Is the world worth your sacrifices?

“You have to really believe not only in yourself; you have to believe that the world is actually worth your sacrifices.”

— Zaha Hadid 

Why Vietnam was different

Quoted in Hue, 1968, on page 502:

"Emmet John Hughes, a former speechwriter for President Eisenhower who was then working with Republican presidential hopeful Nelson Rockefeller, wrote in Newsweek that it had been a mistake to consider the struggle in Vietnam as part of global Communist expansionism:

'The fateful basis... has been a false analogy - the dogged insistence that the war in Vietnam signaled precisely the same political commitment as all U.S. actions since WWII... deterring communist aggression. On the contrary, the intervention in Vietnam has been unique and unprecedented... No previous conflict cast America in the role of an effective heir to hated colonial authority, alienating rather than arousing national pride. And no previous conflict engaged America in the audacious labor of creating a new sovereignty... A policy disdainful of such historical differences could have but one end. You cannot truly win a conflict that you cannot truthfully define.'"

Leadership - need for accurate information (the truth)

Quotes from "Hue, 1968" by Mark Bowden. Page 25

"The truth was bent at every fold for reasons that went beyond propaganda to self-interest, sycophancy, and wishful thinking. In Hanoi there was no pretense of truth whatsoever; 'facts' were what served the party's mission. American commanders, on the other hand, supposedly embraced a more enlightened standard. Accurate information was essential to war planning, and, unlike Hanoi, the United States was dogged at every turn by an independent press. But, in practice, there was every incentive for field commanders to inflate or even invent body counts. It was how their performance was assessed, and it became one of the greatest self-reporting scams in history. Everyone knew it was going on. Some of the more senior commanders discouraged the practice, but it was so widespread-and so hard to disprove-that few if any field officers were ever disciplined for it. No one in a position to know better took the numbers that emerged form this process seriously. But Westy was far enough removed to embrace them. He was the last man up the self-reporting chain. The absurd body counts and kill ratios were proof of his leadership. He sold them to LBJ, who in turn presented them as fact to the American people."

Quotes from "Hue 1968" by Mark Bowen

"Some things found in the houses stayed with marines in other ways. Eden Jimenez was clearing rooms, tossing in grenades, waiting for the blast, then racing inside shooting for all he was worth. He entered one room this way that was empty except for a tall old wardrob, which he had filled with holes. He opened it gingerly, and inside found a young woman, whome he had mortally wonded, who was holding a baby and a rifle. One of Jimenez's rounds had pierced her throat. She was bleeding and choking to death, and soon died, still holding the baby, which was miraculously unscathed. He handed the child off and it was passed to the rear. When he was an old man, living in Odessa, Texas, he still wondered almost every day about that woman and child. Why was she holding a rifle? did she think that was going to protect her? Did she think that no one would look inside the wardrobe? Who was she? How would he have felt if he had killed the baby, too? What ever happened to it? Should he have looked before shooting into the wardrobe? These things turned over and over in his mind and gave him a sick feeling."

Page 324

Making the most of our time

"Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthy and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next – and disappear. That’s why it’s important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives."

-Joshua Foer in "Moonwalking with Einstein"

quoted: https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/02/too-busy/

Manifesto for memory

"How we perceive the world and how we act in it are products of how and what we remember. We’re all just a bundle of habits shaped by our memories. And to the extent that we control our lives, we do so by gradually altering those habits, which is to say the networks of our memory… Our ability to find humor in the world, to make connections between previously unconnected notions, to create new ideas, to share in a common culture: All these essentially human acts depend on memory. Now more than ever, as the role of memory in our culture erodes at a faster pace than ever before, we need to cultivate our ability to remember. Our memories make us who we are."

-Joshua Foer, "Moonwalking with Einstein"

quoted in https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/11/the-memory-palace/

Managing through being an "It" bag

How ansur Gavriel Beat the It Bag phenomenon
Jillian Goodman
Bloomberg Businessweek

Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel met at a Los Angeles concert by indie pop band the xx in 2010, became fast friends, and launched an accessories collection together in 2013. About half a second later, every woman in the world wanted a Mansur Gavriel bag. “In the handbag business, there have been companies that had success early on,” says boutique magnate Steven Alan, who was one of the first to stock the modestly priced (under $500) bucket bags and totes. “But nothing that I know of in 22 or 23 years that’s been like that. People would put their name on waiting lists. They would sell out before they got to the store.”

