The consigliere of Silicon Valley: Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz has been called high tech’s new Andy Grove, the “CEO Whisperer,” and “the management guru to all of the young entrepreneurs in the Valley” by Mark Zuckerberg

The consigliere of Silicon Valley

BY JENA MCGREGOR

March 4 at 11:19 am

Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz has been called high tech’s new Andy Grove, the “CEO Whisperer,” and “the management guru to all of the young entrepreneurs in the Valley” by none other than Mark Zuckerberg. Reading his new book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, it’s easy to see why. Read more of this post

The disruptive power of collaboration: An interview with Clay Shirky; How we collaborate has profound implications for how we live and work. The author and New York University professor explains how social media has upended traditional norms

The disruptive power of collaboration: An interview with Clay Shirky

How we collaborate has profound implications for how we live and work. The author and New York University professor explains how social media has upended traditional norms.

March 2014

Sharing changes everything

Upending supply and demand

Creating success from failure Read more of this post

Feeling Burned Out? The One Change That Could Fix Everything

FEELING BURNED OUT? THE ONE CHANGE THAT COULD FIX EVERYTHING

WHAT DO STEVE JOBS, BOB DYLAN, AND PLATO ALL HAVE IN COMMON? APART FROM BEING SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN HISTORY, ALL OF THEM THOUGHT OF WORK AS A GAME.

BY CHARLIE HOEHN

Within a matter of months, I quit two amazing jobs. Read more of this post

Lisa Ho has not spoken publicly since the collapse of her fashion empire last year. Breaking her silence she reveals her harrowing ordeal, which saw her lose her business, her marriage and then her money

Lisa Ho’s betrayal

Published 03 March 2014 09:41, Updated 04 March 2014 10:02

Hannah Low

Designer Lisa Ho at one of her shows. Photo: Steven Siewert

It was a warm day early in the spring of 2011 when fashion guru Lisa Ho and her accountant of 18 years met with a charismatic financier ­promising glittering returns and pools of money at the showroom for her iconic fashion label in Sydney’s trendy Surry Hills. Read more of this post

Med school dropout Josh Reich makes $130m look simple; Reich just sold his US online banking start-up, Simple, to Spanish global bank BBVA for $US117 million

Med school dropout Josh Reich makes $130m look simple

Published 03 March 2014 10:51, Updated 04 March 2014 10:02

John Kehoe

Simple Bank co-founder and CEO Josh Reich in New York. Photo: Trevor Collens

Australians love to bash their banks. Josh Reich is a 35-year-old Australian who has turned bank bashing into a rich-list fortune. Read more of this post

How Affinity Childcare plans to avoid the fate of ABC Learning by only buying established centres: ‘We create a market for entrepreneurs to exit’

Caitlin Fitzsimmons Online editor

How Affinity Childcare plans to avoid the fate of ABC Learning by only buying established centres: ‘We create a market for entrepreneurs to exit’

Published 28 February 2014 12:35, Updated 03 March 2014 10:32

Affinity Childcare did not exist a year ago but it has since bought 57 centres and a chain of 12 managed centres, floated on the Australian Securities Exchange and on Friday, it reported its first set of financial results as a public company. Read more of this post

More than 1 million patients suffer harm each year while being treated in the U.S. health care system. Even more receive substandard care or costly overtreatment

One Third of Skilled Nursing Patients Harmed in Treatment

A study by Medicare’s inspector general of skilled nursing facilities says nearly 22,000 patients were injured and more than 1,500 died in a single month — a higher rate of medical errors than hospitals. Read more of this post

Is it good for people to fail occasionally? In our highly competitive world, we prize success and hate it when things go wrong, but is there actually a value in failing?

3 March 2014 Last updated at 00:47

Is it good for people to fail occasionally?

