What it takes to be Great

Fortune Magazine published an inspiring article on how painful and demanding hard work in the key to greatness, not innate wiring at birth and that targeted natural gifts do not exist. One is not born a great CEO, chess player, golfer, or scientist. Greatness is really achieved through tremendous hard work over many years. Learning is subjected to the law of diminishing returns where one accelerates in learning the fundamentals quickly then start to slow down in developing specialized knowledge, and finally stops, except for the few that persist over the years and crossover into excellence. Deliberate practise with continual critique of ones performance is the key to success. Elite performers practise their crafts incessantly.

My take: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a fundamental trait of elite performers. Nothing in nature comes for free.

http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/great_1.html

Assault and Battery

Battery Ventures had a fun event today where they got a bunch of entrepreneurs together for an afternoon of outdoor paintball action. This was my first outdoor paintball experience and I must say it was far less stressful than indoor paintball that warted me beyond recognition (OK I exaggerate a little) back in the late 90's at an Informix staff meeting in Las Vegas.

The event was quite a contrast to the typical high-society and sometime pretentious hors d'oeuvre and drinks type meetings at say the Four Seasons that most VC or private equity groups arrange to socialize with their ecosystem. This atypical Paintball event reflects either a down and dirty approach that Battery may have with their investments or perhaps a subliminal message to their current and future portfolio company execs: better deliver a good return or we will take you out literally and figuratively.

Brandies University - New Product Development

Yesterday, I was invited as a guest speaker at Brandies University. They offer an interesting course to budding entreprenuers, innovators, and non-linear folks who are itching to create new products either within their existing companies, or build start-ups around their ideas. My recommendation to them was -- Don't do it! Its painful, intense and years go by with your entire existence dedicated to your idea or your product. But if your idea still keeps you up at night and you really think that its worth the pain, then you may be onto something. But always weigh it against all the negatives associated with bringing a product to market: hyper competition, equity value dilution, marketing pressures, raising capital, worrying about missing pay cycles, and then chasing the elusive closure either through an acquisition or IPO.

The class asked really good questions and I hope I was able to impart some information to them. I did tell them not to buy a big house and to always have plenty of cash reserves. The more financially sound one gets, the more risk they can take. However, the risk should always be calibrated to your current financial base.

But once you go down this path, holding a normal 9-5 job is akin to retirement.

Tennis

Played Tennis last weekend and had a great time. Abbas is getting better but he would do a lot better it he ate fewer chapli-kebabs before the game. For the kebab connoisseurs, chapli kebabs are from Northern Pakistan and are shaped like a chapli, which is Urdu for slipper.

It must be the kebabs that have turned him into using asthma inhalers as recreational drugs after a hard day of tennis or soccer.

My top spin is getting better. Now only if I could control it :-)

My Favorite Cities in Europe

Someone asked me about my favorite cities in Europe, so here they are:

1. Zurich: I just love walking around Lake Zurich, browsing through the shops at Bahnhoff Strasse and taking day tours to Interlaken and Jungfrajoch.
2. Prague: See the castle, Charles Bridge, Old City. Shop for Crystal. And do get a massage at K-5.
3. London: It's very expensive, but loads of fun. Great dining places like Zuma. Clothing at Jaegar's and cant really go to london and not drop by Harrods.
4. Barcelona: One of my favorites to walk around, relax, eat and hang out at the Olympic village.
5. Rome: I have mixed feeling about Rome. Rich in history, museums, piazzas to hang out, but I will never eat "authentic" Italian food again - greasy, bland, and way too much garlic. My taste buds are used to American Italian food that I truly enjoy.
6. Amsterdam: I take the 5th on this one.

I will build up more on each city later. But if I were to make another trip today, it would be to Prague via Zurich.

Recommendations, Marketing & Tennis

I have been staying up late and watching US Open Tennis. Really wanted Blake to beat Federer, but Federer is in a different league. Looks like it will be a Federer v. Roddick final. Or perhaps Federer v. Youzhny. My son, Mikaeel Yunus, want Mikail Youzny to beat Roddick.

And of course I am all for Sharapova.

I was excited to see two of my recommendations make it. Both were for former employees. One recommendation was for a Masters of System Design Management (SDM) program at MIT. The other was for an executive position at a VOIP start up. It is really gratifying to see friends and colleagues move forward and being a part of their success.

I am getting more into marketing - will have a case study and a full page ad appearing in SOA Journal next week.

Retirement

Watched Aggasi's farewell and it reminded me of my Dad's last flight as a Boeing 747 Pilot. Retiring from what one does for a long time must be tough. I am glad my career will not force me to retire.

Was working on my BEA paper all evening...ported it from MS Word to XHTML using NVu opensource XHTML editor.

Dana's Wedding

The effects of Ernesto made it to Boston and it was gray and drizzling all day. That didn't stop us from driving to Lunenburg to attend Dana's 10th Marriage Anniversary celebration and renewal of wedding vows. The food was great and so was the music.

Later, my dear cousins Shani and Jibraan visited us along with Haroon, Tehmina and Samar. It's getting late and Emaan is still hyper. She just spilt water all over the living room.

Separation Anxiety

This is where I will try to separate my professional life from my personal life. I have started reading "The Long Tail Effect" by Chris Anderson. Am enjoying it.