

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Business • Mobile Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink

I just registered for – and paid for – TECH cocktail 11 on Thursday, August 6, 2009 at John Barleycorn in Chicago’s Wrigleyville section. Note I highlighted “paid for” as this had up to now been a free event. When I went to register I didn’t realize it was no longer complimentary admission.

And you know what I say to that? It’s about time!

TECH cocktail (TC) is where I have met many people I consider everything from friends to colleagues in Chicago. It brought out the best of the city’s tech and creative communities. As word got out of their success – not to mention open bar – they got more and more crowded. It has been harder to have conversations with people, let alone get to the tables of the presenters and sponsors. By charging a nominal amount and no longer having an open bar (you get 2 drink tickets with admission) I am sure it will keep away some people, and my gut feeling is those are people you would want to keep away! All things considered, I have no doubts TC will still be a lively and successful event.

Will I see you on the 6th?

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Announcements • Business • Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink