Averse, tolerant, seeking Economists talk a lot about risk behaviour– to what extent indivisuals seek, tolerate, or avoid risk, and this goes a long way in explaining why people choose to do things.
An excellent post by Valeria Maltoni discusses the importance of realising when you’ve lost sight of your customers’ interests and feelings. This reminded [...]

ExpectationI had the fortune to go to Sardegna recently for a friend’s wedding. Everything about this place is pretty awesome. The service is attentive yet chaotic– it’s hard to instil a strong series of values when you have four hours off in the middle of the afternoon in 40 degree (C) heat. When there’s a [...]

Author’s note: This is, necessarily, full of some fairly broad generalisations, but it is going somewhere– the subject matter is really broad, and I’m interested in your thoughts– in the comments. I’ll happily admit when (rather than if) I’m wrong.
Without, hopefully, making strong generalizations, (Africa is, after all a continent comprised of 53 countries, larger [...]

On the ground It’s official. I’m here, on the ground, in Kampala, and have been for 2 weeks. I’m enjoying the 25 degree heat and humidity– it’s like New Orleans in April all the time, although it (sometimes) cools down at night. A little.
And it’s “real” Africa. This is not South Africa or even [...]

Keith’s house in Jo-burg
After heading back it was a bit of time to decompress and try to arrange for my job interview to happen. We went off to Keith’s (one of my MBA buddies, and one of the greatest, most stand-up guys on the course) house in northern Johannesburg (Jo-burg, Jozie) for a couple of [...]

ChobeA rather peaceful day’s drive brought us to Chobe, the last game park in Botswana, where they have over 20,000 elephants (including the 2 day old one that we saw) who are very playful.
This elephant is very old and very excited.
Maybe he was watching the young whippersnappers?
Lots of babies, the teeniest to the right.
Fish eagle [...]

Makoro-landThe Okavango Delta is the largest inland delta on earth. there once was a lake, which has turned into a swamp, and about 90% of Botswana’s water is here. This is the edge of a series of nature reserves that spread across northern Botswana, ending in Chobe, at the Zimbabwe border.
Here, the Okavango river splits [...]

Game timeLeaving Swakopmund and civilisation behind, we head off for two days to a rather unusual game park– Etosha.
Think of the Black Rock Desert, not nearly as hard, far more salty, and surrounded by arid savannah with a few water holes. Here there are a wide variety of antelopes, from teeny tiny Steenboks up to [...]

We are now in Swakopmund, our “last stop” for civilisation. Four blog entries will be posted from here, and I’ll check up on my email as well.
The Score, so far
So far, we have:
Springbok (a tasty little deer-like creature)GemsbokOryxMountain ZebraOstrichBaboonsGreat White SharksSouthern Right Whalesand countless types of lizards (including the ones that switch feet on the [...]

As I type this, I’m in the back of a truck bouncing over a very serious dirt road, looking out over the river that’s the border between Namibia and South Africa.
It’s been a hectic few days: We arrived in Cape Town to hang out with Zeenith et al for a few days as well as [...]