https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_harford One of my favourite TED talks is by Tim Harford titled Trial and Error and the God Complex. Harford is an economics writer who studies complex systems and finds a surprising link among the most successful ones; they are built through trial and error. His talk centers around the idea of a God complex,…
How do you speak to yourself?
Often when we see a man walking down the street openly speaking to himself, we say he is has gone mental. And when a man speaks to himself silently, we say he is thoughtful and a thinker. In both instances the man is speaking to himself. We all speak to ourselves. How do you…
Test: “Here I made this, what do you think?”
So you have built this product or prototype, a book, painting, blog article, conference, or anything new, and now you have to deliver it to the customers. You are nervous, because you don't know how it will be received. Will they like it? Will it be rejected? What if people think it is terrible? This…
Test: Implementation is king
It is easy to have an idea, you have an idea, the person sitting next to you has one, the receptionist at work has one. The challenge is not the lack of ideas, the challenge is the implementation of ideas. Just having an idea is not enough. Ideas have to go through a process, something…
One of the few…
Few organisations look past the data to see the humanity of the client behind the numbers. Few companies act as if it is a privilege to serve their customers. Few people take time to listen twice as much as they speak. Few people are comfortable not attention-seeking. Few products are made with love. Few people…
Book Review: Almost Sleeping My Way to Timbuktu by Sihle Khumalo
I usually read books on entrepreneurship related topics. This is my first travel book I have read. So I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. The book is funny, but also smart. Sihle get's into plane and travels to West African, and when he lands in Senegal, he uses public transport…
Who is this all for?
In the end, the enterprise, and the sacrifice are all about the audience. It is easy to forget and make it about you. It's not, it's for the audience. The audience is the hero. The sacrifices are about the readers, the theatre goers, the site visitors, the listeners, the concert goers, the gamers, the gallery…
Keep grinding
The amateur believes he must have all his ducks in a row before he can launch a startup, or compose a song, or design his iPhone app. The professional knows better. Has your wife just broken up with you? Has your house been repossessed? Keep writing, keep composing, keep coding, keep recording film. Athletes play…
How we were sold smoking, bacon and the ideal of slender women
Edward Bernays is one of the most influential persons in the 20th century. He is considered the father of “Public Relations” and changed how we think of mass marketing, advertising at scale and consumerism. And, yet, strangely it is likely you have never heard of him. Despite his enduring impact on the world, there are…
Prototype: Walking…
As humans, when we first learned to talk, we started uttering random sounds, and failed, received feedback, then tried again until we succeeded into forming correct sentences. We prototyped our way to talking. When we were young learning to walk, we constantly, stood up, took a couple of steps forward, fell again, stood up and tried again…
Prototype: The Shinkansen story
In the 1950s, during the lingering wake of the devastation of the Second World War, Japan was intensely focused on growing the nation’s economy. A large portion of the country’s population lived in or between the cities of Tokyo and Osaka, which were separated by just 320 miles of train track. Every day, tens of…
rochemamabolo 