applied contortionism

It’s well known that the media is a business and businesses need money to survive. They make money from your eyesballs which generate ad revenue. Brexit, Trump, horrible business people, naked celebrities, the NRA, are all things that make money for the media because they provoke strong emotional reactions. You’re going to watch because you care. The fact that there are so many bad things going on is a good thing for media.
But is it a good thing for you? Most people, millennials especially, want to be fulfilled, want to make a difference. This is a gut feeling, but I want to say 1/50 millennials I know are on a clear path to doing the thing they were meant to be doing. Your attention is valuable. Your mind share is valuable. But I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who’s ever been fulfilled by being angry about things other people want you to be angry about. So why would you end up spending that incredibly valuable resource, caring about things that aren’t going to make you happy or f…

I’m walking down a residential street in Tianjin. Food vendors hustle their wares for dirt cheap prices. A whole Peking duck for $3.80 USD? Sign me up for that! As I bring my spoils back to my girlfriend’s apartment, I can’t help but feel like I’m caught back in time while the rest of the country is moving in fast forward. 
I’m on my computer looking at valuations of companies in the healthcare/pharmaceutical space. $500M here, $300M there. Whatever your conceptions of speed or size are in the Valley, I assure you, they have nothing on China. The game being played in China is big and aggressive. And Clay Christensen’s “Innovator’s Dilemma”? Nowhere to be found. Alibaba does everything from B2B sales to B2C pharmaceuticals. Big companies just aren’t slow here. What about the startups? Even more fast and furious. 
As a foreigner, China is a daunting place. Almost every perception of what you think you know about doing business basically doesn’t really apply here. In the Valley, the prev…