1/03/2025

An Hour with Mozart: Pure Musical Bliss

I highly recommend this masterful podcast about Mozart. The hour flies by in what feels like seconds, immersing you in a "flow" state that makes time vanish. When it ends, you’re left wishing it lasted three times longer. A significant part of the magic comes from the live performances by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Orchestra, which elevate the experience to another level. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! (text revised by a LLM) In 1756 a musical prodigy was born in Salzburg, Austria: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Thanks to the efforts of his exacting father, Mozart's genius was exhibited and celebrated in some of the greatest courts of Europe from a young age. At four years old he wrote his first keyboard concerto, at six he was performing for the empress Maria Theresa. Soon he and his father were touring Europe, and the young Mozart's exploits proved increasingly lucrative for his overbearing parent. But, like all young men, Mozart was growing up and becoming increasingly uncontrollable. Feeling stifled and professionally frustrated, he began to disobey his wealthy patrons and went freelance, risking financial security and the favour of his family. Yet, it would also see him falling in love, and writing some of his most glorious works. Nevertheless, time and life was running out for the young composer, as he began to write the powerful Requiem, which may prove to be for his own death... Join Tom and Dominic at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Philharmonia Chorus, conducted by Oliver Zeffman, they explore one of the most famous musical figures of all time: Mozart. What was the origin of his genius? What are the stories behind some of his most famous works, such as The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni? And, what is the truth behind his tragic and much mythologised death, young and penniless? https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-rest-is-history/id1537788786?i=1000682044598

- Pedro

Read on Substack

1/02/2025

10 Trends to Watch in 2025: Insights from Tom Standage

10 Trends to Watch in 2025, Inspired by Tom Standage’s Insights 1-America First Redux Geopolitical shifts will unfold as the U.S. doubles down on its "America First" policy. 2-A Call for Change Macro-political transformations are imminent, driven by demands for reform in nearly every major election of 2024. 3-Heightened Instability in Europe and the Middle East A transactional approach from the new U.S. administration could exacerbate tensions in these regions. 4-The Tariff Tsunami Expect more tariffs, with ripple effects on global trade and economic growth. 5-The Clean-Tech Boom China's advancements in clean technology could revolutionize the energy sector worldwide. 6-Inflation and Fiscal Tightening Most economies are gearing up for stricter fiscal policies, raising questions about growth and voter approval. 7-The Politics of Aging Could age limits for political leaders become a global trend? 8-AI Revolution Agentic AI systems are poised to become the most transformative innovation since the internet. 9-Tourism Backlash The pushback against overtourism will reshape the travel industry. 10-Expect the Unexpected From global pandemics to solar storms, the world must brace for unpredictable disruptions. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into each of these trends in the near future. (text revised by a LLM) Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2025 https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2024/11/18/tom-standages-ten-trends-to-watch-in-2025 From The Economist

- Pedro

Read on Substack

12/23/2024

Starting a new book! Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies by Andreas Hinterhuber (editor), Todd C Snelgrove (Editor)

Starting a new book! Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies by Andreas Hinterhuber (editor), Todd C Snelgrove (Editor) "...Value-based pricing – pricing a product or service according to its value to the customer rather than its cost – is the most effective and profitable pricing strategy. Value First, Then Price is an innovative collection that proposes a quantitative methodology to value pricing and road-tests this methodology through a wide variety of real-life industrial and B2B cases. This book offers a state-of-the art and best practice overview of how leading companies quantify and document value to customers. In doing so, it provides students and researchers with a method by which to draw invaluable data-driven conclusions, and gives sales and marketing managers the theories and best practices they need to quantify the value of their products and services to industrial and B2B purchasers. The 2nd edition of this highly-regarded text has been updated in line with current research and practice, offering three new chapters covering new case studies and best practice examples of quantified value propositions, the future of value quantification, and value quantification for intangibles. With contributions from global industry experts this book combines cutting edge research on value quantification and value quantification capabilities with real-life, practical examples. It is essential reading for postgraduate students in Sales and Marketing with an interest in Pricing Strategy, sales and pricing specialists, as well as business strategists, in both research and practice. ..." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59858279-value-first-then-price?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=zhnvkchD61&rank=3

- Pedro

Read on Substack

12/14/2024

The world ahead 2025 - Economist

The world ahead 2025 from the Economist. A must read, more on it in the near future. https://www.economist.com/topics/the-world-ahead-2025

- Pedro

Read on Substack

12/11/2024

Finalized Win, Keep, Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business by Mark Stiving - My Book Rating - 4/5

Finalized Win, Keep, Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business by Mark Stiving My Book Rating - 4 / 5 (Qualitative - “Really Liked it”) BOP#2 - Book Club A concise and highly insightful book on thinking and managing subscription businesses. It offers numerous valuable insights that I’ll carry into my professional life—not only for subscription businesses but also for broader applications, such as Internal Transfer Pricing within Management Performance Systems. These concepts have direct relevance to various organizational areas. I plan to publish a more detailed review in the near future—or at least, I hope to! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7061305482

- Pedro

Read on Substack

12/08/2024

Books added to the Library throughout November'24

Throughout November’24 I have added 6 books to my library. Hopefully, you can also find 1 or 2 for your own library!

