A couple nights ago I had a long discussion with my wife about maintaining the Armenian culture. But first, why is it so important to maintain a culture? What is culture anyway? In this context, culture is “the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.” Many people, unfortunately, never get to experience another culture to its fullest…

It was the winter of 1993. Yerevan was covered with a white freezing blanket of snow. It was serene and peaceful outside, no cars, no people, nothing. Just the snow… and the occasional smoke emanating from a makeshift tin exhaust vent built into the kitchen or living room window, a pipe on a wall made black by whatever people had been burning to stay warm…

At dinner, I mentioned that I had sent e-mails to our Senator and our Congressman about the economy expressing my concern regarding the enormous proposed bailout package. I didn’t even notice how attentively my almost 6-year-old son was listening to what I was saying until he started trying to articulate in his words what he had understood. Noticing that he needed help understanding what I had just said in grown-up speak, I tried to explain. Here’s what I said…

The recent volatility in the stock markets around the world has put me on an emotional roller-coaster. The governments are doing what they can to prevent a global recession/depression but are they solving any fundamental issues? Absolutely not!

I think of every country as a family. The United States family has an enormous working potential and earns a lot of money for all the good that it creates every day…

For a few weeks, I’ve been struggling with the word “strategy.” I hear this word used, abused, misused and overused. There are all kinds of uses starting from “product strategy” and “strategic advisors” to “strategizing about a topic” and “strategic sourcing.” I certainly cannot put an end to this nonsense and will instead share my thoughts.
Perhaps as humans, we need to feel in control of the future. Maybe we need to feel smart or at least appear smart enough and able to pre-calculate for all kinds of eventualities. In aggregate …