As I was reading this article on A-Rod’s suspension in the Los Angeles Times, I saw a quick highlight of the 60 Minutes special on the Biogenesis founder who spoke convincingly on A-Rod’s guilt. Anthony Bosch basically said that not only did he sell A-Rod several performance enhancing drugs but he also injected them into A-Rod himself on multiple occasions. With each phase of this sad saga A-Rod sounds more and more like Lance Armstrong who lied and denied until the evidence became overwhelming or Roger Clemens who got off legally but looked horrendous in the process. It’s disheartening to watch. read more

Sitting at a sports bar at JFK watching Seattle dominate the Saints I found myself in a conversation with a bright young woman who just graduated from Occidental University in Southern California. I had asked Mia what her tuition was at this small liberal arts school and she replied 55 thousand. I told her about this article that I read in the Wall Street Journal Review section addressing the easy availability of student loans through government backing had allowed universities to raise tuition beyond reasonable levels. As a result, far too many coeds graduate with excessive debt in a soft job market. Suddenly, a former Tufts professor interrupted politely agreeing with me that the system was indeed broken but he argued that the primary cause was related to prodigious course offerings that make individual per student costs as high as 75 thousand at many private universities. I added that administrative bloat was clearly an issue as well as non facility costs have soared too. This professor was en route to Brussels having taken a job for NATO in large part because the system is now making it harder to enjoy teaching as well. He told me that tenure is more challenging than ever and schools pay increasing numbers of adjuncts less. read more

Man Overboard, a New York Times Magazine cover story by Paul Tough, about John Aldridge, A Montauk, NY based commercial fisherman who fell overboard forty miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean at 3:30 am on July 24th last year, is an extraordinary story of perseverance and survival. The water temperature was 72 degrees with five foot swells. His chances of being rescued were minimal due to the fact that his two crew members didn’t realize that he fell overboard until nearly three hours afterwards when they awoke. Through a combination of courage, ingenuity, and sheer willpower, Mr. Aldridge managed to stay afloat for nearly twelve hours before a coastguard helicopter spotted him. The rescue operation involved volunteer fisherman as well as professionals with a rare happy ending given the circumstances! read more

Adam Bryant of the Corner Office section of the Sunday Business section interviews a business leader who likes to hire by using his gut! I am a huge supporter of assisting others to develop and trust their intuition. In my life, going outside myself for answers has cost me plenty in terms of pain and suffering. As a result, I often ask my clients the following question: what does your gut say? I suggest they use this question with their children as well. Teaching others, including employees to develop and follow their instincts is a great step along the way to build an intelligent, effective team! read more

The feature article in the Sunday Business section of The New York Times is very interesting! In a nutshell, being an entrepreneur in Russia is rife with danger. The totalitarian state is deeply suspicious of business activity that is not state sponsored, corruption is rampant, and competitors often go to local law enforcement who prosecute private businessmen with relative impunity. Putin has recently pardoned Khodorkovsky, the billionaire oligarch who was imprisoned on dubious charges for newly a decade. read more

Jane Isay writes eloquently about her marriage to a gay Psychiatrist in her book and cover story in Psychology Today magazine. She lived a lie for over a decade of marriage before her husband told her the truth. As she acknowledged, Ms. Isay preferred to live a fantasy of the perfect marriage than face the truth of a marriage devoid of sexual intimacy. Once his secret was out, they continued to live a lie with their friends, family, and professional community for years until it became nearly impossible to continue. read more

The Wegener brothers have reinvigorated old Hawaiian wooden surf board designs that have certain advantages over regular foam and fiberglass designs. The Paipo, a small wooden board that almost resembles a boogie board is especially good in smaller surf which is way more common than the big waves. read more

I enjoy the Corner Office section of the Sunday Business section of The New York Times. This week Mr. Bryant interviews Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Commerce Secretary and successful businesswoman. Her family built the Hyatt Hotel chain. She learned the value of passion, commitment, energy, and desire to learn from her father who valued those traits above all. She also regards Integrity to be paramount in the hiring process. Ms. Pritzker discusses the importance of becoming a better listener too, especially as it pertains to management and decision making. read more

The Sunday Business section cover article in this week’s New York Times is fascinating. Entrepreneurs are investing in virtual mining operations across the world to mine for Bitcoin, a virtual currency that can be used for real business transactions and traded on several exchanges for real currency. Other articles have pointed to nefarious purposes for Bitcoin such as a means to fund drug dealing and hit man operations. The currency is unregulated and created anonymously. It has a finite amount of coins (21 million) that will eventually be released as powerful computers compete to mine for coins that are available on the open source market every ten minutes. About half the total are currently in use and the price per coin continues to rise from $20 in 2009 to over $1000 today. Volatility is high as threats to the network exist from governments like China. Nevertheless, the network is currently thriving and mining operations are attracting real capital. read more

I’m a big Thomas Friedman fan. I love his books and read his articles in the Review section of the Sunday New York Times. This week he highlights innovation and entrepreneurship. For instance, Tradesy.com is a site where people can buy and sell used clothing like wedding dresses which makes expensive clothing potentially more affordable! read more