Carnival of the Capitalists -- January 22, 2007

It is my pleasure to host this week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists as promised (or threatened) -- a collection of blog articles about business and economics submitted for review.

I would like to issue a special welcome to readers visiting my blog for the first time courtesy of the carnival. All my research conclusions, consulting advice and speeches come down to passion, people and principles, and this blog is about the importance of passion, people and principles for success in managing, strategy, client relations and career development. While you are here, I encourage you to take a look around the site, explore my podcasts and articles, and consider subscribing to the blog by email or by RSS.

The policy of this Carnival is to be inclusive, i.e., to include ALL submissions unless there is a reason not to. So, my main task is not to review, edit or endorse, but to try and provide a small degree of organisation to guide through the many submissions.

There were a wide span of topics covered, from personal advice to macroeconomic analysis. Having no other basis on which to organise things, I have chose to go from the personal to the cosmic, from the micro to the macro. This is not an evaluation, so you may want to skip to the types of topics that interest you most. (I couldn't resist starting with those that I found most interesting.)

The rest of this week's edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists will be organised in the following categories:

• Section 1: The Articles I Enjoyed the Most (A Highly Personal Selection)
• Section 2: Articles Giving Personal Advice
• Section 3: Articles about Personal Finance
• Section 4: Articles About Marketing
• Section 5: Bogs about Public Policy and Macroeconomics
• Section 6: Other Topics

Section One: Articles I Enjoyed The Most

1. Shawn Callahan is well-known to regular readers of this blog. His firm (in Australia) provides advice on how to use stories and anecdotes to make things happen, and he walks us through (in a 1300-word piece) the role stories play compared to other ways of "knowing" (the scientific method, religion, and intuition).

2. A blog called Software Project Management has an in-depth post (from December) about creating logos. Very informative, with good graphical illustrations. (Obviously?)

3. Getting Green has a really interesting description of attending a meeting organised by a multi-level marketer (Quixtar) with lots of insight into how these things are actually run.

4. There's a fascinating discussion of various aspects of the talent gap (what our economy needs vs what our educational system is producing) at Talentism. It wanders in and out of some other subjects, but is worth looking at and thinking about.

5. Bob Brown Consultant Intelligence Briefings describes a situation where it looks like both client and consultants were at fault in working together.

6. Jennifer, at Penguin uneartherd, discusses the different approaches taken in different countries to major catastrophe insurance. Did you know, for example, that everyone in New Zealand is entitled to seek help from a government body if they are injured in an accident -- it doesn't matter how old you are, if you are in the work force or not, or if you are at fault. In return, there is no right in NZ to sue anyone for personal injury. Great stuff!

7. Econbrowser review the topic of why some countrieas are rich and some are poor, and reviews a recent paper analysing the colonisation of oceanic islands according to the prevailing winds. I'm not sure what it all proves, but it's fascinating stuff.

8. Krishna De says that Google alerts are probably the best free research tool in the world. She shows you how and why.

9. The Antisysiphus Effect has an intriguing essay about managing and some religious concepts. This one's worth a read.

10. Charles Green gives good advice about how to deal with purchasing agents if you are attempting to sell professional services.

11. Ready Fire Aim has a blog on what makes a successful entrepreneur. This is one of a three-part series (with references).

12. Stirling Newberry at The Agonist has a detailed (2300-word) analysis of the economy (where we are in the boom and bust cycle) and what it means for investments by business. You'll need to think and pay close attention, but it will reward the effort.

13. Re:The Auditors has an intriguing exploration of the state of the accounting profession and KPMG's woes.

14. Phil For Humanity analyses the tension between China's economic policy and its international policies.

15. There's an interesting brief discussion of MBA writing skills at Photon Courier.

16. Wally Block sensibly points out that team-building exercises teaching leaders to cook are probably an irrelevant activity.

Section Two: Articles Giving Personal Advice

1. Execupundit has a quick list of 25 ways to screw up.

2. Slow Leadership offers some steps to finding out what you really want to do with your life, unaffected by what others say.