Lucy Wallis BBC News

In our highly competitive world, we prize success and hate it when things go wrong, but is there actually a value in failing? Read more of this post

The remains of trilobites, a diverse group of marine animals much older than dinosaurs, are remarkably well preserved, providing fresh insights of their anatomies and social behavior

When Trilobites Ruled the World

MARCH 3, 2014

A well-preserved trilobite specimen from Morocco that lived during the Devonian Period roughly 400 million years ago. CreditChip Clark/Smithsonian

By NATALIE ANGIER

WASHINGTON — Trilobites may be the archetypal fossils, symbols of an archaic world long swept beneath the ruthless road grader of time. But we should all look so jaunty after half a billion years. Read more of this post

The Best Investment Strategy? Getting Out of Our Own Way

The Best Investment Strategy? Getting Out of Our Own Way

By CARL RICHARDSMARCH 3, 2014

We’re still making the same old mistake of buying investments when prices are high and selling them once their prices have fallen. Read more of this post

Buffett says bitcoin “not a currency”

Buffett says bitcoin “not a currency”

POSTED: 04 Mar 2014 10:47
Warren Buffett, chief executive of investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world’s most respected investors, told CNBC television Monday that bitcoin “does not meet the test of a currency.” Read more of this post

13 Wonderful Old English Words We Should Still Be Using Today

13 Wonderful Old English Words We Should Still Be Using Today

CHRISTINA STERBENZ EDUCATION  MAR. 4, 2014, 12:30 PM

As the years pass, language evolves. Read more of this post

Longest, Darkest Winters Spark Odd Mood Boosters; Nordic Tricks to Fight Winter Blues: Special Headsets, Hilltop Mirrors

Longest, Darkest Winters Spark Odd Mood Boosters

Nordic Tricks to Fight Winter Blues: Special Headsets, Hilltop Mirrors

JUHANA ROSSI

March 3, 2014 6:56 p.m. ET

Helsinki

Winter in Finland can be stubbornly long—and dark.

It is the type of weather than can make a person feel mentally sluggish and just plain blue. It can lead to the more serious seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It has spawned businesses across Scandinavia and Iceland to offer relief including some odder-sounding efforts. Read more of this post

Video: Decoding the Indian Head Wobble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj56IPJOqWE

Mar 3, 2014

Video: Decoding the Indian Head Wobble

PREETIKA RANA

The idiosyncratic Indian head wobble — side-to-side like a pendulum — often confuses and amuses visitors to the country who ask if the signal indicates “yes,” “no,” or “not quite sure.” Now, a video claiming to decode what it means has gone viral on YouTube with over a million views in recent days. Read more of this post

Nelson Mandela: lessons from a master negotiator

Nelson Mandela: lessons from a master negotiator

Published 02 March 2014 18:08, Updated 03 March 2014 10:32

Harvard Business Review

Mandela had a noteworthy ability to negotiate calmly with his enemies at the same time that he was absorbed in a passionate, all-consuming struggle against them. Photo: AFP Read more of this post

Bernanke Finally Reveals, In One Word, Why The Financial System Crashed; Bernanke received at least $250,000 for his appearance. Or, in other words, more than he was paid for one full year as Fed chairman

Bernanke Finally Reveals, In One Word, Why The Financial System Crashed

Tyler Durden on 03/04/2014 23:32 -0500

Now that Ben Bernanke is no longer the head of the Fed, he can finally tell the truth about what caused the financial crash. At least that’s what a packed auditorium of over 1000 people as part of the financial conference staged by National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s largest bank, was hoping for earlier today when they paid an exorbitant amount of money to hear the former chairman talk. Read more of this post

Bitcoin Claims Its First “Real” Victim; the 28-year-old CEO of Singapore-based Bitcoin exchange First Meta has been found dead.

