A Better Course

potlatch: Westfield attacks Tower Bridge
Why have they replaced Tower Bridge with some leather boots, belts and bling chains? No, honestly, why? Perhaps even their advertising drones were struggling to capture the full gaudy scale of Westfield, recognising that there is no neat or simple way of conveying quite what the place is all about.
(tags: westfield [...]

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Mmm, Chocolate Pie… Chart | FlowingData
"Mary and Matt kick it up a notch with some design and 5.5 ounces of chocolate. It's a chocolate pie chart of 70% milk chocolate, 20% dark, and 10% white." Christmas is coming, all!
(tags: chart stats statistics visualization chocolate flowingdata )

Big Contrarian → You’ve [...]

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Bob Sutton: A Compilation of Euphemisms for Layoffs
although the language is obfuscated, he is implying that the people he is letting go are the weaker ones, even though many of Tesla's problems clearly stem from errors made by senior management (including Musk) and from the the economic environment.
(tags: bobsutton leadership layoffs management [...]

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McCain Camp Retools, Targets Obama | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com
Early that summer, the campaign made the unorthodox decision to announce its vice presidential pick via text messages sent directly to supporters. It wasn't just a trick to do something flashy with technology and attract media attention. The point was to collect voters' cell-phone [...]

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Zoilus: Fan Dance:<br>Fandoms & the 2008 Election
Fandom feels like a highly inappropriate way to relate to political life: In my book I discuss the troubling tone of a lot of cultural-taste conversation, the way that it's used to sharpen social distinctions, but at least there the stakes are relatively low (at least in the short [...]

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Lessons Learned: Lean startups vs lean companies
Any activity that actively promotes us getting through each iteration (including the learning phase) faster, is value-creating. Everything else (including a lot of traditional "agile" or "lean" tactics) is waste.
(tags: startup innovation lessonslearned data insight customer leadership )

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Americans are using cash - not credit - for store purchases - Oct. 22, 2008
The shift away from credit cards - even if it's short-lived - could be another blow for retailers who are already facing a very difficult sales year. "With credit cards, consumers spend 30% more (on purchases) than with cash," Dvorkin said.
(tags: [...]

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Dollars and Sense–Worthwhile Moves for Tough Financial Times - Bill Taylor
This crisis is as much about values, trust, and business integrity as it is about declining stock prices and limited credit. Be sure to remind your colleagues, your customers, and the world at large why what you do matters, why you started the company in [...]

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FT.com / Companies / Financial services - Hedge fund manager slams ‘idiot’ bankers
Mr Lahde, who has made tens of millions of dollars from his highly successful bets against the financial and property sectors during the past two years, also called for the legalisation of cannabis and said he was now dropping out to spend time [...]

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The Sucking Sound of Ad Dollars Disappearing - BusinessWeek
"Everyone says they are going to keep advertising in a downturn," says another executive, who has run major sales organizations in different media. "But not everyone actually does it. That's just the reality of having to report earnings and profits."
(tags: advertising marketing businessweek recession [...]

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