Collapse

I am in California in meetings today including a detailed review of my performance. A consultant did a 360 review. Talked to 35 people – peers, superiors (they had to stretch since Bob Huang is the only person I have ever worked for in the past 25 years so they used board chairs from some of the boards I sit on), customers and vendors. Interesting process and interesting results.

It sure highlights vividly any areas of strength or weakness.

I have a philosophy of working more and capitalizing more on my strengths. Of course I want to make sure my weaknesses are not show stoppers.

For someone like myself who takes self development very seriously, this was an interesting and worthwhile exercise. Now the work begins.

On the flight down, I read Collapse by Jared Diamond. This is an awesome must read book. It talks about why empires or cultures collapse. The author is an anthropologist/historian who obviously spent years researching the topic. He approaches the subject scientifically. It is a bit of a tough read (long and not well organized for speed reading) but it is the best book I have read in a while. I will not spill the punchline except to say that societies tend to collapse fairly quickly and that we need to care for our environment.