Rich Snail » Reflections

Life lessons from an ad man

Jacques — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:30:29 +0000

Sometimes, the best way to be happy is to change your perception. This TED talk tries to tackle this subject and provide many examples of how to change perception for the greater good. Many of those examples are nuggets of insights and ahah moments. So much so that I think it talks about too many subject to be one of the greatest. Still, the underlying message conveyed by Rory SUTHERLAND is that the solutions to so many problems is as much in how they are communicated as to what they actually are. Well worth the 16+ minutes of your time it take to watch it.

French Elections 2.0

Jacques — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:02:07 +0000

Round two of the French Election was last Sunday. Once again, I went to vote at the French Embassy and was happily surprised by the well-organized polling station. It took me less than 45mn door to door.

As most of you know by now, Francois HOLLANDE won by less of a margin than anticipated. 51.63% of my compatriots voted for our new president. Like for the first round Le Petit Journal KL did not take long to publish the results for Malaysia.

First, we can note that nearly 100 more French living in Malaysia went to vote last Sunday. Secondly, French living in Malaysia voted in strong numbers for Nicolas SARKOZY once again. 65% of my fellow French expatriates voted for the incumbent. Not really a surprise as many expats lean towards the right and pay a close attention to economic programs.

Personally, I voted for our new President. It may come as a surprise for those who know me as it was the first time in my life that I cast a vote for the French left. I did not so much vote for Mr. HOLLANDE as against Mr. SARKOZY. As much as I preferred Mr. SARKOZY’s economic program, I could not vote a second time for someone who stigmatized communities and immigrants, regularly leaned very close to the Front National, and played weathercock with his personal values for five years.

Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod

Jacques — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:15:48 +0000

This TED talk is not only a fun watch, it hits the nail on the head.

The problem for the music and video industry is that digital copies are very different from other products. You can not easily duplicate a car or a toaster for example. When you copy a file, the original is not destroyed. It does not even lose value. Business models around content are primarily about selling convenience in a world of scarcity.

By clinging to archaic delivery models media companies are digging their own graves. Most customers are willing to pay for good and easily accessible content, unfortunately the industry is failing to meet this demand.

“Piracy is a business model problem not a human behavior problem.”
Fred Wilson

Why Smart People Need to Fail

Jacques — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:00:22 +0000

I’ve been labelled as smart all my youth. First by my grand-parents, parents and family, then by my teachers and fellow students. When my scorecards were good, I often heard “good job, you see, you’re smart”. When they were not so good, I heard the “does not exploit his potential” or “can do better” comment.

While I’m happy to be where I am today, I feel I could have achieved more were I more driven. I can’t blame my parents or environment for this, I was a lucky bugger who was raised in a very loving family and received a great education. Furthermore, I had ample time to adapt and change my approach were I to really wish to – I believe that one’s upbringing should not give an excuse for one’s shortcomings in life. In the end, I am only 31 years old and still have plenty of time to achieve great things.

But why does he feel the need to dwelve on this subject, might you ask ? Yesterday, I came across this Wired article about why some people learn faster? and it stroke a chord. The article itself is great. The comment section is even better. Go read it. The 10 to 15mn it takes would be well spent.

The main thing I take out of this is that I will make a conscious effort to regularly praise my 9 months old son with a mix of “you’re bright” and “you worked hard on that”. I believe both are important and will help him grow into a confident and intelligent young being. It may seem a simple and small thing to do, but I strongly believe those small messages stay with us for a long time and can have a strong influence in our approach to life. So here’s to hard work, and positive praises !

“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
Thomas EDISON

Lack of inspiration

Jacques — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:00:01 +0000

One of my new year resolution is to update this blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I may have struggled to find something to write about at times, but always come across a link or video that I wanted to share or talk about.

Until today.
No creative juice. No light bulb.

There was a flicker of an envy to write about the KL real estate market following a visit we made to a house on sale, after a quick search I realized I had nothing to add to my KL Real Estate Market post from last September.

So I decided to just write these few lines.
They’ll do for today I guess.

Oh, and feel free to send me requests and posts ideas. Anything to help help me beat the blank page syndrome is greatly appreciated !