Book Recommendation: My Silent War
Kim Philby is likely the most famous spy in history. Treachery is the subject of My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy , the 1968 memoir of Philby, the double agent who headed the Cambridge Five spy ring that fed British and American WWII and Cold War intelligence to the Soviet Union. Philby became a communist and Soviet agent in the 1930s, then joined MI6 and rose to be head of British Counterintelligence before seeking asylum in Moscow in 1963 (where he lived until his death in 1988). This is Philby’s riveting tale of spycraft which offers a rather unflattering picture of the British secret service, and also addresses why he remained committed to communism. It is an amazing story. While his biography neglects to invest space on some of the horrific loss of life to the English and Americans because of his spying, it does reflect a behind the scenes look of someone who didn’t consider himself a traitor but rather a patriot (all depends on your perspective). But in reading it you wonder how someone could remain sane maintaining the duplicity necessary to be a successful spy at such a high level.
Kim Philby on the 1990 USSR commemorative stamp
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comment of the day: elections and governing
May 10, 2012 - 10:11 am
Tags: actions today make who i am tomorrow, america repairing it’s faults, America’s character, behavior in new economic world, better than every other country, buy as soon as possible, cannot function because always fighting for job, capitalism and morals, capitalism communism, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, changed behavior, changing objectives to make change, character, clarity of ideological thinking, communism, communism embracing capitalism, consumers are complicated, country geography, country mortality, decision making, democracy in america, democratic uprisings, depression versus recession, do elections ever end, economic inequality, economy, effect of recession, elections, enlightened conflict, enlightened reading, enlightening reading, excellence in brevity, generations changing behavior, geopolitical wars, give consumers a choice, global economic superiority, global unrest, government, government imbalance, great manifestos, have and have nots, haves, haves versus have-nots, history, ideological thinking, ignorance, impact of recession, it is tough but how tough, job insecurity, job responsibility, keenly aware of america’s flaws, learning, letting go is difficult, letting go is not simple, life, life lessons, Lost Ground, making shit is good, marketing, marx and engel and founding fathers, middle east, middle east is complex, moral fiber, no easy steps in middle east, nothing lasts forever, optomism versus pessimism, optomistically cynical, perspective, Pew Research, pluralism, poverty, proud patriots, quotes, recession, recession affecting shopping behavior, redistribution of power, redrawing boundaries, relationships, resiliency, respect, responsibility, rethinking elections, seeking new experiences, self determination, social imbalance, social revolutions, social unrest, social upheavals, socialism, spending money as soon as we have it, story of two americas, strength of character to make change, Stuff I Like, switching but not satisfied, that i will be tomorrow, the constitution, the decline of europe, the economist, the have nots, the haves, the story of a fragmented america, the story of fragmented middle east, this i am today, time magazine, tocqueville, today’s economy, truth, uncertainty of nations, understanding the middle east, unreasonable solutions, well written documents, words
Posted in Rants and Observations | No comments
I saw this comment in The Guardian: The French elections lasted for what? A month and a half, now they have a new President. Our elections begin 2 years in advance and don’t end until super tuesday which sounds like a sporting event. Our leaders cannot function because they are always fighting for their jobs [...]
manifesto book end thinking (a series of two)
April 4, 2012 - 6:43 am
Tags: actions today make who i am tomorrow, america repairing it’s faults, America’s character, behavior in new economic world, better than every other country, buy as soon as possible, can iran manage it’s own issues, capitalism and morals, capitalism communism, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, changed behavior, changing objectives to make change, character, china economy, clarity of ideological thinking, communism, communism embracing capitalism, communism in the 1900s, communist manifesto, consumers are complicated, country geography, country mortality, decision making, democracy in america, democratic uprisings, depression versus recession, economic center of gravity, economic inequality, economy, effect of recession, enlightened conflict, enlightened reading, enlightening reading, excellence in brevity, generations changing behavior, geopolitical wars, give consumers a choice, global economic superiority, global unrest, government, government imbalance, great manifestos, have and have nots, haves, haves versus have-nots, history, ideological thinking, ignorance, impact of recession, it is tough but how tough, keenly aware of america’s flaws, learning, letting go is difficult, letting go is not simple, life, life lessons, Lost Ground, making shit is good, marketing, Marx and capitalism, marx and engel and founding fathers, middle east, middle east is complex, moral fiber, no easy steps in middle east, nothing lasts forever, optomism versus pessimism, optomistically cynical, Paris 1919, persepctive on economy, perspective, Pew Research, pluralism, poverty, proud patriots, quotes, recession, recession affecting shopping behavior, redistribution of power, redrawing boundaries, relationships, resiliency, respect, responsibility, saving versus buying, seeking new experiences, self determination, shopping around, shopping behavior, sinclair lewis, social imbalance, social revolutions, social unrest, social upheavals, socialism, spending money as soon as we have it, story of two americas, strength of character to make change, struggling with Iran, Stuff I Like, switching, switching but not satisfied, that i will be tomorrow, the constitution, the decline of europe, the economist, the have nots, the haves, the story of a fragmented america, the story of fragmented middle east, this i am today, thoughtful middle east solution, time magazine, tocqueville, today’s economy, truth, uncertainty of nations, understanding the middle east, unreasonable solutions, well written documents, words
Posted in Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
Ok. This is going to be a 2 part series discussing 2 incredibly well written and often misunderstood documents. These two documents are a reflection of two of the most important and influential political theories ever created. Both documents continue to influence and provoke discussion on ideology, capitalism and government. And mostly I wanted to [...]