Bitcoin Claims Its First “Real” Victim

Tyler Durden on 03/04/2014 20:45 -0500

[UPDATE: Tech in Asia has updated the article to emphasize that suicide is only suggested and not certain]

The last few weeks have been dismally littered with two things. The virtual losses of virtual wealth from virtual currency speculation and the very real losses of very real humans with very real senior financial services positions. Sadly, as NewsWatch reports, tonight sees the two trends converge as the 28-year-old CEO of Singapore-based Bitcoin exchange First Meta has been found dead. The exact reason that may have led to the suicide is not known, and whether the Police have concluded that the cause of death is suicide is also unofficial. Read more of this post

Heading toward the caregiving cliff; As the nation ages, experts are concerned that family caregivers won’t be able to meet demand

Heading toward the caregiving cliff

WRITTEN BYRichard Harris

Perhaps the most memorable moment of President Obama’s State of the Union address in January was when he introduced Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg. Nearly killed by a massive roadside bomb in 2009 during his 10th deployment to Afghanistan, the Army ranger was found facedown in a canal. After nearly three months in a coma and dozens of surgeries, Remsburg — who was blinded in one eye — tried to acknowledge the standing ovation on Capitol Hill by standing up. But he needed help. At his side was his father, Craig, who lifted his son from his seat. Once up, Cory flashed the cheering crowd a thumbs-up. Read more of this post

Heroes, Villains and Fire Ships: Su Shi’s ‘Red Cliff Meditation’ (1082) re-creates an epic Chinese naval battle

‘A Spirit-Visit to an Ancient Land’

A Chinese poem re-creates an epic third-century naval battle

JOHN J. TKACIK

Updated March 1, 2014 12:37 p.m. ET

Nowadays, harried parents plop their little ones in front of a TV set or an iPad to keep them occupied. A millennium ago in China, village storytellers would, for a small fee, recite from memory, with a little help from their prompt books, hundreds of ancient warrior tales—particularly those of the Three Kingdoms—to entertain the young ones. Read more of this post

A Day in the Life of Daisuke Nakazawa; At Sushi Nakazawa, a disciple of Japan’s most revered sushi chef applies his perfectionism to a centuries-old cuisine-served up with a New York twist

A Day in the Life of Daisuke Nakazawa

At Sushi Nakazawa, a disciple of Japan’s most revered sushi chef applies his perfectionism to a centuries-old cuisine—served up with a New York twist

ALEX FRENCH

Feb. 28, 2014 9:32 a.m. ET

ROLL CALL | Nakazawa in the kitchen before the day’s prep begins Photography by Thomas Giddings for WSJ. Magazine

EVERY DAY BETWEEN the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. in a West Village basement, sushi chef Daisuke Nakazawa, 35, and his staff labor in almost complete silence. No music plays, no phones ring, few words are spoken. Monastically absorbed in the work of breaking down the day’s fresh ingredients—cracking open sea urchins with pliers, skinning a live octopus on a gleaming prep table—the Sushi Nakazawa kitchen crew prepares to serve the restaurant’s 20-course omakase menu, which has become one of the most coveted meals in New York City. Since it opened in August 2013, critics have touted Sushi Nakazawa as one of the city’s best sushi restaurants—no small feat in a town that’s home to revered roll temples such as Masa and Ichimura at Brushstroke. Read more of this post

Teddy Roosevelt’s 10 Rules For Reading

Teddy Roosevelt’s 10 Rules For Reading

February 28, 2014 by Shane Parrish

“A book must be interesting to the particular reader at that particular time.”

Theodore Roosevelt was perhaps the most well-read president. On a normal day he’d read a book before breakfast with another two later in the day. This puts my reading habits to shame. Over his life, he read thousands of books. Read more of this post

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

February 27, 2014 by Shane Parrish

“It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I’m right.” — Molière

“Why is it so fun to be right?”

That’s the opening line from Kathryn Schulz’ excellent book Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error.

