Daniel Lubetzky

With extremism being particularly rampant among some religious followers who become increasingly zealous about their convictions and practices, and with the cartoonish tensions created by black and white contrasts set out by desensitized uber-capitalism vs. new age parsimoniousness, I was struck by the depth and timeliness of these contrasting messages:

With regard to all human traits, the middle of the road is the right path.  For example: Do not be hot-tempered, easily angered.  Nor, on the other hand, should you be unfeeling like a corpse.  Rather, take the middle of the road: keep an even disposition, reserving your anger for occasions when it is truly warranted.  Similarly, do not cultivate a desire for luxuries; keep your eye fixed only on genuine necessities.  In giving to others, do not hold back what you can afford, but do not give so lavishly that you yourself will be impoverished.  Avoid both hysterical gaiety and somber dejection, and instead be calmly joyful always, showing a cheerful countenance.  Act similarly with regard to all the dispositions.  This is the path followed by the wise.

- Maimonides, 12th Century

And

…this path, the one that avoids extremes, is called the ‘path of God,’ and Abraham taught his descendants to follow it.  Whoever follows it gains goodness and blessing, as it is said, "For I have known him, that he might command his children and those who follow him to keep the Lord’s path, doing justice and right, that the Lord may fulfill for Abraham the divine purpose (Genesis 18.19)."

Ok, ok, this picture is actually a joke.  I was at the Pentagon, but I just asked an officer to stand there by this podium they keep at the visitors center for silly visitors like me to take a picture.

The pentagon is like a city unto itself, and the building includes all the shops and services one could imagine needing.

Sometimes in business you are faced with the decision to invest up front more capital resources but ensure that over the long term you see savings, vs. save up front, but at a steady higher cost of production per widget on an ongoing basis.

The problem with choosing the path that is "inexpensive" up front is that it not only creates higher costs for the enterprise over the long haul, but it can also generate externalities (costs to society that the enterprise avoids paying).

A case in point is illustrated by this Edge shaving cream picture:

The travel-size version has less product but just as much waste in plastic on the cap and the outpouring device.

You can picture the team responsible for designing the travel-size version figuring that it made all the sense in the world to take advantage of existing infrastructure and just making a smaller bottle for travel by just cutting its height/size.

But years later and millions of cans later, so much more waste – AND COST – is generated because you are using such an inefficient means to provide a product: a fraction of the size in product but as much in caps etc.  It should not have necessarily been this way.  They could have designed a less expensive disposable version – but it would have required an upfront investment in capital.

Too bad.

A lot of "convenience" products like travel

I was intrigued by this very smart promotional give-away – a usb-drive that also serves as a livestrong-like bracelet.  Smart & practical idea…

This is a 911 call made by a 5-year-old girl when her father was having chest pains and could not speak. Her calmness and poise is remarkable for such a youngster!

The goal is not happiness. The goal is purpose. And from that purpose comes happiness.

- Linda Gallanter, at dinner, sharing that when raising children, giving them purpose is a much more effective way to make them fulfilled and happy in life (whereas worrying about them being ‘happy’ can yield spoiled or malcontent kids)

I finally got a chance to grab this link and share a “Snack Smarter” segment that aired on NBC New York and then nationally on Weekend Today a couple weeks ago.

A summary from Elle in communications:

In the segment, the anchor introduces KIND as “delicious” while explaining that she is typically not a fan of bars.  The guest contributor then goes on to  explain that KIND bars are all natural and are “made from ingredients that you can both see and pronounce.” In total, these two segments reached more than 2 million viewers nationwide.

To view the segment, click here.

Some of what Divya Gugnani said:

I did try this. It’s delicious. And I am not a fan of bars, but these are great…

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/around-town/food-drink/Behind_The_Burner__Snack_Smarter_New_York.html

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill

(as seen in http://ny-forum.com/)

KIND just launched Do the KIND Thing—a campaign that lets people turn KIND acts into support for causes. It is a super easy way to give back by just being KIND! The cause with the greatest number of KIND acts linked to it by June 30^th will win $25,000!*

You can support a cause you care about with just three easy steps:  

1. Get a card/code at www.kindmovement.com

2. Choose the cause you want to support or add a cause if it’s not already on the list (any charitable cause is welcome!)

3. Pass it on by doing a "not so random" act of kindness for someone, give them your card  and encourage them to choose your cause  If you can’t pass it on in person, tell friends to go to www.kindmovement.com to get a card/code and choose your cause from the list. 

So what are you waiting for? Do The KIND Thing!

*In addition to the first place prize of $25,000, second place and third place will win $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.  

We came to America for the American dream – to do good and to make good.

- K.R. Sridhar

(As quoted in a column by Tom Friedman in the NYT)