3. Eric Brown writes about the problem with linear thinking. His example is about tending to hire the kind of people we have always hired, but he provides some good links to other aspects of the "fixed mindset" problem.

4. Gautam Ghosh has a post about the CEO as politician. His advice to build at least one necessary political skill is to go to an undergrad student class and explain your business model in non-technical terms. He says you never know what you might learn about your own business if you simplify it to communicate.

5. Smart Cool Rich offers some advice based on high-stakes poker: bluff by not bluffing. The key takeaway is that while bluffing may be great theatre, it seldom leads to an ultimate victory.

6. Breaking the Shackles quotes Tony Robbins to the effect that only action reflects a decision made.

Section Three: Articles About Personal Finance

1. Build Your Life to Order explains how EVERYONE can get rich.

2. Five Cent Nickel says "Don't Miss These Tax Deductions."

3. HedgeFund Domain reveiews his investment portfolio's performance.

4. Wisebread offers some tips on learning to save and living on a budget.

5. Searchlight Crusade has a discussion of California's Home Equity Sales Contract Act.

6. The Boring Made Dull thinks tax refund loans are a bad idea.

7. The Digerati Life recently stumbled across Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV show and gives us a review.

8. Extreme Perspective takes us through the lessons of leverage and compounding in personal finance.

9. Free Money Finance gives a basic example of what saving $10,000 a year would translate into in savings if you kept it up.

10. OhCash.com warns about get rich quick schemes.

11. Debt C0nsolidation Lowdown says that you should live within your means.

Section Four: Articles About Marketing

1. Small Business Buzz bemoans the lack of client service we receive.

2. James S. Logan reports on some research done by James D. Brausch as to whether it helps or hurts to hide your price until the end of the purchase process. (It hurts.)

3. Businesspundit explains that "marketing is math." He debunks some of the "get rich quick” marketing ideas that are flying around out there.

4. Modern Marketing explores how "brands" can or cannot create "communities." It concludes with a paradox: that businesses that want to create communities cannot achieve it by TRYING. They have to give up control and let the users do it.

5. Queercents asks whether we should (or do) buy from people or companies of whom we morally disapprove.

6. Robbin at Brains on Fire observes that the same things that make a person remarkable also make a company remarkable. She lists the characteristics.

7. David Daniels at Business Technology Reinvention describes the difficulties firms have in hiring Sales Managers.

8. Entrepreneur's Life offers 5 critical questions for effective small business advertising.

Section Five: Articles About Public Policy and Macroeconomics

1. Brian Gongol has a thoughtful discussion of global warming and energy taxes.

2. Leadership Now comments on the firing of Home Depot chief Bob Nardelli.

3. Bio Health Investor talks about Project Bioshield, and the incentives to protect against biological attacks.

4. The New Business World reports on a study that apparently shows that more diverse companies make more money.

5. One-Man Band urges you to contact your congressperson and vote against net neutrality.

6. Insureblog comments on Las Vegas magnate Steve Wynn's attempt to claim on the insurance for putting his elbow through one of his Picassos.

7. The Benin Epilogue has a brief discussion on why Uganda may be ready for business.

Section Six: Other Topics

1. Tattvamasi talks about the failed promise of the three-letter acronym (TLA) and uses it to reflect on some software products.

2. Dilanchian Lawyers provides a link to a story about YouTube's Licensing arrangements.

3. BigPictureSmallOffice points out an example of bureaucracy gone crazy in categorising problems as minor, major and major-plus.

4. EGO reports on AOL's bid for Tradedoubler AB.

That concludes this edition. Thank you to everyone who submitted articles to this week's carnival.

The next edition of Carnival of the Capitalists will be hosted by Long or Short Capital on January 29. You can submit your blog articles to future carnival editions using the Carnival of the Capitalists submission form. If you are interested in hosting an edition of the carnival on your blog, contact Jay Solo, the Carnival of the Capitalists co-founder and administrator.