As pleasures go, it is, after all, a second-order one at best. Unlike many of life’s other delights—chocolate, surfing, kissing—it does not enjoy any mainline access to our biochemistry: to our appetites, our adrenal glands, our limbic systems, our swoony hearts. And yet, the thrill of being right is undeniable, universal, and (perhaps most oddly) almost entirely undiscriminating. Read more of this post

“The human mind is a lot like the human egg, and the human egg has a shut-off device. When one sperm gets in, it shuts down so the next one can’t get in.” – Charlie Munger

Falsification

February 24, 2014 by Shane Parrish

“The human mind is a lot like the human egg, and the human egg has a shut-off device. When one sperm gets in, it shuts down so the next one can’t get in.” — Charlie Munger

Sir Karl Popper wrote that the nature of scientific thought is that we could never be sure of anything. The only way to test the validity of any theory was to prove it wrong, a process he labelled falsification. And it turns out we’re quite bad at falsification. When it comes to testing a theory we don’t instinctively try to find evidence we’re wrong. It’s much easier and more mentally satisfying to find information that proves our intuition. This is known as the confirmation bias. Read more of this post

Anne Lamott: Some Instructions on Writing and Life; good writing is about telling the truth

Anne Lamott: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

February 26, 2014 by Shane Parrish

That tweet from Kathryn Schulz set off my quest to find Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. If you’ve ever wondered how I find things, this is a perfect example. Read more of this post

Bridging the Cultural Gulf In China

Bridging the Cultural Gulf In China

by Kunal Sinha | Feb 28, 2014

As the volume of Sino-Indian trade rises steadily, more and more business travellers struggle to bridge the cultural gulf. We tell you how to get around it Read more of this post

Embracing Intelligent Failure

Embracing Intelligent Failure

by Theodore Forbath | Feb 26, 2014

Leaders can reinforce acceptance of failure by publically celebrating projects that didn’t quite meet expected results, but that were successful in providing new learning Read more of this post

What Faces Can’t Tell Us: To figure out what someone is feeling, you need more than just his expression

What Faces Can’t Tell Us

FEB. 28, 2014

By LISA FELDMAN BARRETT

CAN you detect someone’s emotional state just by looking at his face?

It sure seems like it. In everyday life, you can often “read” what someone is feeling with the quickest of glances. Hundreds of scientific studies support the idea that the face is a kind of emotional beacon, clearly and universally signaling the full array of human sentiments, from fear and anger to joy and surprise. Read more of this post

The Downside of Inciting Envy: Fomenting bitterness over income differences may be powerful politics, but it injures our nation

The Downside of Inciting Envy

MARCH 1, 2014

Arthur C. Brooks

THE Irish singer Bono once described a difference between America and his native land. “In the United States,” he explained, “you look at the guy that lives in the mansion on the hill, and you think, you know, one day, if I work really hard, I could live in that mansion. In Ireland, people look up at the guy in the mansion on the hill and go, one day, I’m going to get that bastard.” Read more of this post

NYU announces new entrepreneurship “eLab” to bring the university together

NYU announces new entrepreneurship “eLab” to bring the university together

BY CALE GUTHRIE WEISSMAN 
ON MARCH 1, 2014

This weekend NYU students and alumni are trekking to Greenwich Village from near and far to attend the third annual NYU Entrepreneurs Festival. This two-day event brings together hopeful entrepreneurial minds with older, more-vetted business people, all of whom are at least tangentially affiliated with the Manhattan empire that is known as New York University. Read more of this post

On the importance of keeping investors out of the newsroom, and not treating your readers like fools

On the importance of keeping investors out of the newsroom, and not treating your readers like fools

BY PAUL CARR 
ON MARCH 1, 2014

Mr. Greenwald is a very popular guy on Twitter, with about 320,000 followers. And he has earned a reputation for bullying people who don’t share his views, frequently using his megaphone to launch unfair and frequently dishonest personal attacks. It will be interesting to see if he keeps this up at the $50 million news venture he’s starting that’s being bankrolled by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. – Christian Science Monitor Read more of this post