What makes a leader?
A colleague shared this article about the "Solar Demi" -- a guy that has installed 600+ clear soda bottles in the roofs of dark houses in the Philippines. It's a great read and worth checking out. There has been so much discussion lately about Steve Jobs and how he will be remembered as one of the greatest CEO's of all time. Steve was successful despite a reputation of being tyrannical and having a really mean temper which he frequently unleashed on those he worked with. That is certainly not a style that would be recommended for others to try, but it somehow worked for Steve. The author of the article above, Vineet Nayar, nails it when he says "I believe people are much more likely to respond to a leader who comes across as “real,” who is perceived as a flesh-and-blood individual, complete with flaws and even some doubts or fears."
I know that I will consider myself a failure if I ever find myself not leading by example or staying true to my beliefs and core values. Thus far I've built my career on transparency and not being fearful of challenging the status quo, now if only some of our world leaders would do the same.
Some interesting stats on divorce
I've always joked "Nobody in my family gets married, only divorced" when I used to confess I'd never been to a wedding until I think I was 24. Being in my late 20's now, I've certainly been to plenty of weddings in the past few years, but as each year passes that I remain single I still wonder how much of that is me, bad luck, bad timing, related to my extended family's checkered history with marriage, or some combination of each. In this Sunday's Globe Magazine, Lindsay Tucker wrote an essay titled "Am I doomed to divorce" that definitely touched on many things I've thought about myself. I was very interested in some facts she quotes from divorcerate.org (see chart below) which shows a 50% improvement on divorce rate for men who wed after the age of 30 (compared to 25-29). That's good news for me seeing as I sure as hell won't be married before age 30.
Age at marriage for those who divorce in America
| Age | Women | Men |
| Under 20 years old | 27.6% | 11.7% |
| 20 to 24 years old | 36.6% | 38.8% |
| 25 to 29 years old | 16.4% | 22.3% |
| 30 to 34 years old | 8.5% | 11.6% |
| 35 to 39 years old | 5.1% | 6.5% |
Digging into the facts a little more (divorcerate.org seemed like a really questionable source since most of the site looked to be paid advertisements and no sources were given), I came across some US Census #'s which do show that the 50% divorce rate over time is more or less true. See table 131 at this link which shows only 60% of men reaching their 40th wedding anniversary and 50% of woman doing so. Census Study published in 2011 found here.
It's also interesting to learn that the generally more conservative Southern and Western states have the highest divorce rates (likely because of marrying earlier and having less education on average). I would love to do a Red State/Blue State mashup of this data. My home state of Massachusetts had the lowest rate in the country at 1.8% -- score a 2nd point for my future prospects.
Top 10 state divorce rates:
Source (Wall Street Journal)
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Nevada
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6.6
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Arkansas
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5.6
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Wyoming
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5.2
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West Virginia
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5.0
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Idaho
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5.0
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Oklahoma
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4.6
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Kentucky
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4.6
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Alaska
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4.4
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Maine
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4.3
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Florida
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4.3
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Insider perspective of Google and Amazon
As a technologist I found this "rant" really, really interesting, but if you don't care much for technology you should probably not read this post. My favorite line: "But I'll argue that Accessibility is actually more important than Security because dialing Accessibility to zero means you have no product at all, whereas dialing Security to zero can still get you a reasonably successful product such as the Playstation Network". Essentially this is a long blog post written by a current Google employee who clearly doesn't know how to use Google Plus because he accidentally made it publicly available where it has started to spread like wild fire. It talks a lot about the differences between Google and Amazon and where Google is going very wrong in building products without a platform. A must read for someone interested in this stuff, but otherwise don't say I didn't warn you. Read here.
"Conscience gets expensive, doesn't it?"
Yes, I'm busting out quotes from Breaking Bad (the latest TV series I'm watching via Netflix, I mean Qwikster, I mean Netflix) to discuss two very interesting New York Times editorials published this past weekend outlying issues that I hear very few talking about. While I assume most Americans are more concerned about the many domestic issues at the moment, it is a little troubling that so little attention has been given. I see both issues to be a "slippery slope" for American foreign policy.
The first article is about the recent popularity of the drones, or unmanned aircraft that can provide surveillance and fire weapons. With the US being only one of the few countries to use this relatively new technology effectively, I think most Americans haven't truly thought through the repercussions. While it is great that American troops can be taken out of dangerous situations, it frightens me that it is only a matter of time before other countries (and terrorists) catch up. Being able to attack an enemy without putting any lives in danger seems like a bad idea; if you don't have any skin in the game you are much more likely to gamble with the lives of others. A related great quote comes from Season 2 of Breaking Bad, where corrupt lawyer Saul tells cancer diagnosed teacher turned meth-dealer Walt (who just paid $80k to get one of his dealers out of jail instead of having him killed), "Conscience gets expensive, doesn't it?". So true, but that's a good thing, right? Read here: Coming Soon - The Drone Arms Race
The second article deals with the events of 9/30/2011 and the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki and 3 others in Yemen using a drone. Awlaki was an American born citizen accused of being a terrorist and who was essentially executed. The scary part is that he was ordered killed with no trial and with no legal precedence to do so. Even scarier is that the Obama administration refuses to disclose the policy they applied when ordering this attack. I'd say it is pretty safe to assume he was guilty and a terrorist, but again this is a very slippery slope when Americans can be killed without a fair trial. Where do you draw the line about who does or does not need a trial? What happens when other countries start attacking people outside of their borders with no trials and using an unmanned drone? How many others have been killed like this via secret programs that the public is not aware of? Who's accountable? Read here: The Secrets of Government Killing