The TIME Warp Strategy Weblog

PayPal was founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel in 1998. It went public in 2002 and soon afterwards finally was sold to eBay. Most managers and key persons of PayPal then left the company and launched various further business ventures, such as Youtube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Slide, Yelp, Geni, Yammer, Anchor Intelligence, TradeVibes, HourTown, Room 9 Entertainment and also SpaceX, Tesla Motors, Clarium Capital Management and The Founders Fund. Regarding this, the New York Times mentioned it'd 'Pay off to have Pals in Silicon Valley'. Obviously, there's something special with those PayPal-people and that's why it is so interesting to read more about the PayPal story.

Eric Jackson was one of the first PayPal employees when in 1999 Peter Thiel, the then CEO of PayPal, draw him from Arthur Andersen into the tiny startup company. A short time after the successful Going Public and the sell out to eBay, Jackson left PayPal - as most of the earlier managers. He then wrote "The PayPal Wars", the true story about how they made PayPal growing against all odds and beat all competitors.

There were good reasons why this book turned out to be a bestseller among business books and even former Mc'Kinsey Guru Tom Peters named it a page turner. It's true what people say: It reads like a spy novell.

Very strongly recommended for all startup teams in all branches !

The Chernobyl atomic-plant explosion, observes Dorner, was entirely due to human error involving the breaking of safety rules by a team of experts who reinforced one another's puffed-up sense of competence. This German psychology professor believes people court failure through sloppy or ingrained mental habits, whether the mistakes involve cleaning dead fish out of a garden pool, adding rooms to a schoolhouse, launching economic development programs in Africa or forecasting oil prices or the scope of the AIDS epidemic.

Things go wrong, according to Dorner, because we focus on just one element in a system complicated by interrelationships; we apply corrective measures too aggressively or too timidly; we ignore basic premises, overgeneralize, follow blind alleys, overlook potential side effects and narrowly extrapolate from the moment, basing our predictions of the future on those aspects of the present that bother or delight us the most. This ingenious manual will assist problem-solvers in all fields. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly
Most books on game theory either focus on specialized applications (cardplaying, business, nuclear war) or bore with mathematics and jargon. Free of formulas and argot, this refreshing exception distills the principles, concepts, tools and techniques--brinkmanship, bargaining, unconditional moves, vicious circles, etc.--with an astonishing diversity of illustrative examples drawn from political campaigns, baseball, neighborhood dynamics of segregation, the military draft, speed limits, childrearing and so forth.

In helping strategists anticipate rivals' responses and win the game, economics professors Dixit and Nalebuff (who teach game theory at Princeton and Yale, respectively) provide managers, negotiators, athletes, parents and other game-players with a formidable weapon. Drawings. BOMC, Fortune Book Club and QPB selections. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A fascinating new book that can be read with real pleasure....The problem is, of course, that if Dixit and Nalebuff can improve your strategic IQ, they can improve your competitor's as well (Washington Post).

Carl von Clausewitz was a 19th-century Prussian general and is considered by many to be the millennium's preeminent strategist. Clausewitz on Strategy is a newly translated collection of sections from Clausewitz's classic work On War that's aimed at helping 21st-century executives and entrepreneurs grapple with the unpredictability of today's business climate.

The Strategy Institute of The Boston Consulting Group, which pens an insightful essay introducing and connecting Clausewitz's thinking to the realities of today's business environment and which also supplements the book with historical notes and excerpts, thinks Clausewitz is cool. After reading this book, you may think so as well. --Harry C. Edwards

Some cites from the book:

On strategic genius
"If the mind is to survive this constant battle with the unexpected, two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that even in this moment of intense darkness retains some trace of the inner light that will lead it to the truth, and second, the courage to go where that faint light leads."

On the role of strategic theory
". . . all principles, rules, and methods increasingly lack universality and absolute truth the moment they become a positive doctrine. They are there to present themselves for use. Judgment must always be free to determine whether or not they are suitable. Criticism must never use these results of theory as laws and standards, but only as a person acting in war should also do: as aids to judgment."

On risk
"It is not true that we should always choose the case with the least uncertainty. That would be a terrible mistake, as all of our theoretical deliberations show. There are instances in which the most daring course of action is the wisest choice."

On leadership qualities
"The further we go up the chain of command, the more necessary it becomes for boldness to go hand in hand with the superior mind . . ."

On strategy
"Everything in strategy is very simple, but that does not make everything easy."

We're constantly negotiating in our lives, whether it's convincing the kids to do their homework or settling million-dollar lawsuits. For those who need help winning these battles, Roger Fisher has developed a simple and straightforward five-step system for how to behave in negotiations. Narrated soothingly by NPR announcer Bob Edwards, Fisher adds the meaty portions of the material with a sense of playfulness.

Strongly recommended !