Magsafe2

I just got my new Macbook Air. The old one had some battery issue, after just about over a year of service. I have to say that I love my Air. I think it is the best laptop (or whatever category it falls under) ever made. The one disappointing thing is that the new Air has a new power adaptor connector - something called "Magsafe 2". I am sure someone at Apple had a reason to change it. My problem is that I have at least 4 or 5 legacy Magsafe power adapters - one in each office, a couple at home, one in my laptop bag, etc. At $80 a pop, that's another $400, in addition to the cost of the laptop, that I need to invest, just because the battery of my old Macbook Air died. Now I have to carry the $10 "adapter thingy" in my backpack, lose it, buy another one and most importantly - run out of power when I needed. Sounds like a bad idea altogether, and other people seem to agree:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/one-of-apples-best-ideas-ever-made-worse/

Falling Forward

With my deepest gratitude to the friends that inspired this conversation.

We all seem to fail. Every single day. Think about it – if we can succeed 51% of the time we'd be either win the lottery or play the stock market. Failure is just an integral part of our existence – something that we cannot pretend does not happen to us or around us. Although this seems like a certain fact, I am going to create a distinction between falling and failing and will argue that the only reason for failure is the lack of commitment, not the environment,

In a conversation with someone about creating a possibility for us being an extraordinary team – a team where people actually want to be part of, despite all what is involved – I sensed that my friend was losing it. He was not enrolled yet, he did not get the possibility and did not get get it that I am committed to him and to this possibility. As my impatient self was already wondering "what is so difficult go get?", it suddenly hit me – he was afraid of failure. I just saw it right in his eyes. It was one of those very rare 'make it or break it' moments. Thought about it for a second and said - "Look, you know how much I respect you and enjoy working together. Our team is a critical juncture with a lot of responsibility, and will take a lot to turn things around. You need to make a choice – you are either on board, or not. Either way, I will support you though and through. If you're not, I'll help you get a new job – you're talented and smart, that is not an issue. If you are – I'll be there to support you every step of the way. The only thing I can't let you do is silently fail us by not making a choice.". My friend thought about it for a second as well, and replied. "I am on board. Appreciate the opportunity. Will let you know if I ever change my mind.". He got it, right there and then, that I am taking a stand for him in the matter and I am not going to let him fail. Fast forward several months ago,  yesterday as I was having an enrollment conversation over a glass or two of wine with someone else who is very dear to my heart, I was replaying this conversation in my head trying to choose my words and realized that "failure" is a tricky word: what most people call "failure" is just life. Sometimes we could have predicted it, sometimes not. Sometimes there's something to learn from it, sometimes not. If you are in a game, you stand the chance of not winning, or getting bruised. That's the nature of the game. If you play, you fall forward, get up and keep playing. You don't fail. The only way to fail is not to play. The only way to fail others is not to tell them that.