bookend 1: american constitution
April 4, 2012 - 6:42 am
Tags: actions today make who i am tomorrow, america repairing it’s faults, America’s character, behavior in new economic world, better than every other country, buy as soon as possible, can iran manage it’s own issues, capitalism and morals, capitalism communism, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, changed behavior, changing objectives to make change, character, china economy, clarity of ideological thinking, communism, communism embracing capitalism, communism in the 1900s, communist manifesto, consumers are complicated, country geography, country mortality, decision making, democracy in america, democratic uprisings, depression versus recession, economic center of gravity, economic inequality, economy, effect of recession, enlightened conflict, enlightened reading, enlightening reading, excellence in brevity, generations changing behavior, geopolitical wars, give consumers a choice, global economic superiority, global unrest, government, government imbalance, great manifestos, have and have nots, haves, haves versus have-nots, history, ideological thinking, ignorance, impact of recession, it is tough but how tough, keenly aware of america’s flaws, learning, letting go is difficult, letting go is not simple, life, life lessons, Lost Ground, making shit is good, marketing, Marx and capitalism, marx and engel and founding fathers, middle east, middle east is complex, moral fiber, no easy steps in middle east, nothing lasts forever, optomism versus pessimism, optomistically cynical, Paris 1919, persepctive on economy, perspective, Pew Research, pluralism, poverty, proud patriots, quotes, recession, recession affecting shopping behavior, redistribution of power, redrawing boundaries, relationships, resiliency, respect, responsibility, saving versus buying, seeking new experiences, self determination, shopping around, shopping behavior, sinclair lewis, social imbalance, social revolutions, social unrest, social upheavals, socialism, spending money as soon as we have it, story of two americas, strength of character to make change, struggling with Iran, Stuff I Like, switching, switching but not satisfied, that i will be tomorrow, the constitution, the decline of europe, the economist, the have nots, the haves, the story of a fragmented america, the story of fragmented middle east, this i am today, thoughtful middle east solution, time magazine, tocqueville, today’s economy, truth, uncertainty of nations, understanding the middle east, unreasonable solutions, well written documents, words
Posted in Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
“We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land – nor, perhaps, the sun and stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. The chart is the Constitution.” – Daniel Webster Ok. I begin the two part series with the American [...]
bookend 2: manifesto of the communist party
April 4, 2012 - 6:42 am
Tags: actions today make who i am tomorrow, america repairing it’s faults, America’s character, behavior in new economic world, better than every other country, buy as soon as possible, can iran manage it’s own issues, capitalism and morals, capitalism communism, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, changed behavior, changing objectives to make change, character, china economy, clarity of ideological thinking, communism, communism embracing capitalism, communism in the 1900s, communist manifesto, consumers are complicated, country geography, country mortality, decision making, democracy in america, democratic uprisings, depression versus recession, economic center of gravity, economic inequality, economy, effect of recession, enlightened conflict, enlightened reading, enlightened thinking, enlightening reading, excellence in brevity, generations changing behavior, geopolitical wars, give consumers a choice, global economic superiority, global unrest, government, government imbalance, great manifestos, have and have nots, haves, haves versus have-nots, history, ideological thinking, ignorance, impact of recession, it is tough but how tough, keenly aware of america’s flaws, learning, letting go is difficult, letting go is not simple, life, life lessons, Lost Ground, making shit is good, marketing, Marx and capitalism, marx and engel and founding fathers, middle east, middle east is complex, moral fiber, no easy steps in middle east, nothing lasts forever, optomism versus pessimism, optomistically cynical, Paris 1919, persepctive on economy, perspective, Pew Research, pluralism, poverty, proud patriots, quotes, recession, recession affecting shopping behavior, redistribution of power, redrawing boundaries, relationships, resiliency, respect, responsibility, saving versus buying, seeking new experiences, self determination, shopping around, shopping behavior, sinclair lewis, social imbalance, social revolutions, social unrest, social upheavals, socialism, spending money as soon as we have it, story of two americas, strength of character to make change, struggling with Iran, Stuff I Like, switching, switching but not satisfied, that i will be tomorrow, the constitution, the decline of europe, the economist, the have nots, the haves, the story of a fragmented america, the story of fragmented middle east, this i am today, thoughtful middle east solution, time magazine, tocqueville, today’s economy, truth, uncertainty of nations, understanding the middle east, unreasonable solutions, well written documents, words
Posted in Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
This is the last of my “manifesto” series. But it was maybe the first that I thought about. Because as I watch the news and see the pictures in Egypt and Sudan and the middle east <and everything else associated with a populace driven revolution> I thought about the manifesto of the communist party (more [...]
