Couldn't this relate to your other post...

...Independence? It's a fact that everyone has to play the game, even the homeless :). But it seems to me that those that have truly risen above the crowd played the game but set their own rules.

Scott S.
I'm straight,it's the rest of the world that's tilted.




Happiness is..

Hi Scott,

You have a beautiful daughter on your home page. I love that dalmation pic too! :)

A friend of mine who I used to share an office with told me, too, that becoming a dad brought new meaning into his life....

> ...Independence? It's a fact that everyone
> has to play the game, even the homeless :).
> But it seems to me that those that have
> truly risen above the crowd played the game
> but set their own rules.

I think there's some creative rule-breaking going on.... Sometimes they move dangerously close to the edge of the law (like.... hmm.... big recent case.... Earth's most profitable company.... oh yeah, Microsoft!)

I think it's best to play by the rules, but often there are "moves" within the "rules" that others don't think of.

For example, if I'm not mistaken, Amazon.com were the ones to pioneer the online affiliate program.... That was also available to everyone else at the time (if they had thought of it), but by being the first to do it really helped to put Amazon.com on the internet map!

In contrast, Edison's ideas for cement pianos never took off. But I guess he more than made up for it with his other great inventions. :)

Sometimes innovations are ahead of their time. Like Edison's own version of "talking movies" (talking peephole-type movies), which he created in 1895, but which nobody was interested in.

Some "rules" really aren't true "rules" at all, just conventions.... But when they break the convention, they discover some incredible success.

For example, the supposed "rule" (really, a convention) in the 1980s was for companies to cut costs as much as possible, including firing lots of their staff if they thought they could get away with it.

But recently, I read an article which said that in the decade since, the companies which behaved like this grew more SLOWLY than the companies which showed loyalty to their staff.

What seems to have happened is that when a company showed loyalty to their staff, this brought staff loyalty to the company too. While on the other hand, companies that got rid of their staff just to cut costs, found that their remaining staff had less loyalty to them, and didn't have as much dedication.

And so this "rule" from the 1980s turned out to be a bad one! These companies may have made short-term increases in profits by cutting their staff to save on costs, but in the long term these companies ended up growing more slowly than their competitors....

As some say, in any company, good people are the most valuable resource they have....

Cheers,

Dien




The Edison cement piano

Hi,

Edison was Bill Gatesian in his competitiveness, and didn't mind bending the rules.

Did you know Edison pirated, stole, a copy of Georges Méliès' 1902 movie (this was the world's first science fiction movie) _Le Voyage Dans La Lune_ (A Trip To The Moon) and exhibited it in New York before Méliès could, thereby robbing Méliès of his rightful profits?

Edison also fought the alternating current guy (I forget his name) tooth and nail during the DC VS AC struggle. To show that AC was dangerous, Edison staged events in which he electrocuted elephants and horrible stuff like that. The alternating current guy's life ended up being ruined, even though his way was better.

Can anyone name a supersuccessful person, other than Jesus, who never broke or bent any rules?

Best,

-Boyd

Hi Boyd,

> Edison also fought the alternating current
> guy (I forget his name) tooth and nail
> during the DC VS AC struggle. To show that
> AC was dangerous, Edison staged events in
> which he electrocuted elephants and horrible
> stuff like that. The alternating current
> guy's life ended up being ruined, even
> though his way was better.

Yes, you're thinking of Nikola Tesla -- he really was a genius. The unit of magnetism is named the "Tesla" in his honor.

(So, with any magnetic device, it could have a strength of 1 Tesla, or 2 Teslas, and so on.)

We use alternating current (A/C power) for our homes nowadays rather than Edison's direct current because A/C power really is safer, as Tesla said it was....

Tesla is a bit of a cult hero nowadays in some circles.... Some believe that Tesla invented a "free energy" machine which was suppressed.... From what I can gather (and I haven't really looked into this), Tesla planned to have some kind of machine which worked on both solar power and the energy from cosmic rays. (That is, from small high energy particles which are constantly bombarding the earth from space.)

I think it's tough to make a living from inventing though. Much easier to become a "product developer"! Tesla's life is an example.... He was clearly a genius, but because he had high development costs, the money he did make eventually disappeared into the costs of developing his other projects.... Sadly, Tesla died in poverty. Though he has a HUGE following today!

> Can anyone name a supersuccessful person,
> other than Jesus, who never broke or bent
> any rules?

I've been looking for such people!

I have a high opinion of Ross Perot's personal ethics, from what I know about them. The fact he saved his employees who were taken hostage in Iran during the Iranian revolution I think is absolutely remarkable! This became a bestselling novel, "On Wings of Eagles", and then a TV mini-series. :)

Oprah Winfrey seems also to be an ethical success story, from what I know....

There could be important things I don't know, but that's my view based on my current knowledge!

I believe that highly ethical and also successful people do exist. :)

Dien Rice


If you want to know more about Tesla.... Nikola Tesla - Master of Lightning