The Fein Line

I haven't read his book yet, but I did listen to an extensive interview with Fareed Zakaria where he discussed "The Post American World".  My main exposure to Fareed has been on The Daily Show, where he is a frequent guest.  I always liked his viewpoint.

Fareed's new book is about how America finds its place in a new world where there are many powers, not one superpower.  With the ascendancy of China and India, the resurgance of Western Europe, and the US bogged down in Iraq and with some internal issues, the US has lost a lot of influence over the past few years.  I don't think we can get this back by flexing our muscles.  Instead, we must change our approach and be the 'Chairman of the Board', as Fareed describes.

One of the best lines from the interview (and probably a quote from the book) is that the US must lead by persuasion, not domination.  We have lost our power of persuasion and have tried to get our way by being the bully.  We'd be much better off, and much safer, with a persuasive and inclusive approach.  We need to be engaged with the world and building coalitions, not demanding that we get our way.

I think that this is one of the most important meta-trends in our country.  One of my main criteria in deciding who I am going to vote for in the Presidential election is "which candidate is best able to change the perception of the US in the world and lead by persuasion?"  Hint: Talking about being in Iraq for 100 years or obliterating Iran probably disqualifies you.

Another good line from Fareed: When other countries are looking out for their self-interest first, we call it nationalism.  When we look out for our own self-interest first, we call it patriotism.  I think that what we need to do is  to persuade people that all of our interests are actually aligned.

This theme particularly resonated with me because our new investment firm, Sempre Management, will also require us to use the power of persuasion with our active, hands-on investor approach.  We like to think that we are pretty good at persuasion.

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I went to the Celtics-Hawks game today to see the Celtics finish up what they should have done a few days ago -- close out the Hawks and move on to face the Cavaliers.

ESPN caught one of the big moments in the game, and I was in the background (on the left, the guy further back in the Celtics green jersey).  It was great to see this photo because they didn't show a replay of this foul at the game, and obviously we didn't have a clear view of how flagrant the foul really was.

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

While I have had a busy week, the Celtics have been making a lot of people nervous.  They lost Game 4 to the Atlanta Hawks, dropping the series to a 2-2 tie.  Then, back in Boston, they had another strong game to take a 3-2 lead.  Let's hope they can finish them off tonight down in Atlanta.  The Celtics didn't have trouble winning on the road this season, but they haven't done it yet this series.

As an old-time Boston resident, I have always enjoyed reading Bob Ryan's column in the Globe.  He also has a blog with some nice added content.  I wish I had time to write some of the things he did this past week, but I couldn't have done it as well anyway.

First, after the Celtics lost to the Hawks to drop the series into a tie:  Don't Panic

Second, after the Celtics regained the series lead: Told Ya So

Now, if they lose tonight to force a Game 7 (which I'll attend), I'll be back out on the ledge.  It shouldn't get this far.  After not being disappointed in the Celtics all season, evern after any of their 16 rare losses, I wsa pretty disappointed when they lost a 10 point lead late in Game 4.  Let's hope that this is the wake up call that they need to keep them focused for the rest of the playoffs.

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I thought that the long, drawn out Democartic nomination process would be a good thing, but now I am not so sure.  I thought that having the whole country involved, with two closely matched interesting candidates running, would lead to more people paying attention to the election, more careful consideration of the candidates, and higher voter participation.  Certainly, there are more people voting, which has to be a good thing.  Also, the Democrats have an easier time staying in the news, which is probably helpful to them.  But, I think that the nomination race has deteriorated greatly.

I am late to the party on this, but the focus on which fringe religious person support whom and what misstatement each candidate when is a complete waste of time.  I can't believe that a whole hour of the last debate was focused on this.  Who cares?

I liked Hillary's idea of a head-to-head debate with no moderator.  I guess that Obama is not going to do this.  He must feel that he has a lead and doesn't want to give her any openings.  There have been a lot of debates, but much of the country has only been paying attention since February.  Once Super Tuesday didn't end the race, it got a lot more interesting.

Unfortunately, in the last few months, there has been very little discussion of the issues between the candidates.  They had their slightly different views of NAFTA.  They certainly disagree on the usefulness of a federal gasoline tax holiday.   But, they should be talking again about the big issues -- Iraq, the economy, energy policy, healthcare.  That may not be what the press wants to focus on, but that's what the country needs to focus on.

I'd love it if one of the candidates in the last debate told Charlie Gibson "that is a ridiculous question that I am not going to answer.  Can we have a question about the real issues, please?"

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Wow, I can't believe another week has gone by.  I have always prided myself on time management.  I consider myself responsive and efficient.  I don't think I've lost that, but the number of things to get done has exploded.  One thing that has suffered has been my regular blogging.  I need to refocus on it as I am not yet ready to give it up.

This is the fun of being an entrepreneur.  You are never done.  When I come home late from work, my kids ask "Why are you home late?  Why couldn't you get your work done on time?"  My kids think that work is like school -- you have some tasks to do and, if you are focused and fairly smart, you can get your tasks done in the allotted time.  Although I don't have a boss these days, my kids assume that someone, or something, is assigning me some amount of work.  And, if i am home late, it must be because they gave me too much work or, perhaps, it took me too long to get it done.

I love the fact that being an entrepreneur means that you are never done.  You are always short on staff and long on work.  Your 'top priorities' still can't get done in a normal day.  Every day is triage, with vicious prioritization required to figure out what to do each day.  It's ever changing and exciting.

Couple that with sales dynamics.  Always prospecting, pitching, following-up, overcoming objections, and closing.  You go where you have to when you have to in order to get the deal done.  When you are making good progress, it's very satisfying.

It's been great starting up a new investment firm.  It couples the investing I love with the entrepreneurship I have missed.  I thought that being a VC would keep me in touch with entrepreneurship, but I think that there is no substitute for being on the firing line yourself.

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Geezeo announced today that they have taken a $1.2M strategic investment from thestreet.com (TSCM).  The formal announcement gives some of the details.  And, this blog post from Geezeo gives some hints of what is to come from this partnership.

The founders of Geezeo, Shawn and Pete, have really done a great job in bootstrapping the company with only a modest amount of capital.  They have built a nice product and received a lot of great press about it.  Now, with this new partnership, they can reach many more users and provide them an even better service.

If you are considering getting started with Quicken or are looking for a free online personal finance service, you should really check out Geezeo. 

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I received a lot of online and offline comments to my post last week about the Yankees avoiding the curse of the buried David Ortiz jersey.  For those of you who don't troll through all my comments (how could you not?), I am including a link I posted in a comment to that post.  Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart jumped into the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to say that Manny Ramirez would take out the Pope with a spike-high slide if His Holiness was wearing a Yankee mitre.

Posted by Mike Feinstein at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)