Category Archives: Training

Can You Do the Unthinkable? Meet Scott “Ironman” Rigsby

When Scott was 18 years old the pickup truck he was riding in was suddenly hit by a passing 3-ton attached trailer truck, which subsequently dragged him 300 feet. His back suffered third degree burns, his right leg was severed off and his left leg hung barely intact. His life was seemingly over.

Over a decade of countless doctor visits and hospitals, 26 surgeries, additional amputation, depression, fear, and uncertainty, Rigsby had become a professional patient. At one point, things got so desperate that Rigsby sold what little furniture he had just to pay rent. There was no steady income and no dreams for a stable or successful future.

In 2005 he decided to change his life and became determined to “Do the Unthinkable

How many “miles” can you run like that?

Read Scott Rigsby’s interview with Mark Hayward here.

Bill Gates on Creative Capitalism

Now that Bill Gates is moving from his full time position at Microsoft to a full time position with his Gates foundation, here’s a sample of what his views are, and what he will be going for in the coming years. This video interview was done before he presented his thoughts at Davos recently.

Bezos describes Amazon Kindle EBook reader

So you can think of Kindle EBook Reader as a ‘large-screen pre-paid cellphone’, through which Amazon aims to galvanize portable book reading like Apple did to portable music through ipod and iphone. As you can see, Kindle is released just in time for the holiday season! How many gadgets can we really have on us?

Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Trachtenberg talked to Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezor, who unveiled the Kindle, a $400 wireless device – purpose built for E-Book reading. Bezos says Kindle will make reading electronic books much easier. It uses 3G cellular connection to download the content directly from Amazon’s site, and Amazon will take care of the complexity behind the interacting with the cellular. What do you say?

Some serious analysis: The global EBook market is estimated around $25 million, and if this device stands up to the promise, then that market can essentially double. The price point of $400 looks high – its aimed for entry and holiday shopping.

In two quarters, we can expect them to sell on Amazon marketplace under in a more attractive $250-290 range. And if the product does well, which company is best placed to compete? Device manufacturers: RIM with an advanced Blackberry, and Google Books + Nokia with a new large screen version, could be top alternatives.

In fact MyOrbit has a couple of EBooks getting ready for publication, and we will check if Amazon has some special deals for publishers. We will share updates from our discussion with Amazon. Stay tuned.

Harvard Newsletter: Tools of Persuasion: Pitch Your Offer and Close the Deal

If you are in any form of business or profession, then this podcast from Harvard Law School is a must-listen item because its packed with valuable insights on how to share good and bad news, how to sell your ideas to a reluctant or untrusting client or business partners using powerful tools of persuasion. This podcast is based on an article by Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman of Harvard Business School – from August 2007 issue of PON newsletter.
Click here to play.





The original post and podcast are available here.