Health and family are all that really matter. No amount of wealth, power, fame, nothing else trumps the importance of health and family. Focus on these two things above all else.
6 days ago
| Notes: 2
True beauty is born by conquering pain and enduring struggle. Beauty without effort and struggle never endures the depths you travel in the ups and downs of life. The most beautiful smiles are lined with the reflected lines of past sorrows where canals of tears once flowed. As my Persian mother always said: there is no beauty without pain- the most beautiful flowers are the ones that struggled and cracked rock to bloom in the sunshine.
1 week ago
Congrats to all my friends involved with Facebook. Deep thanks for accelerating the rate of change in our world. This is a historic day for the tech world. Entrepreneurship is a force for good.
1 week ago
| Notes: 1
In my strategic overview of the landscape ahead I see tremendous and fierce competitive forces for the four giants: Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft. I have reached the conclusion that I must treat Facebook-Microsoft as one quasi-company. I call it FBSoft. This is not dissimilar to the US-UK in WWII (yes MS is UK in this example- this analogy does not carry with it moral parallels at all). They effectively will act as proxies for each other. One will not make a move without strategic synchrony. Skype was one of these proxy moves. This the forces Apple to have to choose a an ally. It seems to me that an Apple-Twitter alliance (of the FBSoft kind is the most natural and powerful fit. This would leave Google having to make a very large and large and move. This will drive massive consolidation spiking in 2012-2014. Instagram was just one of he early signals of what’s ahead. As the dust settles the tectonic plates will realign and the tech world will look different. I expect a lot of value creation will happen during this creatively disruptive period. I call it the Social Wars. Grab your virtual guns and get in the arena. This will be an epic and historic battle for the future of technology leadership and innovation.
2 weeks ago
| Notes: 40
Practice success and failure amnesia. Forget that you succeeded. Forgive and forget that you failed. Learn from both and move on fast. Failure can be a patient teacher- it’s often a learnable event. Success can lead to signal and pattern blindness. The greatest achievers I have met are grounded and focused. They practice success amnesia. Achievement is a state of mind. It needs to be practiced, protected and sharpened. Don’t let success blind that state of mind or failure bog it down. The faster we forget the twins of success and failure and focus on only creating value the faster the engines of achievement can carry you forward.
1 month ago
| Notes: 6
My father is a Persian enigma.
His coils of thick silky curly white hair hang
heavy on his wrinkled brow.
Women come up to him
And ask if they can touch his hair.
With my thinner hair, I always joke with him.
“Dad couldn’t you have at least given me your hair”
He is one of the most charming men I’ve ever met.
I’ve seen his silhouette of features
Etched in stone in the walls of Persepolis;
As if he stepped out of that stone 75 years ago.
His thick black eyebrows cast shadows
over his giant brown Persian eyes
Eyes that express every emotion
In fleeting twitches of communication
That only an orphan like him express.
There is an ancient Persian aura about him.
As if he just sat with an Achaemenid King
And advised him on rebuilding the temples of the Jews.
Infinite wisdom comes from his lips
as if he is some kind of Persian Oracle.
I remember him surrounded by books
From the time I was two years old.
Books were jewels to him.
He would go searching for ancient books
In markets and bazaars.
When he would find that one book
He’d been looking for months
He would be filled with unbounded happiness.
I have never seen him happier
Then when he discovered a new book.
It’s like he had found the Holy Grail.
I remembered a story he told me.
He was born along the shores of the Caspian Sea.
He was six years old and his mother had died.
Some years later his father died too. Both of tuberculosis.
Alone he found solace in books.
He made a deal with the tiny bookstore owner
Who took a liking to him.
He could have any book he wanted
In exchange he would clean the bookstore.
He’d read his books by oil lamps until dawn.
He would dream of escaping his tiny town
And explore the wide world he read about.
When I took him to China in 2010 for the first time
He explored Beijing with such fervent passion and curiosity.
He was obsessed with finding this foldable bicycle
He had read about it and he knew could find it cheaper here.
He also was determined with making custom suits in China.
For days he was off exploring while I worked.
Finally, he said he was ready and took me with him.
As he came to this one street where all the tailors were
Everyone on the street knew him. They called him by his name.
“Ebi!” they shouted out. I looked around shocked.
My father had befriended every single merchant.
He couldn’t’ speak Chinese. They couldn’t speak English.
They literally loved him.
His ancient Persian charm had won over China.
I walked in and they had all his designs that he drew.
He is a designer and artist at heart.
When I was a child I used to love getting his notes
Where he would draw the S in my name as an elaborate Swan.
Fabric after fabric came out. He had marked them days before with needles.
They took my measurements and to my shock they made my suits
The very same day and they delivered it to our hotel the same day.
They all hugged my father.
Next he took me the area where they had bicycles.
He actually had found the tiny miniature foldable bicycles.
“See, Shervin, it’s only $250! These are $500 or more in the West!”
His joy in his eyes was so pure.
Walking with him I saw in him
What must have driven the growth of the ancient Persian Empire.
Intense curiosity
Insatiable hunger for knowledge
Immense courage and resilience
And a unique and very human charm
That could speak a universal language
That a Chinese merchant could understand and love.
He represents the very best idea of a Persian
And the Persian ethos
A Persian Version that inspired so much
From the first declaration of human rights by Cyrus the Great
Monotheistic Religion with Zoroaster, Algebra by Omar Khayyam,
Avicenna’s advance of Medicine, the first postal service and so much more.
That spirit is still very much alive
It has just lost a systemic way to express itself
An environment that optimizes for achievement
The Persian spirit flourishes in places
Like my great nation of America
Where meritocracy and freedom
Reward curiosity and talent and ambition.
In my father I have tapped into a time portal.
I get to travel across millennia
And sit with my ancient ancestors
And I learn and listen and learn.
As I type this I google Iran
And almost all of the Autosuggestions are Iran Nuclear, War.
Inside my heart breaks.
And I understand the pain in my father’s heart
That still beats on strong with echoes of the past.
In those echoes I have hope
Hope that the that Persian Version of excellence
Will never die.
It beats in my heart.
And I know it beats in the hearts of the
Seventy million plus Persian hearts in Iran
That seek the greatness that is innate within them.
And when they are free to be as great as they know they are
They will be a gift to humanity.
Their brilliance will shine so bright.
And they will charm the world
Like my father charmed an entire street in China.
-Shervin Pishevar
30,000 feet in the sky
April 17, 2012
Picture by Shervin Pishevar. My father Ebi and my son Cyrus, Dulles Airport.
