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Sep 09

Fear at Social Heights

by Chris Billows in Spirit Speculations 0 comments
Just like there is an increased fear when somebody is at the top of a tower/building, so there is increased fear the higher one’s position is in a social organization. A friend was telling me how her store manager gave a customer a replacement plant even though it was obviously neglected and they had no proof that it was purchased at their store. She reported that the manager did this because negative customer comments will prevent him from getting a financial bonus. The store manager decides that the store losing $15 on the plant so that both he and the complaining customer can be satisfied is a rational way to operate. The complaining customer gets what they want and the manager keeps his reputation clean and bonus intact. Obviously it is the fear of losing his financial bonus that is driving his behavior. So, we now have two people benefiting at the shared expense of all others. The victims, the thousands of others customers who subsidize this action through the higher prices they pay, are unaware that the customer is getting a plant they don’t deserve. It is not fair, but I would argue that it likely happens far more […]

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Sep 01

Competition Is Over-Rated In Capitalism

by Chris Billows in Business Beller 2 comments tags: Contrarian, Free Enterprise, Human Condition
One of the biggest criticisms I have heard from the anti-capitalist crowd (which I was once a part of in my younger years) against capitalism is that it is all about competition. Capitalism has no room for cooperation, or so we are told in the countless business and marketing books and courses (The Art of War) which focus primarily about how to beat the competition. Yet, this is a gross misunderstanding made by both anti-capitalists and pro-capitalists. Capitalism is not about valuing competition over cooperation. It is about having freedom to decide how to engage in the marketplace, either employing competition or cooperation or typically some fluid combination of both. Capitalism is the only system where voluntary economic cooperation can exist. Collectivist societies will place extensive social pressures on its members to “play nice”. This will determine what you are allowed to produce, who you are allowed to buy from, and who you are allowed to sell to. In a collectivist society you might not be allowed to sell your product to a particular region because they are not part of your social or ethnic group. The essence of being collectivist and having a common identity also means that there […]

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Aug 09

True Leadership Avoids Systemic Scapegoating

by Chris Billows in Spirit Speculations 0 comments tags: Corporate Corruption, Corporations Don't Think, Institutional Learning
It is almost a year ago an individual, Brian Sinclair who was both physically and medically compromised died in the Emergency Room of our largest hospital. He died because for almost three days, he did not receive easily available antibiotics for a common bladder infection. Understandably, the media, public, and opposition parties were outraged and demanded heads. It was a disgusting display of neglect and failure. Despite evidence that Brian had initially approached the triage desk to alert the employees of his need, for close to three days, nobody bothered to treat Mr. Sinclair which led to his death. The government and health officials claimed systemic failure. They did not want to accuse any individuals of misconduct or failure. In one way, this can be seen as admirable as some employers employ scapegoating as a way of deflecting attention from themselves. But when is a “systems failure” simply a cop-out? I would argue that claiming “systemic failure” is just like scapegoating but instead of blaming an individual, a faceless system is blamed, and instead of being punished, it is to be fixed. It is more palatable to do since it is emotionally draining to discipline staff. Not to mention, there […]

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Aug 06

The Evolutionary Reason for Not Having Telepathy

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 0 comments tags: Human Condition, Human Mystery
Do you remember those superheroes or futuristic adventurers who could read minds and would possess an advantage that always allowed them to defeat the villain? I do, and I always thought it would be so cool to have Telepathy. If we could understand what everyone else was thinking, would that not make life easier? There would be no more guessing what your partner, family, coworkers thought. You just would know. It would improve understanding and make communication easier. Sounds like a good thing. But, now I think there are a couple of really good, solid, and practical reasons we did not evolve to have telepathy: Self-preservation and our need for solitude. Our self-preservation would be compromised If we knew exactly what other people were thinking. We would probably go insane if we had no way of shutting out another’s thoughts. Our own minds are crazy enough, so I would not also want to know everyone else’s thoughts. We would hear every stupid, hostile, and inane thought which would have us ending up in mortal strife with everyone. Look how poor communication creates problems already. Solitude allows us to keep secrets, plan in private, mull things over, and ultimately find some […]

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Jul 24

Opting for Stock Options

by Chris Billows in Business Beller 0 comments tags: Investing Knowledge
Purchasing stocks carry with it risk. Your money could be lost if the company goes out of business. You could lose money if the company is losing sales. What if you could own a ticket that would allow you to purchase a company if it did well? Would it not be kind of like having insurance policy that you could exercise if the conditions were right? Film or theatrical producers often buy the right – but not the obligation – to dramatize a specific book or script. That is what a stock option is. A stock option is the right to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a specific number of shares of a company, at a certain price, by a specified date. They add a delay effect to the normal direct purchasing and selling of companies. This delay if used wisely, can give you added advantages as an investor. Because of this, Options are very sophisticated financial instruments and should only be done once you have a working understanding of the stock market. Options Help Limits Losses Consider this for a moment; two men invest in the same stock. One man invests $10,000 and he hopes the stock […]

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Jul 09

The Components of Talent

by Chris Billows in Mental Mischief 0 comments tags: Change of Mind, Defining Life, Human Condition
I had a discussion with a friend about musical talent. We both love music and discussed why we never ended up playing it. We arrived at different conclusions about why this happened. For me, I remember making a conscious decision when I was about 17 years old to give up on playing music. I loved it but not enough to want to play it. Playing music did not resonate with me the way it would resonate with somebody who needed to play it. I can play music and believe I would have been a competent musician if I put in hours into it. Its just that I have other interests. My friend says that he desperately wanted to play music but just could not. He said that people would show him how to play the guitar but he could not get his fingers to move the right way. It is was such a struggle that he decided that if it is not going to come easy, then its simply was not meant to be. He said that this proves that we both lacked talent. I disagreed with him. Part of the reason for that disagreement is that we lacked a […]
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