In Print

I remember Michael J. Fox as one of the earliest actors I watched him on television after I had first come in the US. He was witty, likable, and good looking. It was hard not to notice Michael J. Fox in the early 1990s with his rise to fame and stardom. It was also hard not to notice the American media stream’s expectation of how a Hollywood star would and should respond to life’s bitter challenges and incurable diseases. There is a sensationalism in media’s coverage of Hollywood that is comical and ludicrous once you get used to it, but to a newcomer to the country, it is downright confusing.

Why is it any different if a celebrity has an advanced stage cancer than anyone else? Does cancer know the difference? Why is he or she expected to come out heroic or a “better person” after the ordeal?

[Read more…] about Michael J. Fox: “Lucky Man”

If you do not work there, you will not see it!

Joseph Finder’s Paranoia is not just a fun corporate thriller out of the author’s wildest imagination. It is a story that has uncanny resemblance to the operation, set-up, corporate culture and technologies of the Fortune 500 workplace, Cisco Sytems. The names are altered poorly for the trained eye. I heard through the rumor mill that Finder spent much time on campus learning and observing the ways of Cisco – and while the book is now dated, as much has changed in the last few years, some of us know and remember the early days of Cisco fondly. As a Cisco citizen, I found humor where none was intended, and amusement where no one else might. This may have been the only thriller that was extremely entertaining for me by virtue of being a long time Cisco employee, on levels probably most unintended by the author.

[Read more…] about Joseph Finder: “Paranoia”

Reading Travels in the perfect setting of Hawaii made it all the more memorable. This is perhaps the least well-known work by the prolific and beloved Michael Crichton, and yet it served as my introduction to his work and writing. I also found it very fitting that my first reading of him was an autobiography, and with the life that Crichton led – always following his whims for adventure and thrill far above and beyond an average novelist – it brings me closer to understanding the man behind The Rising Sun, State of Fear, and Timeline.

Among these 4 books I later read by Crichton, I think his sense of humor is at its best and strongest in Travels. After all, it is perhaps easiest to laugh at our own life and experiences in hindsight.

[Read more…] about Michael Crichton: “Travels”

“Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage”

What a refreshing way to give us “The 5 dysfunctions of a team” in a business world: through an astutely written fable. Lencioni’s writing is insightful, easy to read, and hard to forget. The conversational style, which is not usually my favorite, is done professionally and accurately of the business environment

This was a reading assignment from work.  Funny enough, at the time I had management, which while responsible for the dysfunctions of the team, was not too shy to admit to it either. The amusement of our own situation aside, this is a really good book to bring a team back on track.

[Read more…] about Patrick Lencioni: “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”