There is wisdom in this quote. So Stop, read it again two or three times if you need to. Now, think about it, if your heart is right and righteousness lives in you, despite setbacks, you will always be able to make a good ending. Always remember that it is YOU who writes the pages of your own book, and whether you believe it or not God is watching, and yes He does care. Cheer up, you can do it, He will help you, he will shine on you!
“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789. Words for the wise.
Today Mario Vargas Llosa, the remarkable writer from Peru, whose life has been divided between his passion for literature, and his dedication to political causes finally won the Nobel prize of Literature.
This is particularly important to me, since I have not just read his books, but been personally influenced by his passion for freedom, democracy and political accountability.
Mario started as a left-wing liberal, supporting Castro and socialism in his early days, but soon after he realized freedom was lost in the socialist countries, and center right policies were better for a democracy, he did a 180 degree change, and even became a candidate for Peru’s presidency, which he lost. Bitter a few months after the race, he would even criticize harshly his homeland, gaining many enemies in the process.
However, Mario the writer eventually got over his loss as a politician, wrote a book about his fascinating experience: ”The Fish in the Water” or El Pez en El Agua; and some years later actually apologized to Peruvians.
On his first interview today, he actually was full of compliments to Peru, Peruvians and the land that inspired most of his books.
Being a writer who aligns with the right was hard on Mario, mostly because writers in Europe and Latin America are either on the left of the political spectrum, or at the very least are not vocal of their “right-wing opinions.” Mario however would never have that, he openly attacked Castro’s socialist Cuba regime, and Venezuela’s recent turn to the left with Hugo Chavez.
Many feared that perhaps his outspoken political stands would prevent the Swedish Academy from ever honoring him with a Nobel, like it unfortunately happened with the great Argentinian writer Borges. What a pleasant surprise it must have been for him to know that it actually happened today, and what a celebration for Peru, Spain and all of Latin America to have a new winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature.
¡Bravo Mario, siempre confiamos en ti, este premio Nobel es un reconocimiento a tu carrera, y también para el Perú donde ocurren tantas de tus historias, para el idioma español y para la literatura Latino Americana!
Bravo Mario, we always had faith in you, this Nobel prize is a recognition to your career, to Peru where most of your stories take place, to the Spanish language and to all Latin American Literature!
Best English Coverage about this good news on the LA Times, and Living in Peru.
Cover art: Mario’s picture from the book “Freedom and life”, a book that touches on Mario’s life, more details here and here.
JosephHurtado.com is online!
To all the kind Folks who read my blog, I realized as much as I like this forum, I needed an official place for my professional self. Still w/ a bit of fun of course, just because I can’t help it ;-)
But if you want to read my thoughts on project management, Social Media, Agile methods, Marketing, business and software development in more detail, or just know what’s up with yours truly, visit: JosephHurtado.com. I’ve got a few entries there already, I think you’d like it, I call it Thinking Business.
In the mean time Beyond Development, will continue forward, as the informal, life loving place it is.
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“Action will destroy your procrastination.
Act now, for now is all you have.”
— Og Mandino. He lived this quotes in his life.
Loïc Le Meur’s 10 Rules for Business Success, from the great piece Chris Nutall wrote for the Financial Times. Some do sound counter-intuitive, that makes them even more interesting. So read, and THINK before you do them.
1- Do not wait for a revolutionary idea, the idea of your life will never happen, just focus on a simple exciting empty space you see and execute as fast as possible
2- Share your idea as much as possible, the more you share, the more you get advice and the more you learn. Meet and talk to your competitors.
3- Build a community around you through blogging and social software
4- Listen to your community, answer questions and build your product with their feedback, involve bloggers as early as possible and get their feedback, if negative, adapt your product permanently
5- Gather a great team with a very different skill set than yours, look for people who are better than you without being afraid of it
6- Be the first to recognize a problem or a mistake you have made. Never hide it behind the carpet. Address the issue in public, learn and correct it.
7- Do not spend time on market research, but launch as early as possible in alpha or beta versions. Keep improving the product in the open.
8- Do not focus on a large spreadsheet business plan, you are so sure it is not going to happen anyway
9- Do not plan huge marketing, growing with your community loving the product is much more powerful
10- Do not focus on getting rich or selling your company, focus on your users, money is a consequence of success, can’t be a goal.
Remember though that military strategy, and business strategy recommends discretion. However once an idea is close to fruition, I do agree sharing, and using social media sounds like solid advice.
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” —
Winston Churchill. In Project Management this is a rule, and the consequence to this rule is that the further into the future we try to plan, the less reliable plans become.
However we still must plan! How can we solve this paradox? The answer lies in Agile Methodologies, particularly Lean Kanban. I will explore this subject in the near future.
Happy Birthday Peru! Feliz 28 de Julio Perú!
This amazing place located in Peru’s high-altitude jungle, has been visited by millions of people, and continues to be a landmark of the Inca Empire that flourished over 800 years ago. It’s capital was in Cusco, the same region where Machupicchu belongs to. Today it is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.
Peru has an amazing geography: thousands of beautiful beaches, the second highest mountain range in the World (the Andes) and is the birthplace of the Amazon river. Now add to that great food, and good people and you get a great place to visit!
EFF wins case: jailbreaking an iPhone and video mashups are legal now. -
Before the the Electronic Frontier Foundation won this case it was a grey area that Apple chose to ignore, but others on the video front of fair-use opposed vehemently.
On a related subject the court decided that selective ripping of DVDs, or using video clips for “noncommercial works for purposes of criticism or comment” is permissible under US law.