Irrespective of Ledger’s performance - the Oscars are meant to celebrate “greatness” and in my humble opinion…when someone “accidentally dies” from taking 6 different prescribe drugs… drugs that he takes to help him deal with his “stress” — is someone short of greatness, if not disqualifies him from being judged for his greatness. (but again - this is just my opinion)

In all seriousness…there was a time 10-20 years ago where this would be the case — people like this would have been black listed by the media. This was the time BEFORE the western world (driven by america) celebrated mediocrity in the ways it celebrates mediocrity today.

As for your comments on Hemingway (my 2nd favorite author) He was awarded the nobel prize in 1954, 7 years before he commited suicide.

Hemingway off’d himself (as you put it) because he could not live life in the same masculine; make it happen manner in which he was accustomed to living. He did not kill himself because he could not handle stress…and he chose the most masculin way he could do it, with a sawed off hunting shot gun.

Maybe my blog yesterday was a bit rushed and my point is convoluted … however…. Instead of “victimizing” spoiled actors/actresses….let us hear stories of greatness of men & women making positive things happen.

Why doesn’t the media focus our attention on all the positive, great achievements that are happening by people in the world???

Where is John Galt?

actually ledger as the joker was really, really brilliant. best villan i have seen in a long time. no joke (pun intended), he was pretty amazing. made the movie for me. him killing himself is just an interesting and somewhat sad byline.

winning an oscar is about an actor’s performance on screen, not what he or she does off. it’s not a ‘let’s feel good about everything’ award. it’s an acting award.

would you still pay a sales person his commission on a big deal even if he did something you didnt agree with out of the office? of course you would, he sold. same thing here.

your blog is a guilty of an ad hominem here: hsi performacne and his suicide are mutually exclusive. to deride one because of the otehr makes no sense. Hemingway off’d himself but that doesnt detract from his body of work nor should we question why he was awarded the nobel prize. This award (like the oscar) celebrates the greatness in that field. that’s what counts.

What Phelps did is huge, but it was “only” the US trials. And he actually won 5, not 8, since his other 3 qualifications for Beijing are the relays. He will then compete in 8 events this summer, which will give him a chance to break the record of most gold medals in one olympics games. But sor far, Mark Spitz remains the best with 7 gold medals in 1972.
But for sure, that was a while ago. Then, do you remember Greg Louganis’ performance in 1988 ?..

And regarding Darra, winning 50 and 100 at the age of 41 is for sure impressive. But at the same time, Jeannie Longo won both in-line and against the time races in the last french cycling championships 10 days ago. These were her 53rd and 54th national titles that go along 14 world titles. And Jeannie Longo will blow 50 candles in october…

And in terms of extrodinary people, then I think you’ve got to include Terry and Gary in that too. As someone who’s seen all three from the inside, then it’s hard to quantify the step change that they injected into the event. With a years worth of planning I’d have been impressed. With two months it was astonishing. And they did all this with humour and enthusiasm that is contageous. Scott, I can’t understand your mountain metaphors, or half your blogs, but I do understand 100% why you chose them to run Ambition Events.

We also had a great Swiss guy who won the Duathlon, Patrick Schalbetter, when ever he came into a checkpoint he had the biggest smile on his face and he was always laughing…..i asked him about this and he replied:

” Two miles before any checkpoint, I slow down, stop my bike, force myself to have a laugh at the crazy challenge im attempting and then smile all the way into the checkpoint, this way it is easier for me to leave the checkpoint because i am in a positive frame of mind and i wont take the easy way out by by pulling out at the checkpoint.”

This surely can be used in life to, when we are facing our challenge, there will always be comfortable get out options, however, positive thinking is what will pull us through….The theme for the weekend was…IF IT WAS EASY…every competitor there knew that it wasnt…thats why they came along. once again thanks to all…Gary

It was great reading about your experience of the ultra marathon.
I love adventure, and Im into rock climbing, trekking/hiking, cycling and mountaineering.

I got to know about you after I read an article published today in the Bangalore edition of Deccan herald ‘Metrolife’ - ‘I want to climb Mt.Everest’.

And I was keen to know more about you and the company you run. Its really very inspiring and as the tag line - ‘If you make it happen’ is really apt.

I work for HP Invent, Bangalore.

Thanks again for your inspiring blog.

Credibility and Urgency are interlinked and thats just good business. simple truth.

csr I think we all would benefit if further elaboration would be done as Credibility and Urgency interests everyone in life. It is just good olde’ negotiation etiquette.

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Dentists’ use it ! “Yes your daughters teeth are healthy nevertheless you may want to consider braces this is the idle age through stanford orthodontist research - and it would benefit her face profile blah blah blah”

Realtors use it! “We just had a family from UAE viewing this cosy pent house today afternoon. They liked the mansion layout and each of their three sons get a room. If I may ask, how many children do the both of you have ? “

A Sufi Story from the Middle East

A poor man dressed in rags came to the palace to attend the banquet. Out of courtesy he was admitted but, because of his tattered clothing, he was seated at the very end of the banquet table. By the time the platters arrived at his seat, there was no food left on them.

So he left the banquet, returning several hours later dressed in robes and jewels he had borrowed from a wealthy friend. This time he was brought immediately to the head of the table and, with great ceremony, food was brought to his seat first.

“Oh, what delicious food I see being served upon my plate.” He rubbed one spoonful into his clothes for every one he ate.

A nobleman beside him, grimacing at the mess, inquired, “Sir, why are you rubbing food into your fine clothes?”

“Oh,” he replied with a chuckle, “Pardon me if my robes now look the worst. But it was these clothes that brought me all this food. It’s only fair that they be fed first!”

In response to your comment on ?why you blog?, there are a few things that I would like to add to it.

Unlike most of your readers, I am no longer in the ?business information/events? industry and have not been for many years. But at the same time I respect and share much of your perspectives and encounter situations much like the ones you describe in your blog. (i.e ? Employees/Collegues that develop super-bitch syndrome)

I too run my own company (of which I started a year and half ago) but on a much smaller scale. One thing I have learnt is that when you are the head of your own company, the pool of people that you can go to for advice tends to dwindle. One?s mentors tend to evolve more into peers and quite frankly the situations I find myself in these days are increasingly more complex then the advice they can give.

Now I can understand and empathize with the different reasons you have for writing your blogs. But most of all I want to say thank to you for them, for they have helped me in tremendous and numerous ways. And they continue to on a daily basis.

One of the first and most important things it did for me, was help me understand and resolve my past experiences with Marcus Evans better. You cut through so much of the BS and sometimes unnecessary game playing our old employer?s company culture used to have, and gave me clarity and perspective on many things that I was unclear of in those times.

Like many business owners out there I am still only human. I have my doubts, I have my good times and I have my bad times. What your blog does for me on a daily basis is inspire me and remind me of how one can grow a business through sheer perseverance and that creating an international/global organization is very possible and not just a dream/fantasy.

Now lastly and not least, your blogs are humorous and they allow me to also reminisce of my previous lives outside of the United States.

So if not for any other reason then the one you outlined ?on sticking to your pitch and so you just f*#king sell?. Know that there is at least one person out there that has absolutely nothing to do with your industry, has a very different style to you and is considered by some to be fairly liberal, that takes value in your blog and applies its lessons whenever they can.

Cheers,
Alex