In today’s digital age, most if not all of our financial and business records are stored digitally. Most of us store most of our wealth in nothing but bits and bytes in a computer hard drive in some nondescript building called a Data Center. Businesses big and small are increasingly becoming reliant on electronic data to keep their businesses running.

Imagine now what chaos would ensue if for some unforeseen event, all electronic data globally would be wiped out in one instance.

Banks would lose track who owns how much, large corporations will be crippled, the Internet would suffer catastrophic damage, you’ll even lose touch with your Facebook friends and your phone numbers. This blog post would probably be wiped out too. This would be one big bad black swan.

According to NASA scientists, this could happen VERY SOON, courtesy of a SOLAR STORM.

NASA scientists are talking about the sun’s increasing solar storm activity, which could hit us in 2013. In 1859, there was a big storm but it wasn’t much of an issue because we weren’t as technologically advanced or electronically dependent. However in March 1989, a small storm hit Quebec and caused widespread power failure which caused $2 Billion in economic damage. A kind of solar storm that happens once every century could cause economic damage twenty times that of Hurricane Katrina, NASA warns.

What Can You Do?

1. Keep paper copies of important financial and business transactions and records.
2. Keep money under your mattress.
3. Diversify your storage of wealth. Invest in tangible items that could be bartered in such an event.

References

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-06/15/how-to-survive-a-solar-storm

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/02/the_facts_on_solar_storms.php

http://news.yahoo.com/earth-unprepared-super-solar-storm-170601064.html

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I bought and read the book “How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci” more than 10 years ago and it’s fascinating to have remembered it again by way of John Authers’ column on Financial Times. We all know what kind of a genius Da Vinci was, and wonder how could such a man have been great at so many things?

Michael Gelb, the author of the book, listed down Da Vinci’s seven principles:

1. Curiosita (Curiosity)
   An insatiably curious approach to life and unrelenting quest for learning.
2. Dimonstrazione (Demonstration)
   A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence and willingness to learn from mistakes.
3. Sensazione (Sensation)
   Continual refinement of senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.
4. Sfumato
   A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty. (Try to reduce the number of times you see things as an absolute, and reduce words such as totally, always).
5. Arte/Scienza (Arts & Science)
   Development of the balance between science, art, logic and imagination.
6. Corporalita
   Cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise.
7. Connessione (Connections)
   Recognition and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena.

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Everett Rogers’ model for innovation diffusion helps us assess at which stage an organization is in applying a certain innovation.

There are 5 stages:

1. Agenda Setting – Defining an organizational problem and its perceived need for an innovation.
2. Matching – An organization fits its particular agenda to a specific innovation. This is the critical stage where an organization decides to adopt an innovation.
3. Redefining & Restructuring – This stage involves altering the innovation to to accommodate the needs of the organization or vice versa.
4. Clarifying – Putting the innovation to widspread use and getting people to be familiar with it.
5. Routinization – The innovation becomes incorporated into regular activities and loses its separate identity as an innovation.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Rogers

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol2no3/shea.htm

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According to this billionaire, there are several “mental models” or frameworks he has consistently and reliably used for his business decisions. He has honed his mental models such that huge and important decisions are decided upon swiftly and more importantly, correctly.

His name is Charlie Munger and the name wouldn’t ring a bell for most, except that he’s Warren Buffet’s partner in Berkshire Hathaway, with a net worth of $1 Billion.

On a speech he gave at the USC Business School in 1994, he outlined some elementary worldly wisdom he learned throughout the years and how these are important to being successful.

The idea of mental models is based on the concept that problem solving should be approached coming from different mental perspectives.

Here are the mental models that Charles have outlined:

Mathematics

• Probability Theory
  This theory helps explain random phenomena and helps us manage risk.
• Decision Trees
  These are great for laying out all the possible scenarios and possibilities on the table and choosing the best course of action with the expected consequences.
• Law of Large Numbers
  The larger the business, the slower it can grow.

Accounting

Legal System

The Decision Making Process

• Asking the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions.
• Invert, think about the problem backwards.

Economics

• People face tradeoffs.
• The cost of something is what you give up to get it.
• Rational people think at the margin.
• People respond to incentives.
• Trade can make everyone better off.
• Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity.

Sources:

A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom As It Relates To Investment Management & Business

The Munger Network of Mental Models

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When I first heard of Bill Gross, I thought he was the same Bill Gross who heads the world’s largest bond investor PIMCO. Well apparently not.

The other Bill Gross is an MIT grad and internet pioneer who started Overture, Picasa, Answers.com, Compete to name a few. His company IdeaLab has launched more than 75 companies. His company Overture is also credited for pioneering the search Pay Per Click model that AdWords is using now.

In his STVP podcast “A Devotion to New Ideas” he tells the story of how he started as an entrepreneur by selling home made solar energy kits by direct mail. He started advertising at the back of Popular Mechanics magazines and got to know how the direct mail industry worked.

He co-founded Knowledge Adventure, an maker of educational games for kids which was wildy successful. Their success was attributed to listening to user feedback. Back then their toys and their competitors’ were labeled “For kids 8 to 100″. What they found out from user feedback was that people were confused which toy to get because they didn’t know if the toy would be good for their particular kids’ age. So this prompted Knowledge Adventure to create kids games specific only to one year age group and became a wild success.

