"The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why. All great discoveries are made in this way." Albert Einstein

"I get the facts, I study them patiently, I apply imagination." Bernard Baruch

"Either do not attempt at all, or go through with it." Ovid

Today's image: Royal Poinciana by Sanibeljac. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

"It's all in the casting"

That's wisdom attributed to the great directors. Steven Spielberg said "I feel that 40% of my creative effort has been realized once the people have been cast in the film. I use actors to service me in what I'm doing." [via]

This blogger holds a few truths to be self-evident including this one...

"We believe the recruitment, development and retention
of exceptionally gifted talent is the wellspring of every great enterprise."

Your business is only as good as the talent involved. The potential of your venture is equal to the potential of the talent engaged. The most critically important job of the manager is to recruit, develop and retain exceptionally gifted talent. Talent = Everybody. As Tom Peters has written...

Your brand = Your talent

Radio programming ace and marketing maven Lee Arnold pays tribute to Dick Meeder, the best manager he never worked for and in the process tells a good story and talks leadership..

"...Some were great at what they did. Some were 'dear' friends. Some left me alone to do my job. Others meddled constantly. Some were generous and out going. Some were cheap. Some were leaders. Some were afraid of leaders."

Read Lee's post here. Bravos, Lee!

Word to the wise: General Georges Doriot, Harvard Business School professor and president of American Research and Development (ARD)...

• One should not only be able to criticize but should always have a suggestion to make.
• Ask about prospects who didn't buy product.
• Always challenge the statement that nothing can be done about a certain condition.

My thanks to Fred Wilson for sharing these quotations. More here. Fred added another Doriot quote, a killer, via Tumblr "A team made up of the younger generation, with courage and inventiveness, together with older men of wisdom and experience, should bring success." Fred is taking these quotes from the book - Creative Capital by Spencer E. Ante [Amazon info]


Memorial Day 2008.

A day to remember.

The joys of our liberty were purchased by those who paid the ultimate price.

No matter your politics, those women and men who wear the uniform, those who once wore the uniform, honorably, deserve our respect and appreciation.

Those that put themselves into harms way in our name deserve more than they're getting.

This is especially true with regard to the discussions concerning a new revised GI bill. Let your elected representatives know how you feel about this important issue.

Image: Half-Mast by Tom Rydquist. Thanks for sharing.

Bonus: Tag Galaxy. [Related - backstory via Mashable]


Congrats & cheers: WGN America. Sean Compton, Randy Michaels, Lee Abrams & crew on the rebranding of Superstation WGN. Kipper McGee and company at WLS. The Big 89 Rewind is a smash. Kudos to Jim Smith for cooking a very cool, tight music log. [Related - Sneak of Art's 2008 video via YouTube]. NASA & JPL on the Phoenix Mars Lander touch down. HBO, Recount!

Grapes - overlooked reds: Some good values in red table wine under $10. Secret de Campane 2006 (60% Grenache, 30% Old Carignan, 10% Cinsault). Beringer Founders' Estate, Merlot 2004. Bogle Merlot 2005.