Quotes Etc.

Two nice quotes about presentations and speeches

2012-03-04T21:15:00.001-08:00

It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
Mark Twain

There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.
Winston Churchill

Mark Twain on Whisky

2012-02-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough." -Mark Twain

Be yourself...

2012-01-11T21:55:00.001-08:00

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde

Maya Angelou

2010-02-16T09:03:00.000-08:00

I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel ".......Maya Angelou

Saving money and saving time

2009-04-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

"A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time!"

- Henry Ford during depression

Happiness by Dale Carnegie

2009-02-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."

- Dale Carnegie

'Next Life' by Woody Allen

2009-02-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

'Next Life' by Woody Allen

In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people's home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!

Risks, death and life

2008-07-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone who lives dies, yet not everyone who dies has lived. We
take these risks not to escape life, but to prevent life escaping
us.

-Unknown

Random quote

2008-06-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hire slowly, fire quickly! -Unknown

Role of marketing

2008-06-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

“There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling.
But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer
so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
— Peter Drucker

Destroy the tube!

2008-04-26T04:42:00.001-07:00

"However little television you watch, watch less."
- David McCullough

When drucker speaks you listen! :)

2008-04-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

The computer is a moron.
- Peter Drucker

wanting versus having

2008-02-27T11:11:00.000-08:00

"Having is not so pleasing as wanting"

This is so true when it comes to toys that I always want to have. The pursuit of the gadgets/toys is so much more pleasing than once I get it in my hand. It was true with the Zagi radio controlled delta wing that I built, it was equally true with both the bikes that I owned namely a SV650 and a beautiful ducati! I realized that I loved browsing used bikes for sale on seattle craigslist more than actually owning one! All the excitement of wanting a bike was gone once I had a bike! :)

Difference between product manager and product marketing manager

2007-06-25T06:37:00.001-07:00

From Pragmatic Marketing blog

The survey result show that product managers are more inclined to research the market and write requirements while product marketing typically plans go-to-market strategy and writes collateral.

A PM listens to the market; a PMM talks to the market.

Typically the title "product manager" is used to signify people who listen to the market and articulate the market problems in the form of requirements. And the title "product marketing manager" is usually assigned to those who take the resulting product to the market by defining a product marketing strategy. (I actually use the title product manager for both of these). Yet clearly, this delineation is not consistently applied. PMs and PMMs are both equally involved in writing business cases and researching market needs.

And what about marcom? Marketing Communications (marcom) is a service department to product marketing, focusing on the execution of the product marketing strategy. Marcom specializes in programs such as web, direct mail, trade shows, and collateral production. Product marketing knows which of these programs to run; marcom knows how to execute them.

In Crossing the Chasm, Geoff Moore defines and recommends two separate positions:

"A product manager is a member of either the marketing organization or the development organization who is responsible for ensuring that a product gets created, tested, and shipped on schedule and meeting specifications. It is a highly INTERNALLY FOCUSED job, bridging the marketing and development organizations, and requiring A HIGH DEGREE OF TECHNICAL COMPETENCE and project management experience. A product marketing manager is always a member of the marketing organization, never of the development group, and is responsible for bringing the product to the marketplace and to the distribution organization. ... It is a HIGHLY EXTERNALLY FOCUSED job."

Moore goes on to say, "Not all organizations separate [the two positions], but they should be... the type of people who are good at one are rarely good at the other."

What is quality?

2007-04-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

This I heard in Serena sales kickoff meeting,

Customer comes back,
........product doesn't!

Perceptions of other countries

2007-04-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

I really like this quote as it sums up exactly how I feel about perceptions of other countries. When I visit my homeland, India, I often hear bizzare views about life in U.S. Living in united states has educated me about the life and culture of the people here. Every once in a while I do run into someone in U.S. who has bizzare views about India. (I am not kidding when I say that someone asked me if we still commute on Elephants in India!)

So without further delay here is the quote I liked,

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." -Aldous Huxley