One more day and then I'm back to work. Except I'll be at work one day and then it's my weekend, unless the schedule has changed.
The last vacation I took in February I mostly just read all week. This time I hardly read, except my two research books. Most of my time was spent doing online research (with a little bit of tidying thrown in.) So I'm feeling pretty good. My sooouuul feels replenished. And I actually thought about work very little, though I had the occasional dream.
Probably the most important part of my research is almost done--the technical knowledge of the music biz so that I can structure the plot. I have a better understanding of how the industry works, the variety of roles and jobs and companies that exist, and a few strands of ideas for what the baddie and goodie should be fighting over, which was something I couldn't figure out without thinking about the future of music and digital downloading.
I didn't get as much sleep as I usually do, though. When I have time off I can usually clock in a good 9-12 hours every night. I don't know why I couldn't sleep in as much this time--I guess at first it was the heat, and then it was just the "get up and get to work" feeling.
Speaking of which... sun's up... gotta take my sleepy pills and try to get to bed. Mehhhh. Meh meh! Doesn't like bed!!
Okay no I haven't gone to bed yet. I have to tell you about this billionaire Carl Icahn. He's an "activist investor" which I'd never heard of. He believes investors should have more power to change up ineffective boards and get rid of crappy CEOs and top executives. He believes there are a lot of good companies being ruined by lazy boards and crapitude execs.
Just interesting. Interesting to see someone who in theory is part of the Old Boys Club (I mean he's rich, he's male, he's white) but is attacking The Club because he thinks they're undemocratic and therefore bad for market capitalism and therefore bad for the country.
I don't know if (within the confines of Approval for Market Capitalism) he's right. But he's interesting!
3 comments:
I've been doing a lot of business reading myself, and the business folks do come across as cheerleadery, you know? I found one book arguing that profitable business practices are good for democracy. For myself, it's been most helpful to avoid the platitude-laden pep-talky books and stick to academic texts that at least maintain the veneer of objective writing.
Also, I kinda doubt the sincerity of this guy... It sounds like he just wants more power, which is what everyone in business wants... And investors actually have quite a bit of leeway in steering businesses in the way they want them to go.
My reading over the past year or two leads me to believe that investors should have more responsibility as well as influence on how boards are comprised etc... I also have problems with the entire concept of Limited Liability corporations which are at the heart of our current economic system. If we can invest in a corp. without caring about liability, then of course the end result are corps that rape the planet for profit! Sheesh. Corps. are legal entities, and under this current definition they are psychotic entities with no attachment to the full outcomes of their actions.
Being involved in the liability of a corp. would also discourage anyone from "playing" the stock markets rather than investing in them. Huge difference and also at the root of the market instabilities imho.
Good luck with the story and SLEEEEP! Sssshhh!
I think he's totally sincere--he's saying flat out that he wants more power. He just thinks that the way to make money is to run a company well, and not spend all the cash on payola.
Well like I said, he's entertaining.
http://www.icahnreport.com/report/2008/06/about-ceos.html
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