Tuesday, October 02, 2007

GetAbstract and Greg Brophy

One of my articles "Sixty Minutes to Clear Goals" was published on Womanslife.

I was saddened to hear of Greg Brophy's death. He was a great entrepreneur and way too young to die.


I have been reading book abstracts lately from www.getabstract.com. Because I enjoy reading, I sometimes find that the abstracts take away some of that job; however, sometimes I just want the information in which case abstracts are a great way to be informed. One interesting abstract that I read was on the Black Swan, the impact of the highly improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

The book talks about the impact of luck and the fact that some things are simply caused by luck where many times we tend to attribute them to hard work or intelligence or making great decisions.

I have long felt that I am “lucky”. I often say I live a charmed life.

As the book points out, it doesn’t mean just because you are lucky that there wasn’t some skill, intelligence, or preparedness involved. Some of the points that the book makes are:

Keep your eyes open for black swans (things that seem improbable)

Beliefs are sticky but don’t get glued to them

Know that in many cases, you cannot know

As a forecasting period lengthens, prediction errors grow exponentially

Expose yourself to “Positive black swans” – And, at the same time, hedge against negative ones. “Bet pennies to win dollars.”

Look for the nonobvious

Avoid dogmatism – think for yourself. Avoid nerds(tough in the computer business) and herds.

5 Comments:

At 8:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As someone who has known Greg for 20 years, this is a great tragedy. He was a man with a large passion for life and living and shared with family and friends openly and generously. He will be missed...

 
At 8:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would replace the word "luck" with “grace”.
I look forward to having a discussion on leadership today with you Jim....I'll see you in the afternoon!

Gerhard

 
At 4:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Chance favours the prepared mind"

Louis Pasteur

JS

 
At 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I met Gregg Brophy in the early days of his career when he was trying to get the LCBO interested in his passion and desire to shred the secrets of the LCBO. However the LCBO was not interested at that time but now they have had a good working relationship. I was shocked and sadded to hear the news and feel this is felt by everyone that has met Gregg. He is one of a kind and a real honest person.

Condolences to the family and co workers and friends.

Life is so short and to live it like Greg worth the look back to his past and travel through his career and life. He will be remember for a lifetime as the great Canadian who made his dreams come true.

If there were a time to make a day for a Canadian who had dreams come true this should be the person to honour.

 
At 9:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Greg was able to elevate the energy in a room just by being there. His values can be felt in every day work. He was a true leader and mentor. We will keep his legacy alive in our work. We will miss him terribly.
..... from a dedicated employee.

 

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