Ming as a Software Entrepreneur

Valuable Advice from John McCall MacBian

2011-01-11T09:30:00.002-07:00

John McCall MacBian was the founder and former president and CEO of Trader Classified Media. He recently wrote an article which I've gone back and re-read many times. The following is a summary: You will probably best succeed if you "be a big fish in a small pond, and jump from pond to pond." Limit your ego to below your capabilities. Ego interferes with progress, since people who

Guiding Principles from Year 2010

2010-12-30T11:17:00.008-07:00

Year 2010 is a special year for me. I've gone through some significant changes during this year. As it draws to an end, I'd like to summarize what I have learned in this year. They will serve as guiding principles in my life. 1. It's OK to leave an unhealthy situation. In most time, you are only stuck "mentally". 2. A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than

Fred Wilson: 10 Ways to Be Your Own Boss

2010-06-29T16:53:00.000-06:00

Fred Wilson: 10 Ways to Be Your Own Boss from 99% on Vimeo. You can find more good entrepreneur information on Fred Wilson's blog.

Photoelectric Flashlight: Product and Leadership Lessons

2010-06-01T09:00:00.027-06:00

Thanks to my wife for drawing this cartoon. There are two lessons to learn in this cartoon. If a product does not function well for its intended purpose, such as a printer that requires outside help to print, it's a product failure A leader should be showing the vision and lead the way. If he requires other people to "carry" him to form the vision and lead, it's a leadership failure.

Multi-tasking and Space-saving Furniture

2010-05-31T11:35:00.000-06:00

Superior design. Multi-tasking furniture that are usable and save space!

Leadership Lessons From Nehemiah

2010-05-28T14:20:00.005-06:00

We are doing an in depth study of the book of Nehemiah lately and I have discovered a lot of leadership lessons from the book. It reveals to me some leadership qualities we need to acquire in order to become great leaders. Great leaders have great EQ (emotional quality), particularly empathy. Emotion usually follows by actions. If a person doesn't have any emotional response, he usually won't

Untangling Social Media Networks

2010-04-28T10:17:00.001-06:00

Do all of these social media networks make you dizzy? Do you have the feeling that you are lost in a maze of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Four Square etc? Posts are everywhere and sometimes they are repeating the same things. It may annoy your followers and friends and eventually you will get ignored. It doesn’t have to be this way when you know how to simplify and

Time Management and Productivity

2010-04-12T11:33:00.000-06:00

I've received some great advices on time management and productivity from my mentors throughout my career. Here is a small list I found valuable. Build a Default Time Schedule Do hardest stuff at your most productive time – for most, this is the morning Schedule things that require concentration at your best quiet time – this may be end of day, or even at home A way to get back some time is to

Harness the Power of Auto Crowdsourcing

2010-03-31T23:54:00.006-06:00

You probably have known or heard of crowsourcing that uses groups of individuals doing things collectively that seem intelligent. Wikipedia, iStockphoto and Jigsaw.com are all well-known examples of active crowd-sourcing. Lately I really see how powerful the crowdsourcing is on solving problems using the collective knowledge of the users and the communities in a passive and automated way. By

Rules to Successful Trading

2010-03-23T16:39:00.004-06:00

I just found out my good friend Sam has an Investment Blog called Investocrat. One of the investment insight articles on Rules to Successful Trading he wrote awhile back is really good. I like how he put it:Successfully trading the markets require strict discipline. A set of rules guide every trade just like the Ten Commandments to a devoted Christian.These 10 investment rules are:Be

Build on your strengths, not your weaknesses

2010-03-02T00:41:00.005-07:00

As business coach Dan Sullivan says, "If you spend too much time working on your weaknesses, all you end up with is a lot of strong weaknesses!"Tim Ferriss said in his book that it is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor. The choice is between multiplication of results using strengths or incremental improvement fixing

Are you a Leader or just a Boss?

2010-02-28T18:01:00.003-07:00

The Practice of Leadership on the difference between being a boss and being a leaderPeople follow the boss because they have to if they want to keep their jobs. People follow leaders because of who they are and where they are going. Too many leaders today rely on their position to lead. How about you?It's also quite disappointed when a leader turns into a boss.

iPhone Arts

2010-02-25T10:42:00.004-07:00

My wife painted some arts with her fingers on my iPhone using DoodleBuddy. What do you think?On the left is her first attempt painting on iPhone. On the right is her trying to emulate Chinese free style painting.

We need to have PRIDE

2010-02-23T20:04:00.003-07:00

As an individual, we need to have PRIDE.P - PassionR - ResponsibilityI - IntegrityD - DriveE - Energy

Why I converted to iPhone

2010-02-18T15:11:00.002-07:00

I like things that come in a single package and solve multiple problems at the same time. After using Blackberry for awhile, here are the three main reasons for my switching to iPhone. 1) I want a Netbook. I like the ability to do computing and surfing on the road. 2) I want a iPod. I listen to a lot of audio books, especially when I'm driving. 3) I want a Kindle. Apparently we always end up

Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

2010-02-18T12:12:00.003-07:00

Leadership Lessons learned from Dancing Guy by Derek Sivers. Read transcript at http://sivers.org/ff

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

2010-02-17T16:36:00.004-07:00

At his Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -- including death itself.

The Strangest Secret

2009-09-03T13:02:00.001-06:00

Is there a secret to success and failure?The answer is yes. You become what you think about.- Earl Nightingale

Asking Good Questions

2009-08-19T00:49:00.012-06:00

There are many ways to ask the same question. Lately I've learned it's not what question you ask but how you ask it if you want a desirable answer.Let's look at the following questions that I've encountered many times with my team.Can we add this feature?Yes, no, maybe so... This question doesn't really lead to proper answer. The answer is usually a yes but often what you will get is depending on

樂觀感 --- 改變，由我開始

2009-08-09T15:28:00.002-06:00

樂觀感：相信自己是值得人喜愛的人；感覺到自己懂得關心別人，也有能力幫助別人；懂得尊重自己，也懂得尊重別人；認為有能力為自己的行為負責；相信凡事總有出路，不抱怨環境，不覺得自己陷于絕路。樂觀感的基礎是一個『望』字：盼望並非一個人主觀的愿望，而是建基於對人性和這世界的信念--雖然人性有幽暗，環境波動難測；但人間仍然有『信』有『愛』，這世界仍有光芒；在逆境中仍然看見亮點！---P47 <改變，由我開始> 蔡元雲著

Vision and Mission

2009-08-01T10:01:00.003-06:00

Just saw a quote from my friend on Facebook. It touches me:When you have a vision....you must have a mission to achieve the vision.

Ideal CEO Personality Type

2009-07-08T13:43:00.003-06:00

From the In Praise of Dullness of The New York Times:The C.E.O.’s that are most likely to succeed are humble, diffident, relentless and a bit unidimensional. They are often not the most exciting people to be around.

Ziglar Success 2.0

2009-07-08T13:16:00.003-06:00

I just missed the recent live Ziglar Success 2.0 Webcast - I Refuse to Lose! In the email, it says that Scott Turner would cover the following points.You must have a visionThe importance of mentors in your life How humility plays a role in your successBe instant in season and out of season How to build determination in your lifeI guess I'll see if I can watch it in the replay instead.

Smile and Move

2009-04-02T12:46:00.003-06:00

I like this video. It cheers me up.

Life long lesson

2009-02-01T20:27:00.003-07:00

Need to re-learn and apply this:Sow a thought and you reap an action;sow an action and you reap a habit;sow a habit and you reap a character;sow a character and you reap a destiny. -- Emerson, Ralph Waldo