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As always the Sunday papers make interesting reading. Two particular articles caught my eye.

The first is an article about Luke Johnson’s forthcoming book ‘Start it up, Why running your own business is easier than you think’ and the second set of articles are about Apple and Steve Jobs.

What do they have in common?

The first extract from Luke Johnson’s book spends a lot of time saying how much he learnt from the things that failed, the things that went wrong.

Yes of course you learn from the good times but the failures teach you far more lessons.

As for Apple, a Company that recently overtook Exxon as the World’s biggest company and a company that is coming to terms with having to move on without its outstanding Chief Executive at the helm; in 1985, the same Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple in favour of John Sculley, an ex PepsiCo executive whom Steve Jobs himself had brought in to help him.

In the United Kingdom we vilify failure; we destroy not only people’s careers but also people’s lives if they are perceived to have made mistakes or failed. Recent examples are, Andy Hornsby at HBOS, Sir Fred Goodwin at RBS, Tony Hayward at BP and many many more.

What these individuals have in common is an outstanding background in business that got them to the very top of their professions before failure suddenly made them supposed lepers in the eyes of many. The remarkable thing about most so called failures is that they are often in big companies with the great and the good alongside them on their Boards but who magically disappear into anonymity when the brickbats start flying and people start the witch hunt for scapegoats.

In the United States it would be recognised that the skills that got people to the top in the first place can be enhanced with the lessons learned from failure. In the UK we just set out to destroy individuals. I myself have suffered for years from the perceived problems at Leeds United, many of these problems exacerbated or even initiated long after I had left but problems laid firmly at my door, quickly glossing over the outstanding five years on the field during my Chairmanship and casting a shadow over the lessons learnt and successfully put into practice in subsequent years.

Could Steve Jobs have succeeded if he had been a Chief Executive in the UK, being ousted from such a high profile business and so publicly sidelined? I doubt it!

So what are the implications?

Depressingly, I was told very recently by a senior executive in a local authority that they wouldn’t do anything that was vaguely entrepreneurial because their pension was more important than being seen to help. We risk breeding a society of people who are paid to stop people doing things or prefer to say no to every request because it makes for a quiet life. In a time of recession with rising unemployment, I would suggest that what this Country needs now is a ‘can do attitude’ rather than more and more box tickers whose only real power base is to say NO!

I have only met Luke Johnson once but he impressed me with his genuine desire to try things out, give new opportunities a chance and to encourage managed risk. His business career reflects that. Such attitudes appear to be rare in this Country. Regrettably I’ve never met Steve Jobs but I would love to. What I would love even more is to see the type of business culture and environment that is taken for granted in the US, encouraged and accepted by our Government and media alike, at a time when this Country needs it the most.

SteadfastMeat posted:

this is entirely correct

The Collector posted:

all I know is comolli signed BAE, Dawson,Berbatov, Bale, Modric aka Spurs' best players. and harry signed who:niko krancar, wilson palacios and peter crouch?
triffic.
The only mistake comolli ever made was hiring ramos, and even then he signed most of the players that pulled them out of the relegation zone.

Good old fashioned MAN Harry Redknapp has only managed to relegate and bankrupt his two previous clubs. But sure, whatever, football needs more redknapps and less comollis.

The Collector posted:

The mistake that all the anti-stats bashers make, is that they look at Oakland's dropoff as an indictment of Moneyball, when in fact it was/is a validation. Oakland stopped outperforming when the big money teams started using their methods as well.

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He actually says 'Yeah, I never called you a loving black oval office, loving knobhead!' Terry has confirmed this in saying he only used it to deny using it (if that makes sense)!!! Stop trying to turn this into something it isn't.

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Africa for Africans. Asia for Asians. White nations for everyone. There are no white homelands. Antiracists have made it their mission to ensure that every white nation and ONLY white nations are flooded and "assimilated" with nonwhites. It is supported by antiracists who run every white nation's government, media, corporations, education systems, universities, etc...the entire power structure. Antiracist is a code word for antiwhite and what they intend is genocide.

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@PeteHappee These "anti-racists" love using their favorite attack word "Racist!" against anyone whom disagrees with their genocidal fantasy. These"anti-racists" only exist in White countries. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white. These anti-whites use their attack word as if it has some sort of magical power. Their black magic has lost its effectiveness. I say "black magic" because that is exactly what it is. It is meant to invoke fear. That word has no power over us now. Cheers!

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Do you really think John Terry would say that with Ashley Cole standing beside him let alone the fact that alot of his teams mates are black like Drogba,Malouda,Essien ect. This video does not provide evidence. We all know John Terry and his family have a history of being a bunch a loving scumbags so who knows maybe he did say it but hard evidence needs to be provided if your going to accuse someone with such serious allegations!!!!

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i'm black myself, and i know he wasn't racist. He seemed to say 'blind'

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Casper the ghost is blacker than Anton Ferdinand so its a bloody non starter. At least he didn't call him a friend of the family. That would have just been daft as Cafe Latte Ferdinand clearly has a job and doesn't stand on the side of the street all day watching cars go by and looking thuggish. Being black is an insult in itself so leave the different colored bastards alone. Troll up pussies!

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I'm sure all of you are saints and havent called another race a friend of the family, wop, porkchop, paki, chink? Ya okay...

Paperhouse posted:

No black players in Liverpool?

I mean, they have suarez and glen johnson, but is like we'd only have anderson and rafael and we don't.
are they racist or is just a coincidence?

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liverpool have a wonderfull stadium and great suporters, the match will be pleasant to watch

like players that look like me, players i can identify with
so obviously i don't like non white players

but in the future, i would like soccer to be reserved to white people, like it used to be

SteadfastMeat posted:

Re: Leeds-Millwall on saturday

Gr31lly posted:

Strictly speaking not football itself per say, but:

ephex posted:

Not exactly a bad post, but listening to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpgIPhXb1g

made me cringe forever

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So is the an 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' sort of thing? Could we get FIFA involved? They are always looking to gently caress over the English FA.


Platini would have a field day with this. His anti English rhetoric is astounding.

El Ste posted:

Seen what is possibly one of the funniest posts of the year on RAWK (and the lad was actually serious):


That'll teach me to go on there and look for some sensible pre-match discussion.

Paperhouse posted:

white people cant juz face it...that we blacks r better than them in each ways...Chelsea is nothing without Drogba, Man City is nothing without Yaya Toure, Man utd is nothing without Evra...Arsenal wont hav been unbeaten if there is no Henry, Viera, Ashley Cole...Liverpool n Suarez r juz losers...

Raightning posted:

The whole "hoof ball", "score from throw ins" stereotype is lazy and bullshit.

Stoke have genuinely world class players now. Robert Huth is a a 2-time Premier League Champion, and he's only 27, Salif Diao is a Ligue 1 winner, League Cup winner, and has played at the World Cup Finals, Jermain Pennant helped take Liverpool to the Champions League final in 2007, Ryan Shawcross is one of England's brightest prospects in defence, a never-say-die powerful defender, Matthew Upson, another England hero, who scored at the last World Cup and won the Premier League with Arsenal in 2002, Peter Crouch is one of the world's most prolific strikers at international level, he is a Championship and FA Cup winner, his goal ratio for England is simply stunning, Jonathan Woodgate is a national treasure, League Cup winner, and former Real Madrid heavyweight. When you mix all this success and prestige with the GOAT arms of Rory Delap, you have one of the finest, and most unique football sides since the Dutch masters of the 1970s.

Stoke are taking Europe by storm, just like The Beatles did in America. This is the era of Pulis, of the Potteries, of Stoke.

Jose posted: