One of my favorite stories in this book so far is the author's frequent reference to the Achuar people of the Amazon, especially the story of Chumpi who is chosen by the Achuar to come to the modern world to learn and study to benefit his people.
I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to come to North America as a native of the Amazon rainforest, and needless to say I have no idea what that would be like.
Chumpi comes to learn about the ways of the "civilized world," and according to the author of The Soul of Money, he:
"...began to see how it is in America: that virtually everything in our lives and every choice we make - the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, the schools we attend, the work we do, the futures we dream, whether we marry or not, or have children or not, even matters of love - everything is influenced by this thing called money" (Twist 5).
What would be the money equivalent in the Amazon? If we were one of the Achuar people instead of the American people? Is there one, that is my question. My guess that it would be any means of survival. Things that increase probability of survival have value to the Achuar people, similar to how money has value to us.
The distinction that the author is trying to make between the two is the difference in quantity to which Americans and Achuar want their value of exchange, and what they plan to do with it, implying that we in the states use it for personal gain, increased prestige, and to one-up our neighbors.
For me, however, it's hard to imagine there ever being a time where a human being does not want more that their peers. I'm sure the Achuar have their own power struggles, and the result may either result in an equitable exchange, or one where a certain Achuar has more than another because he or she wants that advantage.
Perhaps, in their society, that is just frowned upon more, because they all know that they need each other to survive. We, on the other hand, do not.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Analysis Paralysis
One of my favorite parts of going to USC is having the
privilege to interact with people everyday who are amazingly intelligent and
have huge ideas on how to make the world a better place.
One of the reasons I can’t focus on my Operations Management
homework right now is because I interact with people everyday who are amazingly
intelligent and have huge ideas on how to make the world a better place.
Boys
I live in an apartment with 6 girls, and they haven’t
stopped talking about boys for the last hour. Boys they like, boys they feel
have wronged them in some ways. We have 3 new girls subleasing in our
apartment, all of whom have their own opinions on how best to deal with any
given situation each one of us has been through, or is going through, with one
of the male species. 6 opinions. All at once. One could argue that having 6
opinions is vastly helpful in resolving a dating upset, but I’m not sure if
listening to 6 different opinions will help Jenny with her current dilemma or
confuse her even more.
Analysts
Now, back to that Operations Management class that I’m
taking. I really like the material. It’s great for analyzing a given
manufacturing or service situation where customers or inventory are not getting
processed or receiving service in the most efficient way. We learn about things
like capacity analysis, inventory analysis, optimization analysis, analysis
analysis. There are analysts in the making in this class, and I am one of them.
Elders
One of my professors (not Hansen) has an opinion on how our
parents should raise their children. He believes that the “helicopter parent” causes
a huge problem in a child. This problem, he says, is a sheltering so effective
that the child never learns how to fail. Learning how to fail, he argues, is
one of the most important things a child can learn.
One of my parents argues that absentee parents cause a huge
problem in a child. This problem, he says, is an absence so dismissive that the
child never learns how to succeed. Learning how to succeed, he argues, is one
of the most important things a child can learn.
The Internet
I scroll through the newsfeed on my Facebook page, and there
is such an overwhelming amount of information on people, on their opinions, on
what they like, on what they don’t like, on who they like, on what they like to
do, on what they did last Friday night, on where they are right now, on what
news they think is important right now, on like omg everything.
It’s amazing, but I’m not sure what I will do with all of this
information.
Monday, June 22, 2015
For the Love of Money
An Experiment:
I just purchased The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist. I'm going to interpret it based on the cover and title, the brief description on the back of the book, and a few of my experiences. Once I've read a significant portion of the book, we will see if my interpretation has any relation at all to the actual book content.
It has a...Soul?
What does the Soul of Money imply? Money can't have a soul. It's a piece of paper. Right?
Let's say there's a man, his name is Mr. Money. His wife is named Mrs. Money. Mr. and Mrs. Moolah live together with their 5 kids in the heart of a rural, underdeveloped location in the 1700s. Mr. and Mrs. Money are really good at growing rhubarb and turning it into preserves. It's a family recipe and only Mr. and Mrs Money know how to make it so the preserves last the longest out of all the other preserves. They live in a region with about 30 other families, but they are the only family with the rhubarb growing and preserving expertise.
All the other families have their own skills, commodities, and eccentricities. Each, however, is limited by resources and can realistically only produce, and create, one or two types of food.
Nobody wants to live off of rhubarb jam for their entire life. Mr. and Mrs. Rhubarb make trades with their neighbors so they don't have to suffer the starvation for meat one feels when they live solely on fruit.
The value of what they receive, an item from their neighbor, is a unit of exchange. Money is a unit of exchange. That unit they receive from their neighbor, that piece of corn, sliver of meat, whatever it is - it is inherent of someone else's labor and adds value in terms of well-being and happiness to Mr. and Mrs. Money's lives, along with their children's.
The exchange is characterized by mutual benefit, and transfer of a part of someone else's life to benefit that of another. The unit of exchange could be seen as having "soul" in that sense. The soul of it's creators, who put their life into it.
My Experience
This notion of human craft as a unit of exchange, or form of money, reminds me of when I went to Panama as a little kid. The natives in Panama do not follow what we deem societal norms. They dress in their traditional clothing, which is basically nothing, and use the plants and animals around their forest dwellings to survive.
They sell things like panama hats, woven baskets, and wooden carvings to tourists from all over the world. That is their only source of income that ties them to a government issued currency. Other than that, they live off the land - I'm not sure what purchases they make with government issued currency, but the prices they charge for their handmade items are insanely low, so I'm guessing they do not buy much.
Generally for them, exchanges are made only when there is something they need. Their goal is the survival of the collective, so much individual sacrifice is made for the better of the whole tribe. Exchange time for overall well-being, not for personal gain.
I just purchased The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist. I'm going to interpret it based on the cover and title, the brief description on the back of the book, and a few of my experiences. Once I've read a significant portion of the book, we will see if my interpretation has any relation at all to the actual book content.
It has a...Soul?
What does the Soul of Money imply? Money can't have a soul. It's a piece of paper. Right?
Let's say there's a man, his name is Mr. Money. His wife is named Mrs. Money. Mr. and Mrs. Moolah live together with their 5 kids in the heart of a rural, underdeveloped location in the 1700s. Mr. and Mrs. Money are really good at growing rhubarb and turning it into preserves. It's a family recipe and only Mr. and Mrs Money know how to make it so the preserves last the longest out of all the other preserves. They live in a region with about 30 other families, but they are the only family with the rhubarb growing and preserving expertise.
All the other families have their own skills, commodities, and eccentricities. Each, however, is limited by resources and can realistically only produce, and create, one or two types of food.
Nobody wants to live off of rhubarb jam for their entire life. Mr. and Mrs. Rhubarb make trades with their neighbors so they don't have to suffer the starvation for meat one feels when they live solely on fruit.
The value of what they receive, an item from their neighbor, is a unit of exchange. Money is a unit of exchange. That unit they receive from their neighbor, that piece of corn, sliver of meat, whatever it is - it is inherent of someone else's labor and adds value in terms of well-being and happiness to Mr. and Mrs. Money's lives, along with their children's.
The exchange is characterized by mutual benefit, and transfer of a part of someone else's life to benefit that of another. The unit of exchange could be seen as having "soul" in that sense. The soul of it's creators, who put their life into it.
My Experience
This notion of human craft as a unit of exchange, or form of money, reminds me of when I went to Panama as a little kid. The natives in Panama do not follow what we deem societal norms. They dress in their traditional clothing, which is basically nothing, and use the plants and animals around their forest dwellings to survive.
They sell things like panama hats, woven baskets, and wooden carvings to tourists from all over the world. That is their only source of income that ties them to a government issued currency. Other than that, they live off the land - I'm not sure what purchases they make with government issued currency, but the prices they charge for their handmade items are insanely low, so I'm guessing they do not buy much.
Generally for them, exchanges are made only when there is something they need. Their goal is the survival of the collective, so much individual sacrifice is made for the better of the whole tribe. Exchange time for overall well-being, not for personal gain.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Día del Padre
Happy Father's Day:
To the original International Man of Mystery, despite similar claims made by your Tres Hermanos
John,
Michael,
Tom.
To the man who loves babies more than a 12 year old girl
To the man who taught me Respect for authority -
and Acceptance of imperfections
The two must come together
To Walt who has more Wit than he knows what to do with
To the Wordsmith who taught me how to write
To the worst typist I know
To the only husband I know who names his Wife President and CEO
To the hustler who sacrificed his ambition for my brother and I
To being 62 and never aging a day
To the father who built our lives how he wishes his was
To the chef who taught me to be better than he
Father James, you are Our Saint
We would be nothing without you and Mom
And -
We are luckier than we know to have a Father,
especially a Father like you.
Much love to you, Sir
Mary would be proud
To the original International Man of Mystery, despite similar claims made by your Tres Hermanos
John,
Michael,
Tom.
To the man who loves babies more than a 12 year old girl
To the man who taught me Respect for authority -
and Acceptance of imperfections
The two must come together
To Walt who has more Wit than he knows what to do with
To the Wordsmith who taught me how to write
To the worst typist I know
To the only husband I know who names his Wife President and CEO
To the hustler who sacrificed his ambition for my brother and I
To being 62 and never aging a day
To the chef who taught me to be better than he
Father James, you are Our Saint
We would be nothing without you and Mom
And -
We are luckier than we know to have a Father,
especially a Father like you.
Mary would be proud
Monday, June 15, 2015
The Business of Medicine
One excerpt written by Barbara Kingsolver's daughter alludes to the business of medicine, or what we business majors call the drug industry. For many, the drug industry is the their means of staying healthy. For some, the drug industry provides the pills that keep them alive. For others, the drug industry is the root of all evil.
And for some, the drug industry is a great thing but needs to be altered or regulated differently. This is the stance that Kingsolver's daughter seems to support in her excerpt:
"Our bodies aren't adapted to absorb big loads of nutrients all at once (many supplements surpass RDA values by 200 percent or more), but tiny quantities of them in combinations -- exactly as they occur in plants" (Kingsolver 59).
While her statement is directed partially at telling you that you should have listened to your mother when she said, "eat your fruits and veggies," the underlying question evoked by the quote above is: If we can't actually absorb the nutrients in certain supplements, why do they exist, why bother to manufacture them? Who is actually benefitting from the creation of the product?
Kingsolver's daughter additionally makes the statement, "I've grown up in a world that seems to have a pill for almost everything. College kids pop caffeine pills to stay up all night writing papers, while our parents are at home popping sleeping pills to prevent unwelcome all-nighters" (Kingsolver 59).
While both humorous and ironic, her statement is implying that pills are a "quick fix" to a problem that could possibly be solved by diet and behavioral changes as opposed to drugs that could have unknown longterm side effects.
If that is the case, why do people voluntarily choose the option that could have side effects, costs them money, and may not have the nutritional value that it claims to have?
There could be many reasons.
It could be that busy people value their time more than their actual health, so a "quick fix" is the best option for their lifestyle. Or it could be a sort of placebo effect where they think it's helping them when in reality they're not receiving the total value that they payed for. And the industry allows that.
I personally do not know enough about this and would love to do more research on the topic...I know there are certain regulations in other countries where marketing drugs directly to consumers is illegal...
People do have a choice of whether or not to buy the product, the question remains of if they are educated enough to make the right choice, though.
And for some, the drug industry is a great thing but needs to be altered or regulated differently. This is the stance that Kingsolver's daughter seems to support in her excerpt:
"Our bodies aren't adapted to absorb big loads of nutrients all at once (many supplements surpass RDA values by 200 percent or more), but tiny quantities of them in combinations -- exactly as they occur in plants" (Kingsolver 59).
While her statement is directed partially at telling you that you should have listened to your mother when she said, "eat your fruits and veggies," the underlying question evoked by the quote above is: If we can't actually absorb the nutrients in certain supplements, why do they exist, why bother to manufacture them? Who is actually benefitting from the creation of the product?
Kingsolver's daughter additionally makes the statement, "I've grown up in a world that seems to have a pill for almost everything. College kids pop caffeine pills to stay up all night writing papers, while our parents are at home popping sleeping pills to prevent unwelcome all-nighters" (Kingsolver 59).
While both humorous and ironic, her statement is implying that pills are a "quick fix" to a problem that could possibly be solved by diet and behavioral changes as opposed to drugs that could have unknown longterm side effects.
If that is the case, why do people voluntarily choose the option that could have side effects, costs them money, and may not have the nutritional value that it claims to have?
There could be many reasons.
It could be that busy people value their time more than their actual health, so a "quick fix" is the best option for their lifestyle. Or it could be a sort of placebo effect where they think it's helping them when in reality they're not receiving the total value that they payed for. And the industry allows that.
I personally do not know enough about this and would love to do more research on the topic...I know there are certain regulations in other countries where marketing drugs directly to consumers is illegal...
People do have a choice of whether or not to buy the product, the question remains of if they are educated enough to make the right choice, though.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
I Wanna Be
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I've been answering that since I was just old enough to talk, but yesterday I thought about it for a while, and realized that it's a pretty loaded question.
The question is assuming that the person answering it will be one thing, when they grow up. It's even directing young people to WANT to be one thing when they grew up. I don't think it's very realistic - because in one life, there is opportunity to be a great many of things.
What if my answer was:
I want to...
be a writer
be a part-time bowling enthusiast
be a parent
or not be a parent
be good at math
be a champion of international cuisine
be able to trust everyone
be able to support the lifestyle I want
be smarter every year
be a frikin superhero slash international spy, yah feel??
I feel like Shakespeare had it right when he said:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
And it goes on....
It's an interesting thought though, wanting to actually be, or become, everything you want. Try it out - you never know it's quite possible it will actually work.
I've been answering that since I was just old enough to talk, but yesterday I thought about it for a while, and realized that it's a pretty loaded question.
The question is assuming that the person answering it will be one thing, when they grow up. It's even directing young people to WANT to be one thing when they grew up. I don't think it's very realistic - because in one life, there is opportunity to be a great many of things.
What if my answer was:
I want to...
be a writer
be a part-time bowling enthusiast
be a parent
or not be a parent
be good at math
be a champion of international cuisine
be able to trust everyone
be able to support the lifestyle I want
be smarter every year
be a frikin superhero slash international spy, yah feel??
I feel like Shakespeare had it right when he said:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
And it goes on....
It's an interesting thought though, wanting to actually be, or become, everything you want. Try it out - you never know it's quite possible it will actually work.
Monday, June 8, 2015
The American History...of Potatoes?
"Consider how Americans might respond to a proposal that agriculture was to become a mandatory subject in all schools, alongside reading and mathematics. A fair number of parents would get hot under the collar to see their kids' attention being pulled away from the essentials of grammar, the all-important trigonometry, to make room for down-on-the-farm stuff" (Kingsolver 9).
Should we make a point of learning where our food comes from, how it grows, how it's transported? Is that something that responsible people would do? Does it align with our national values in a way that it could infiltrate school curriculums? Would I personally want to learn about the history of Potatoes in this country? Do I care that much about where my food comes from?
I personally do care about what I eat, but the idea Barbara Kingsolver is proposing in her book seems unfathomable to me. I like the idea of localizing food production...I like it a lot actually, but what I might rather see is a feasibility plan for localizing farms on a national level. I'm sure there is a reason farms are centrally located within the US and why there is a much larger amount of farms in Northern California than Southern California. I suspect weather and water are some of the main factors that influence crop growth. Additionally, what's the marketing plan. What's the lobbying plan. How is local farming financially beneficial to the growers and the buyers within a given community. Do the numbers work out for everyone. Would our national government be convinced to put severe limits on multinational food growers, or would causing those companies problems create an excessive amount of unemployment.
I would personally like to see a financial analysis to see who benefits from centralized food production versus localized food production.
Should we make a point of learning where our food comes from, how it grows, how it's transported? Is that something that responsible people would do? Does it align with our national values in a way that it could infiltrate school curriculums? Would I personally want to learn about the history of Potatoes in this country? Do I care that much about where my food comes from?
I personally do care about what I eat, but the idea Barbara Kingsolver is proposing in her book seems unfathomable to me. I like the idea of localizing food production...I like it a lot actually, but what I might rather see is a feasibility plan for localizing farms on a national level. I'm sure there is a reason farms are centrally located within the US and why there is a much larger amount of farms in Northern California than Southern California. I suspect weather and water are some of the main factors that influence crop growth. Additionally, what's the marketing plan. What's the lobbying plan. How is local farming financially beneficial to the growers and the buyers within a given community. Do the numbers work out for everyone. Would our national government be convinced to put severe limits on multinational food growers, or would causing those companies problems create an excessive amount of unemployment.
I would personally like to see a financial analysis to see who benefits from centralized food production versus localized food production.
Friday, June 5, 2015
The Start of a Startup - Memo
To: Professor
Hansen
From: Livia
Subject: The
Start of a Startup
Date: June 5,
2015
The Start of a Startup
Intro
In today’s age
of innovation, it’s easy to stumble upon an article - or 500 articles - on the
latest tech startup. Many of these articles explain in great detail the business
venture, but many of them don’t explain how the startup company acquired the
capital necessary to fund their venture. Startup companies often receive
funding from Venture Capital Private Equity Firms.
The term
“Venture Capital” means what it sounds like. “Venture” refers to the new
business venture seeking “Capital,” or seed money to be used to grow the
company. “Private Equity” refers to an entity separate from the startup
company.
Overview of Private Equity
Private Equity Firms
specialize in pooling together money from investors - specifically pension
funds, high net worth individuals, or sovereign wealth funds. There are a
variety of ways a Private Equity Firm can invest the investors’ money. A few
well-known private equity investment vehicles are real estate and venture
capital, or startup companies. Investors look to Private Equity Firms to advise
them on how best to invest and grow their funds for long periods. The Private
Equity firm will match an investor’s desired rate of return and risk level.
Venture Capital Private
Equity, The Job
I interviewed an
associate named Mike Cooke at TA Associates, a Venture Capital Private Equity
Firm. His main job components are the following:
·
Investor
Relations
·
Financial
Analysis of potential startup company investments
·
Monitoring
previous startup company investments
Investor Relations
The Investor
Relations part of Mike’s job involves:
·
Cold
Calls
·
Risk
Assessment of investing in a startup
·
Investor
Education
On a daily
basis, Mike Cooke cold calls potential investors. He reaches out to different
funds or high net worth individuals to educate them on the value of investing
with TA. No investors = no money = no investment, or commission for Mike.
TA Associates
investment’s key selling points are their unusually high returns in comparison
to other assets. Investing or buying a share in a startup company in the early
stages of development has potential for a very high return, but also a
significant amount of risk because the company usually banks on a brand new
idea becoming successful. Mike convinces potential investors that TA
Associates has the expertise to mitigate the risk of potential failure.
Mike then
educates the investor on the strategy TA Associates uses when buying a share of
a company. TA doesn’t just buy a share of the company, Mike also negotiates a
seat on the board of the company for one of his associates. Mike communicates
this strategy to investors as assurance that the company TA invests in will
have an expert advisor on the board of
directors that the investor has access to.
Financial Analysis
Sometimes
investors are so pleased with the returns TA Associates earns that they want to
invest in another startup company. Mike actively searches for new companies to invest
in.
The exact
methods Mike uses to find and evaluate financial stability of new companies are
complex. To simplify, the list below shows list of metrics Mike uses when
picking potential startup investments.
·
Searches
for new companies that are losing money – the Headquarters
of TA Associates is located in Silicon Valley, so this is not a hugely
difficult task
·
Analyzes
feasibility of turning those companies around
·
If
the company looks promising, creates a financial model to project what returns
could be if the company is redirected
Mike works with
a team of experts at TA to complete the analysis. Their process is thorough and
many experts at TA must analyze the company before taking a risk with their
investor’s money.
Monitoring
The financial
analysis section explains how Mike Cooke hunts for new companies to invest in,
but what about companies that TA Associates already invested in and must
monitor to ensure the right returns are still made?
DigiCert Example:
A few years ago,
Mike Cooke found a new company to invest in, named DigiCert. His role in the
company is not over. Although Mike couldn’t tell me too much about the strategy
behind TA’s investment in DigiCert, he did mention that he placed a TA
Associate with expertise in tech consulting and management on the board of
directors of the SSL encryption service company. SSL encryption is a fancy term
for a type of web-based security system that big companies use for safe
web-based sharing of important, top-secret documents.
Until the
returns of his investors are made, Mike directs the company on strategy and
management. Once a startup, DigiCert, now maximizes profitability and it’s
leadership makes educated expansion decisions with guidance from Mike and his
associate.
Still not for You?
Maybe DigiCert
isn’t your thing. Maybe you don’t care about SSL encryption, and I can
guarantee you I had no idea what that
was until I wrote this memo.
Many other
well-known companies now weren’t so well known in their early stages.
Qualtrics, LinkedIn,
Dropbox, and Oracle were all funded by Venture Capital Private Equity Firms. Without
the funding, those companies would not have evolved as quickly as they did, and
they certainly would not have been available to You, the consumer, without that
necessary funding and direction from professionals like Mike.
Readability Statistics
Passive Sentences: 12%
Flesch Reading Ease: 47.1
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 11.3
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
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