69 minute listen
New Castle
This panel was recorded at the 2018 Bigelow Forum. In this week’s episode, we have a really rich learning opportunity, because, more than our usual interview of a single person, we actually have a panel of successful high-performing entrepreneurs who speak very candidly about their businesses, their lives, their successes, their disappointments, their learnings, and most importantly for you and me—what they’d do differently if they had the chance.
What I'm Reading / Listening to
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre (2018) is an impeccably researched work of non-fiction describing the background, work, and ultimate escape from the Soviet Union of the most important double agent in the Cold War, Oleg Gordievsky. Gordievsky, who was born into the KGB, began to have misgivings about the goals and commitments of socialism generally and the Soviet Union specifically. He was literally present in East Berlin on the first day of construction of the Berlin Wall. He concluded the leaders of the USSR were a bunch of common criminals, and so for the next ten years, Gordievsky, a senior colonel in the KGB, supplied the most important information to Britain’s MI6 and through them, to the US CIA. The Brits ultimately smuggled Gordievsky out of the USSR which Macintyre documents in an incredibly colorful story.
As a dénouement to the main story, it turns out the CIA repeatedly demanded to know Gordievsky’s identity which MI6 carefully guarded. Ultimately, in a feat of breathtaking hubris, the CIA assigned the effort to discover Gordievsky’s identity to a senior CIA agent who did indeed piece together Gordievsky’s identity. Then that CIA agent revealed it to the USSR. You may recognize the agent’s name? Aldrich Ames, the CIA agent who then turned the information back to the Soviets for cash payments and was responsible for dozens of deaths of agents working in the USSR by revealing their identities.
I had the fun of meeting and hearing Macintyre in person a few weeks ago at the first stop of his American book tour at the Portsmouth Music Hall. The guy is a research machine who over ten years, met and interviewed Gordievsky and the MI6 agents involved. It gives a terrific context to the crumbling of the Soviets with an assist from MI6.
99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.
Alan Watts is one of the most widely read philosophers of the 20th century. In addition to his 28 books, Alan Watts delivered hundreds of public lectures and seminars the recordings of which have been preserved in the archives of the Electronic University.
EconTalk is an award-winning weekly talk show about economics in daily life. Featured guests include renowned economics professors, Nobel Prize winners, and exciting speakers on all kinds of topical matters related to economic thought.
Entrepreneur Owner-Manager Quote
“You can’t weigh the baby every hour.”
-Steve Watson, serial entrepreneur speaking about the challenges of building an enterprise with sustaining success for the really, really long term.
Energy Creation
Contributed by Amanda Telford
Know the old saying: “Neither rain nor snow, nor sleet shall keep the Postman from his rounds?” I would modify that quote and say, “Whether rain, sleet, snow, tired or not, the dog always needs to be walked!” Every Saturday morning, my black Labrador, Tahoe and I have a routine: walk around the block, drive to Breaking New Grounds to get a cup of coffee (that’s important because it’s the only coffee I buy all week — my small treat), and drive to one of our favorite walking spots.
All these walking destinations are by the ocean, most have some forest too. Tahoe can run off leash pretending he might actually catch a squirrel someday, and I follow behind.
The combination of the quiet (really, if he’d let me sleep just a little bit longer I’d be ready for human interaction but alas, at 6:30am on Sat, not so much), the time of day, and the fact that I’ve just woken up (so my brain isn’t filled with everything that usually swirls in it), settles me, builds energy, and readies me for the day. Before my brain cells can rev up, I absorb the calm that staring at the ocean or the changing colors of the leaves brings me and paradoxically, creates energy for me to move forward with the day.
Note: Actual quote is Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” (While the Postal Service has no official motto, the popular belief that it does is a tribute to America's postal workers.)
What do you do to intentionally refresh, or rejuvenate? I am interested in hearing from you.