2011 best tv ads
January 1, 2012 - 5:42 pm
Tags: 2011 ads, advertising, agency, best tv ads, book recommendations, brand, branding, Business Thoughts, campaign, chipotle tv ad, communication, respect, strategically sound ads, Stuff I Like, the force tv ad, truth
Posted in Business Thoughts, Stuff I Like | No comments
So. It is the end of the year … but .. at the end of November (I think) AdWeek magazine (the people magazine of the advertising industry) published their top 10 television ads of 2011. As Adweek states … it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were watching the “super bowl ads” and assessing [...]
b2b selling, heck, selling in general
September 1, 2010 - 9:40 pm
Tags: a good business concept, alignment, b2b, b2b is not rocket science, b2b marketing, b2b versus consumer, book recommendations, brand, branding, business, business differentiation, business innovation, business marketing, Business Thoughts, clarity, common, communication, core competency, decision making, decommoditizing, differentiating in commodity like categories, distinct, distinctness builds value, emotional, fragmentation, functional, fundementals of evaluating buying process, hybrid sales and marketing, learning, managing business, managing customer information, managing sales cycles, marketing, sales versus marketing, short term and long term results, upside down traditional marketing funnel
Posted in Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations | No comments
Yes. I have an entire white paper on b2b marketing. But. Some things just need to be said again (and again and again and again). For some reason there seems to be a wacky belief that b2b marketing is so radically different from consumer marketing that … well … if you can do one well [...]
choosing the right word
August 29, 2010 - 11:22 pm
Tags: book recommendations, business, Business Thoughts, choose the right word, communication, effective communiction, great thoughts, leadership, learning, lessons, messaging, quotations, quotes, respect, responsibility, speaking, Stuff I Like, truth, using the right words, words
Posted in Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations | No comments
“Where the emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words.” Robert Frost I love this quote for a number of reasons. Let me focus on two. First is I do love words and I truly envy people who know how to take a seemingly mixed bag of words and put them [...]
about transactional branding
August 27, 2010 - 8:57 am
Tags: a good business concept, alignment, b2b versus consumer, book recommendations, brand, branding, business, business differentiation, business innovation, business marketing, Business Thoughts, clarity, common, communication, core competency, decision making, decommoditizing, differentiating in commodity like categories, distinct, distinctness builds value, emotional, fragmentation, functional, hybrid sales and marketing, leadership, learning, lessons, life lessons, managing business, managing customer information, managing sales cycles, marketing, messaging, organizational, sales versus marketing, short term and long term results, upside down traditional marketing funnel
Posted in Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
Ok. I use this term ‘transactional branding’ a lot when I am talking about business and defending why we shouldn’t talk about branding (or at least stop until everyone can turn off the bullshit meters and maybe all agree on terms of usage). The premise behind the phrase is that excellent marketing/communications/branding activity/whatever you want [...]
burger mcsausage unoriginal smarts
July 21, 2010 - 9:15 am
Tags: advertising, agency, being the same as the best can be good, book recommendations, brand, branding, business, Business Thoughts, campaign, communication, competitive but not competitive, leadership, lessons, making people aware you sell the same thing, marketing, marketing parity, messaging, no superiority increases sales, strategy, Stuff I Like, the creepy burger king, truth, winning by being unique
Posted in Business Thoughts, Stuff I Like | No comments
so. This television advertisement introducing the Burger King breakfast sausage biscuit (the one where the creepy king breaks into McDonald’s headquarters to steal the mcmuffin recipe): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF86Rb-uFNE The execution doesn’t confuse me but the effort makes me pause and scratch my head a little. But I guess if you have more money then you know [...]
Célébrons ! bastille day, baguettes & vel’ d’Hiv
July 14, 2010 - 11:53 am
Tags: baguettes, bastille day, book recommendations, character, conscience, enlightened conflict, government, history, holocaust, jews in paris, july 14th in france, leadership by courage, lessons, liberty and fraternity, liberty equality fraternity, life, life lessons, marais paris, properly ordering baguettes, responsibility, righteous among nations, sarah's key, Stuff I Like, the french revolution, the honor of the french, the marais district and vel d' hiv, truth, vel d' hiv
Posted in Personal & Nonsensical, Stuff I Like | 1 comment
Bastille Day So. Today, July 14th, France celebrates its national holiday in commemoration of the storming of the Bastille prison. Oh. Everyone should also note that if you want anything done in France today forget it. I flew through De Gaulle airport one 14th only to find out about 50% of the workers didn’t show [...]
