technology
-
One of my mentors was often encouraging me and the others he was guiding to broaden your beam. In various ways, he was always encouraging us to learn more, widen our aperture, understand how our efforts fit in the bigger picture, and to better understand the other parts of the big picture. At some point, this led…
-
My father’s recent passing has me reflecting on some of the things that he taught me that I am only able to begin to fully appreciate as I get older. He owned and managed a plumbing, heating, and air conditioning business for decades. On breaks and during the summer, I worked in various jobs for him until…
-
Years ago, one of my favorite mentors shared his view that if you don’t understand an idea well enough to explain it using an analogy, you don’t understand it. In hindsight, I think this was his version of the quote attributed to Einstein that “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Over…
-
Years ago, I decided to accept a position that led to me transitioning from a high-volume industry with frequent product changeover and intense market forces to a low-volume industry with greatly reduced connectivity to market dynamics. My boss at the time provided me a bit of perspective and advice that has stuck with me over the…
-
Organizations, like spacecraft, rockets, and airplanes, rely on guidance, navigation, and control systems. Recently, I have been thinking about the similarities between guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) systems, the management and leadership systems in organizations, and how learnings from one type of system might be useful to the other type of system. At their core, GN&C…
Musings of an Analyst 