Bill has a lot of experience in companies and startups and goes on to say that he wished he had learnt about the lessons that mistakes have brought earlier. One of these lessons was about having the right mix of personality types in a management team.

For a management team or a company to succeed, they have to have these dominant roles or traits:

• Entrepreneur – actually makes things happen, envision the future, and tries to make them before their time
• Producer – who actually gets things done
• Administrator – beaurocrat, sometimes gets in the way of things and helps organize things, to help the trains run on time.
• Integrator – the people who understands the other three talents and tries to help them get along, because the other types usually hate each other.

Which personality type are you?

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Calcium is known for playing an important role in bone development, healing and growth. The most commonly known foods that have calcium are unfortunately found in dairy, which a lot of people don’t consume either because they are lactose intolerant, vegan, or just out of habit.

Vitamin D is required by the body to absorb calcium. A half hour in the sun would normally provide sufficient Vitamin Ds for the body to absorb calcium. Vitamin D supplements are also used as an alternative.

Calcium is poorly absorbed by people eating a high protein diet.

The following are non-dairy sources of high calcium per 8oz cup.

1. Canned salmon, sardines or mackerel with bones. (440mg to 569mg)
2. Black strap molasses. (2,820mg)
3. Cooked turnip greens, kale, brocolli or mustard greens. (450mg)
4. Cooked bok choy. (330mg)
5. Nori (1,200mg)
6. Kombu (2,100mg)
7. Wakame (3,500mg)
8. Agar-agar (1,000mg)
9. Tapioca (dried) (300mg)
10. Almonds (750mg)
11. Sesame Seeds (whole unhulled) (2,100mg)

Adults require about 1,000 to 1,200 mg per day.

References:

Non Dairy Sources of Calcium

Calcium Absorption

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The Philippines has so much land and plants growing all around us, even in the cities. The DENR lists 29 Wild Plants that can be consumed and may possibly be even a healthier substinence than what most people rich or poor eat.

Archived: Food from the Philippine Wilderness

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Randy Komisar joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as a partner in 2005. Several years prior, Komisar partnered with entrepreneurs creating businesses with leading edge technologies.

He was a co-founder of Claris Corporation, he served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and he’s acted as a “virtual CEO” for such companies as WebTV, Mirra, and GlobalGiving. He was a founding Director of TiVo where he remains current chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Earlier, Komisar served as CFO of GO Corporation and as Senior Counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in technology law.

I learned a lot from Randy, he is full of insights and would make a good mentor.

Who are the entrepreneurs?

• Are you comfortable with failure? Constructive failure is good. Edison failed a lot but he failed constructively.
• There is an entrepreneurial character and it is very comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Entrepreneurs are very capable of understanding and targeting opportunities that others don’t see.
• Entrepreneurs are tenacious about their pursuit, while at the same time remain permeable to other ideas and feedback
• Am I suited with the uncertainties and the ambiguities or am i not?

Randy’s tip for a Balanced Life

Never put yourself in a situation where you can’t say no.

How to get the closest thing to a balanced life?

• Pay attention to what’s important.
• Have a group of people who you respect and share your values. In other words, your perosnal advisory board.

On passion

Rather than thinking of THE one passion, think of all your portfolio of passions and how to marry them into the opportunities in front of you.

2 Paralyzing Questions:

1. What is your “the” passion
2. What is the ultimate question? what’s the ultimate thing that you’re going to do with your life.

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Two years ago while playing underwater hockey I felt a bit of pain after arching my lower back too far. Little did I know that this was probably the start of my disc herniation.

A year ago it felt like I put too much pressure and shock on my lower back while playing ball. After that instance, I started feeling a sharp pain in the lower back more and more frequently, most usually when sitting down and driving.

So after several visits to doctors, x-ray and MRI, it appears that the cause was a Herniated Nucleus Pulposus (HNP) or bulging disc. It is a precursor to a “slipped disc“.  Now I didn’t want to get to that point so this prompted me to look at the condition, understand the causes and rehabilitate.

One day while channel surfing, I chanced upon In Good Shape program on DWTV. They interviewed Dr. Thomas Hartmann who is very knowledgeable about herniated discs.

Dr. Thomas Hartmann is a sports physician from Berlin with over 20 years of experience and 10,000 patients and is an expert on back pain.

According to Dr. Hartmann, only 1 out of 100 patients needed surgery after being diagnosed of having disc herniation. Surgery is only called for when there is debilitating pain or paralysis of the leg or if the bladder is affected. He added that bulging discs can disappear over time.

So what causes disc herniation?

Dr. Hartmann believes there are 3 main causes:

1. Always sitting in a constrained position for a long time.
2. Not enough movement.
3. Stress.

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Warren Packard, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Andrew Frame, CEO of Ooma, present 10 lessons for building a successful start-up. They highlight the importance of dislocating large markets, active recruiting, organizational design, board construction, alignment of vision, managing mis-hires, building for scalability, product development, intellectual capital, and mentorship in establishing a lasting enterprise that adds value in the marketplace.

What I learned:

• Hire only excellent people.
• Product management should be in the heart of a company. Find a market first before developing a product.
• Creative tension between product management and engineering is good.
• Foster a creative environment, but make clear demarcation lines for decision makers.
• Maintain alignment and scale by using a playbook.
• Shared vision is important in keeping the organization together going forward.
• Setup the vision, strategic imperatives, strategic objectives, assign responsibility and accountability and tasks, to a point that a 5 year old can run the business.

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