Go Read This: Megan Amram on passion & cool

“We are coming of age in a culture not of un-enjoyment, but of anti-enjoyment. Passion is not just superfluous – passion is weakness. If you like things, you might like the wrong things, and then you’re WRONG with a capital “DOUBLE-U” with a capital “D”, and then you’re BAD and ugly and FAT and SUPER FAT. The Internet can’t figure out whether it wants to beatify things or damn them, so it just gets all sorts of contentious. Contention on the Internet is silly in the worst sense of the word. […] If the Internet is a super highway, we all have road rage.”

Megan Amram

What you need for a party: a list of liquor requirements

A buddy of mine is throwing a party and he emailed me about what kind of booze he should get and how much. It was surprising to me how many ideas come flowing from inside me, like some deep spiritual well of wisdom.

I come from a good family, who knows how to throw a party (i.e., if mom’s not on the table one-leg-fluting it to Jethro Tull, the party hasn’t started yet). I’m grateful for the blood-deep education I have on giving people a good time at a party. And in the spirit of “all good truths are free” I thought I’d share some of this deep wisdom. Please comment with any ideas of your own! (more…)

Ogilvy’s 10 rules for building and running a business

80 year old David Ogilvy’s advice for building and running a business:

  1. Remember that Abraham Lincoln spoke of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He left out the pursuit of profit.
  2. Remember the old Scottish motto: “Be happy while you’re living, for you are a long time dead.”
  3. If you have to reduce your company’s payroll, don’t fire your people until you have cut your compensation and the compensation of your big-shots.
  4. Define your corporate culture and your principles of management in writing. Don’t delegate this to a committee. Search all the parks in all your cities. You’ll find no statues of committees.
  5. Stop cutting the quality of your products in search of bigger margins. The consumer always notices — and punishes you.
  6. Never spend money on advertising which does not sell.
  7. Bear in mind that the consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Do not insult her intelligence.

David Ogilvy

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