The following are my notes so I can use the technique again (in about a decade or so) or for your benefit. As an aside, I have used this technique 3-4 times with success. The first time was in 1995 when I bought a Geo Metro via fax (times change!). See the further reading section for other methods and techniques.
A comprehensive list of risk categories to support a definition previously provided. Categories can be downloaded via MS Excel.
Continue readingA survey of definitions for ‘risk category’ results in one that is organization focused: A risk category allows for the grouping of one or more risks in a manner that is meaningful to the organization and its key external-stakeholders such as investors, citizens, auditors. etc.
Continue readingRecently, I had a discussion with a co-worker (we will call her Carol) who had a family friend who passed away. Carol mentioned that this person was a world traveler and was a keen amateur photographer.
Carol wondered what happened to his image library. Having never married, he did not have children who might have shared an interest or been subjects in the photos. Perhaps an admiring nephew or niece took them or perhaps they are in a land fill somewhere by now.
If lost, what a waste. This person spent a lifetime capturing images some of which were possibly of historical significance. Rather than tossing the boxes of slides or hitting delete on the gigabytes of images, could they live on after the photographer’s eyes have shut for the last time?
I think yes, and here is my proposal: a non-profit stock image organization that receives images and makes them available on the internet for subsequent use. hTe working for this organization is the “Living Images Photo Library of the World“.
Bikes in Portland Oregon… and an example of bequest to a stock image library.
When this friend passed away, his boxes of slides would have been digitalized, categorized, labeled and made available for others to enjoy or use. There are lots of details and issues involved here including:
What do you think? Would you give away your images as your last day appears to be coming closer? If you were Carol’s nephew, would you work through 100,000 images of a life time digitalizing them as part of settling your uncle’s estate? If you were in the image, would you want your six-year old self eating birthday cake being available for the world to see?
In other words, is this an idea of merit and worth pursuing?
A good thank you shows appreciation for someone. Store bought thank you cards are one method, but they lack a personal touch. This is why I have now adopted a post-card thank you.
I recently used FaceBook’s marketplace for the first time (I know, I am a VERY late adopter). It was easy to post an entry, the interface was intuitive, communications through their messenger application was fast and it was simple to flag when the item was sold.
Technically it was not a sale as I gave it away. I offered for free a pair of working computer speakers I had been dragging around with me for about 10 years but was loathe to simply throw out.
Speakers – free to a good home.
By giving away those speakers, I delayed their entry into the recycling system or more than likely the landfill. They will end up there someday but at least for awhile they are being used – and this is where Facebook could improve its Marketplace … and earn some kudos.
Facebook facilitated this delay to the dump and it should take credit for this. Right now their interface is tailored or biased towards selling but could easily promote the freebie. This would build user loyalty and a sense of real-community via the online community. Heck, they could run statistics of so many ‘cubic feet, pounds or number’ of items diverted from the waste pile in such and such a city. How is that for a triple bottom line!
One more suggestion for Facebook, something that can help them grow the marketplace, build local communities and sustain itself as its user base grows older – a shopping mall lock box.
I met the person I was giving the speakers to in a local shopping mall food court. I don’t want strangers coming to my home and it is always better to meet in a public place. Of course this was contingent on me waiting at the mall and the buyer driving to my location. Why not remove time from the equation and build local spaces at the same time.
Here is the idea. Facebook partners with a few shopping malls to install lock boxes in their public space. The seller goes, places the item in the lock box and logs the transaction on Facebook. The buyer, on their own time picks up the item from the lock box. Insert security protocols, etc. to manage the transaction.
The payment is made electronically when the lock box opened and the buyer takes the item out. If it is not what they wanted, the put it back and cancels the transaction.
Facebook would take a small transaction fee, e.g. $0.50 which it shares with the mall. The mall gets some revenue, walk in traffic and can have its tenants cross promote on the sale. Based on the category, different stores would advertise to both the seller and the buyer. For example, for the above speakers, the stores selling electronics could promote their computer departments.
Insert liabilities, logistics and lawyers – but heck, this is only a thought exercise. In the meantime, I will use Facebook to get rid of other working stuff I do not want to throw away. To close, anyone have Mark Zuckerberg’s home phone number?
In other words, making a difference in our society and the environment (reducing consumption, materialism, reuse/recycling) can be as simple as creating the interface to do it efficiently. What say you Mark Zuckerberg?
In 2016 I wrote the blog ‘Monetizing Being a Public Servant‘ which looked at the question, ‘what do you do after your retire from the public service?‘. That blog was an individual’s perspective of what to do post-retirement. This blog takes a slightly different view in that it asks: ‘should society more actively engaged retired public servants through an alumni function?‘
In my ongoing effort to remember what I have read, some notes on The Drug Hunters: The Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines; Donald R. Kirsch, Ogi Ogas.
The popular media portrays pharmaceutical companies as fat cats scheming to make the most money from those unfortunate enough to require their product. While there are some cases of this, drug companies are better compared to gold-prospectors who find enough mineral wealth to pay the bills with the occasional strike-it-rich dream to keep them motivated.
Tile Mosaic – Graz Austria
New drugs are very difficult to find and bring to market. By one estimate, only 1 in 20 (5%) of all projects are funded by a pharmaceutical firm. Of these funded, only 1 in 50 yields a drug. In other words, if a drug prospector has an idea for a cure, there is only a 0.1% chance it will become commercially viable. Drug companies spend most of their effort on creating copy-cat drugs of those already approved. For original research, the focus is on drugs treating chronic conditions in which the medication needs to be taken for months, years or decades. A quick cure is a bad business model if your return on investment chances are less than 0.1%
Kirsh breaks drug hunting into a series of time frames, the earliest being simple trial, error and superstition from our early ancestor days. Botanical origins trace the role the emerging fields of science had on identifying plants that could cure disease. Industrial and Synthetic eras continue the use of science to better hone drug finding.
Kirsh is an insider with a sympathetic view (mostly) of the drug industry and thus makes a good commentator. He provides some excellent examples of both well-known discovery stories (penicillin, quinine for malaria) and those less well known (the birth control pill and a cure for syphilis).
The conclusion of the book is that drug research is not an engineering process (although copying an existing drug to create a copy cat is pill is) it relies more on luck and artistic merit; it is akin to knowing how to develop a block buster movie:
“…drug companies can never be sure that they will get a drug that works the way they hope it will. The reason is as simple as it is profound: there still are no clear scientific laws, engineering principles, or mathematical formulae that can guide an aspiring drug hunter all the way from idea to product… The thing about trial and error is that if you keep on trying and keep on being willing to make errors, eventually you will find something that works. …Big Pharma must price their few successful drugs to cover the immense costs from their myriad unsuccessful drugs.”
A good read for those interested in history, business, medicine or how did that pill get to the bottle in your bathroom.
In my ongoing efforts to remember conferences I attend, some notes on the Robert Half CEO Insights session on September 10, 2019. The Overview is found below and my notes are as follows:
Professional Development: Verified and 2 hours
In my ongoing effort to remember what I have read, some notes on an excellent, although time-warped, book: Winning Decisions: Getting It Right the First Time; J. Edward Russo, Paul J.H. Schoemaker.
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Organizational Biology 