The selection rules were:

  • the book had to be recommended by someone directly or by an article I have read or a podcast I have listened.

the book should be less than €5 (usually via Kindle -promotions- or 2nd hand) or part of the reading list of a book club that I’m a member.

Subscribe now


1- La psicología del dinero: Cómo piensan los ricos: 18 claves imperecederas sobre riqueza y felicidad, Morgan Housel (Author), Arnau Figueras Deulofeu (Translator)

“…En cuestiones de dinero, lo que importa no es lo listo que seas sino cómo te comportas. Tendemos a pensar en la inversión o la gestión de las finanzas personales como una disciplina matemática, en la que los datos y las fórmulas nos dicen exactamente qué hacer. Sin embargo, el rasgo que define a las personas que logran enriquecerse no es su destreza con los números, ni su salario o su talento, sino su historia personal, sus motivaciones y su visión única del mundo.

Un genio que pierde el control de sus emociones puede ser un desastre financiero. Y lo mismo vale en caso contrario: gente de a pie sin formación en finanzas puede enriquecerse si cuenta con unos cuantos patrones de comportamiento. Esto, impensable en otras disciplinas como la arquitectura o la medicina, es fundamental en el campo de las finanzas.

Este libro, llamado a convertirse en un clásico de las finanzas personales, nos provee del conocimiento esencial para entender la psicología del dinero y nos invita a hacernos una pregunta fundamental que raramente nos hacemos, cuál es nuestra relación con el dinero y qué queremos realmente de él.

A partir de 18 claves imperecederas, Morgan Housel nos enseña cómo funciona la psicología del dinero y cuáles son los hábitos y conductas que nos ayudarán no solo a generar riqueza, sino, más importante aún, a conservarla…”

2- Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role on Any Team, Marina Nitze (Author), Nick Sinai (Author)

“,,,Whether you just started your first entry-level job, run the entire company, or just feel trapped by your condo association bylaws, it's time to learn how to get big things done and make a lasting impact with Hack Your Bureaucracy.

From local government to the White House, Harvard to the world of venture capital, Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai have taken on some of the world's most challenging bureaucracies—and won. Now, they bring their years of experience to you, teaching you strategies anyone can use to improve your organization through their own stories and those of fellow bureaucracy hackers, including:

Find Your Paperclip: use small steps to achieve big change

Set Your North Star: keep your end goal in sight

Cultivate the Karass: assemble an adept team and network

Don't Waste a Crisis: turn every opportunity into a chance for change

And more!

Change doesn't happen just because the person in charge declares it should, even if that person is the CEO of your company or the President of the United States. Regardless of your industry, role, or team, Hack Your Bureaucracy shows how to get started, take initiative on your own, and transform your ideas into impact…”

Share

3-Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975, ir Max Hastings (Author)

“…Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and also much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh’s warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.

Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners’ victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas.

No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings’ readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record. …”

4-The Color Purple, Alice Walker (Author)

“,,,Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown.

Abused repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', Celie has two children taken away from her and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny.

And gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

Beloved by generations of readers, The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love. …”

Leave a comment

5-The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking: Leading Your Organization into the Future, Michael D. Watkins (Author)

“…Pattern recognition. Systems perspective. Mental agility. Structured problem-solving. Visioning. Political savvy. For every good leader who has mastered of one of these disciplines is a great leader who knows and has mastered all of them.

Michael D. Watkins, an expert on leadership transitions and organizational success, returns to the page with a new how-to guide for the modern leader. Here, he presents the six disciplines that separate the great from the good. Developed over the course of his storied career, Watkins’ approach to strategic thinking—"a set of mental disciplines leaders use to recognize potential threats and opportunities, establish priorities, and mobilize themselves and their organizations to envision and enact promising paths forward”—is the model followed by some of today’s most successful first-time CEOs and new business leaders.

The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking is a comprehensive and practical guide to strategic thinking, offering a wealth of insights and tools for leaders at all levels…”

6-Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia, Gary J. Bass (Author)

“…In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed clear: Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march. For the Allied powers, the trial was an opportunity to render judgment on their vanquished foes, but also to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war, building a more peaceful world under international law and American hegemony. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was victors’ justice.

For more than two years, lawyers for both sides presented their cases before a panel of clashing judges from China, India, the Philippines, and Australia, as well as the United States and European powers. The testimony ran from horrific accounts of brutality and the secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor to the Japanese military’s threats to subvert the government if it sued for peace. Yet rather than clarity and unanimity, the trial brought complexity, dissents, and divisions that provoke international discord between China, Japan, and Korea to this day. Those courtroom tensions and contradictions could also be seen playing out across Asia as the trial unfolded in the crucial early years of the Cold War, from China’s descent into civil war to Japan’s successful postwar democratic elections to India’s independence and partition.

From the author of the acclaimed The Blood Telegram, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, this magnificent history is the product of a decade of research and writing. Judgment at Tokyo is a riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years that set the stage for the Asian postwar era. …”


Happy readings!



from Risk Premium https://ift.tt/gL1QsFS
via IFTTT

12/07/2024

Visualizing Strategy: Building Blocks in Focus

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this visualization is a testament to that. It’s a great and simple representation of the strategy building blocks. In my professional life, I apply almost ipsis verbis what is depicted in this pyramid, even using the same nomenclature. (text revised by a LLM)

- Pedro

Read on Substack