A little more than three years later, Mansur Gavriel has managed to keep its bags—and now clutches, backpacks, wallets, and shoes—in a supply-and-demand sweet spot by using time-tested retail strategies and clever social media positioning. “Certain articles of clothing, once they become coveted by everyone, everyone gets over it,” says street-style photographer Tommy Ton, who shot the brand’s spring/summer 2016 presentation. Not Mansur Gavriel’s. “I have friends who’ve had people approach them asking, ‘Do you want to sell it?’ ” he says. “I was like, Wow, this is a crazy phenomenon—to have people want to buy other people’s handbags off their backs.”

The founders themselves rarely give interviews, so here’s how you make and market the perfect post-recession accessories, according to marketers, stylists, and people who can’t keep the products stocked:
 
No. 1: Keep It SimpleWhen Mansur Gavriel first hit stores, the accessories market was experiencing “it” bag hangover, with “it”-ness seemingly defined by how many zippers one had. “You look at brands like Céline”—whose refined $3,400 Luggage bag defined post-recession fashion—“and you see people dressing in a more simple way,” says stylist Erin Walsh, whose clients include Kerry Washington and Maggie Gyllenhaal. “People feel a safety in things that are timeless.”

Mansur Gavriel offered that same sense of safety at about a seventh of the price. Although its first line of bags was assembled in China, according to a 2013 interview the pair did with the website Fashionista, they’re now made in Italy, where the leather has always been sourced. The original bags have undergone one price hike, but they have yet to cross the $600 mark, making them inexpensive enough for many women to have one and for others to build a collection. “It’s the perfect combination of fashion and function,” says Jen Mankins, owner of Brooklyn boutique Bird. “It’s aspirational and accessible.”
 
No. 2: Just Say NoAlan met Mansur, 32, and Gavriel, 33, at a mutual friend’s art opening in 2012. They asked him to come to their studio and offer feedback on the handbag company they were preparing to start. After the meeting, Alan placed his first order. “In addition to being great designers,” he says, “they’re also good businesswomen. They’re careful not to overdistribute.”

Mansur Gavriel restricts its retail partners to a few high-end boutiques and department stores and limits the number of bags a retailer can order. (Its online partners are even more exclusive.) This isn’t something Brian Bolke has seen before. “Because the price point is low, we buy a much bigger quantity of these bags” than, say, Céline’s, says Bolke, owner of Dallas’s Forty Five Ten, which caters to Laura Bush and other society ladies. “But you could probably sell five times as many.” Given Mansur Gavriel’s unique schedule of six annual deliveries vs. the typical eight, Forty Five Ten can go three months without a bag in the store. 
No. 3: Hide in Plain SightMansur Gavriel’s Instagram account features photos with relatively unknown models, bright colors, and natural backgrounds; sometimes there’s a fruit or flower arrangement. But you don’t get a peek into the designers’ lives. If Mansur Gavriel had followed conventional wisdom, once the brand gained traction its social media should have become more personal. “They say it’s about authenticity—bringing out the designer, bringing out their daily lives,” says Shira Sue Carmi, founder of the fashion branding agency Launch Collective. Instead, Mansur Gavriel doubled down on its arm’s-length approach.

The brand gives off the vibe that there’s always more to discover. Take the original bags’ neutral exteriors and colorful interiors. “It creates the opportunity for personal expression,” Mankins says. Or the gold stamped logo—demure and elegant. “It has a quiet message of authority,” says Diana Kim, owner of Stand Up Comedy, a boutique in Portland, Ore.

This spring, Mansur Gavriel released its first nonhandbag items, shoes in four styles, five heel heights, and 16 colors. Clothing will likely follow. “It’s been an overnight success. And then, in many ways, they’re still holding back,” Carmi says. “There’s a lot more that we haven’t seen yet.”