Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam
The author would have you takeaway: Westmoreland was a decent enough officer who just happened to be in the wrong slot at the wrong time in the wrong place and was dwarfed by his responsibilities. Westmoreland flailed under the pressure. Westmoreland failed under the pressure. The war failed.
Simply, the book decimates Westmoreland. But I kind of like that. There’s value on just ripping apart a creature that was responsible when everything went to hell. Not so much from a historical perspective, but from an leadership lessons perspective. Obviously, there’s more value if you can juxtapose it with a more flattering text.
Growing up I read the biographies of all the generals and admirals I could get my hands on: Patton, Nimitz, Rommel etc. MacArthur always struck a chord with me for various underdog reasons. But the first book I found about him didn’t like him (I think it was Old Soldier’s Never Die), much like this book Westmoreland. So I went on and read American Caesar (great), MacArthur’s own Reminiscences (still one of my favorite books). Never got around to D. Clayton James’ four volumes on MacArthur’s life, but the set is on the bucket list. If this book can spark the same for you, then it’s done something great.
Anyway. If you’re reading several books on Vietnam (or have), add this one to the stack. Especially if you’re just looking for command lessons.
-Shlok
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The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau follows in (order) the footsteps of the Ultralight Startup (review coming), The 4 hour Workweek, and to a lesser extent, the Lean Startup.
First: The $100 Startup is an odd title. Unless your time and computer are worth zero, write the name off to marketing fluff. It costs money and time to get going.
Chris has an enjoyable set of narratives from entrepreneurs who have done what he calls ‘freedom businesses.’ You make money doing what you like and have time for the rest of what life has to offer. That fills up the first part.
Then there’s basically business 101 with an emphasis on virtual products – build-once for low cost, sell a million times for profit, etc. He doesn’t subscribe the Lean Startup terminology, but the ideology is baked in. Nothing earth shatteringly original, but all in all, this is good stuff to know and quick to consume.
Nice to see a section on health insurance. It was only 2 pages long and rather lame. The 39 step product launch checklist was great, and five pages. He has 1 footnote nod to Ferris. Would have been nice to see a section on taxes.
All-in, it’s a decent intro to the world of the DIY careerist.
But there’s a larger point to be made. This approach has been done. We get it, we can live fantastic lives anywhere we want by building stuff online and making $50k a year. We don’t need anymore convincing.
What we do need:
- Tax/family/health/love/children/education strategies for the anywhere/4 hour/$100/ultralight entrepreneur.
- Chris covered the $50k+ successful crowd here. But what about a systematic study of the entrepreneurs who cratered, or worse, shat debt all over themselves?
In terms of an entrepreneurial system, the advantage these low capital intense endeavors have is that they don’t rely on Spanish queens or VCs for funding. The environment has to be amiable – you need to make enough to start, or get that money from somewhere.
So a deeper analysis of what that environment would be exceedingly useful.
For example I want to see my requests above, but not from successful middle-class to upper-class men, but from extracting lessons from slum dwellers where entrepreneurship is standard and everyone you know participates.
In the same vein: What is systematically holding these companies back? How can we build a capital infrastructure that addresses those points? What about new coding technology that makes it dead-simple to launch interesting products (and not spam)?
The list goes on.
Which brings it back to the point of these books. Maybe these are areas I need to explore, solve, and write about, to get my $50k and life in luxury.
-Shlok
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Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha have written a book for people with normal jobs. Corporate jobs. What they call the “escalator model.” Show up for 9-5 every day, earn promotions every so often, and get a steady paycheck.
The two explain that the classic model is dying. Then they explain in understandable way, that you need to embrace your personal brand, engage with the people ‘around’ you in a meaningful way, and have an eye on the adjacent possible (what they call, in classic bizbook lingo, ABZ planning).
To that segment, this is a pretty decent call to step it up, hustle as they say, and own their careers. So if you know someone still in that mindset, send them this book.
But for those of us who have already embraced this approach. Or, honestly, will never know any other , this book will read like like a primer. That’s not a knock, especially since I haven’t found the perfect book on this topic, but something to be aware of.
-Shlok
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Honestly, this book is probably a pain to read and forgettable unless you’re interested in the subject matter.
That said, if you’re interested in getting an inside look at the Google’s story, this is the book for you. It came out in April of 2011, just when Schmidt stepped out of the way, so it doesn’t address that shift, but otherwise, it’s the deep dive you’re looking for (if you are).
In the same vein, if you want the Facebook story, this is the one for you. It’s the vetted story, so watch for a rose-tint. No critique, no analysis, just the facts ma’am.
-Shlok
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Read this in a couple hours. Lashinsky does a pretty good job delving into what makes Apple tick. It’s a decent accompaniment to the Jobs biography. It paints a clearer picture of how
Bottom line, Apple is a company of cogs. Finely honed cogs that do their jobs exceedingly well, but cogs. No generalists. Masters of craft, but no rockstars. That’s reserved for the top ~10 corporate officers. (That’s a mindfuck for MBAs that are taught that each is a beautiful little general manager waiting to bloom.)
Incentivize those with money, prestige, stringent accountability, and a get-it-done culture (all backed by a huge war chest) and you’re good to go. The result is a tightly wound machine, ready to execute on whatever you divine is necessary.
Note, the publicity of this book overstates the insights into the secretive aspects of Apple. -“APPLE IS LIKE THE CIA” etc. (Nah. It operates like the CIA wants to.) What little is provided on this topic is oft repeated. You’ll read about how ID cards don’t work in certain areas probably a dozen times. That’s poor editing.
-Shlok
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