"Simplicity" Posts on ValleyZen

Go all access with us at Tim O’Reilly’s home, as he graciously opens his doors to ValleyZen.

Join us in an exclusive video experience where twisting country backroads lead to the home of the Founder & CEO of O’Reilly Media. ValleyZen was invited to O’Reilly’s Sebastopol dwelling which is nestled on 6 acres of farmland–far from Silicon Valley hustle and bustle, and tucked between California earth and sky.

O’Reilly is candid, open and relaxed, taking us on a tour of his home, his kitchen, and even his treehouse. This video is filled with action, movement, and satori!

The trailer below shows a few minutes of highlights taken from footage shot over the course of an entire morning…

At Iwo Jima, more than 20,000 Japanese troops perished on the black sand. This is their story.

Yesterday we met and talked with Clint Eastwood at a screening of his masterpiece, Letters from Iwo Jima, a film about the famous Pacific struggle told from the Japanese soldiers’ point of view. The movie is the companion to Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, created from the American point of view.

As we watched the film and listened to Eastwood, we were struck by…

Watch a video with Jim Barnett, Founder & CEO of Turn, Inc. Jim Barnett’s Zen insights are interesting for entrepreneurs , business people, or anyone implementing a big vision.

Don’t Miss Jim Barnett on:

• 19 years of morning meditation
• Riding up King’s Mountain to clear his mind
• Simplicity in advertising
• On naming his company “TURN”
• Performance and simplicity behind Turn
• On building a culture of honesty and Zen authenticity
• Why he doesn’t care about reference checks in hiring…
Keep Reading

The Tech Awards show that “Big changes come from simple solutions” said Tech President Peter Friess —opening an elegant black tie gala for the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world. Over 1500 Tech Museum friends & donors gathered to honor 25 global innovators (Laureates) who were carefully selected from hundreds of applications received from 68 countries. $250,000 in cash awards were distributed on one evening.

“We are gathering all the intellectual capital of all these prestigious laureates…

Yesterday, the Dow Jones fell below 10,000 points. Stress and risk are everywhere: the financial crisis, the deepening recession, the threat of losing one’s job and savings. Staying afloat in a sea of red ink is hard.

Sourcing from the ancient wisdom of Zen provides timeless lessons in a world of chaos. As a Sumi-e artist, the Zen principles are alive in my brush every moment. I take lessons from my brush. Here are three:

1. Spare your brush strokes

Less is more. In my Sumi-e paintings, I strive for maximum…

“ValleyZen will be the first to know when we pull the trigger,” said Ron Gutman, Co-Founder and CEO of Wellsphere. A sleep-deprived but adrenalized team gathered around him at Wellsphere headquarters in San Mateo yesterday morning. Having worked around the clock the past few weeks in preparation for today’s launch of Wellsphere 2.0, they seemed none the worse for the wear.

“Welcome to our office,” said Dave Kashen, Co-Founder and CFO.
“It’s NOT an office, it’s a WellHome,” quipped Gutman…

Craig Newmark speaks candidly about Barack Obama and John McCain, Presidential Zen and the Art of Service. Watch ValleyZen’s video interview here shot in San Francisco on location at Craig’s favorite hang. Craig opens up under California sun-dappled Japanese maples. Highlights include:

• Craig as eye candy — It’s tough being the glamorous poster boy for Craigslist!
• The art of customer service – Craig is the Master. The word Samurai means to serve. Craig’s twist on service.
• Presidential Zen — Barack Obama and John McCain — How do they set their Zen Compass?

Today’s post is the sequel to the preceding post “Zen and Venn” (below). Self-study is a prerequisite to finding the Venn lemon shaped common ground. We cannot know what we have in common with another if we do not know our own interests and objectives. One of the most common errors in technology licensing is that the parties come to the negotiating table without having prepared. To avoid this, advance preparation for negotiation means studying, identifying, and discussing within the negotiation team, our positions on key terms, while remaining flexible…

Zen theory and practice can help lawyers, technologists and businesspersons meet the fundamental challenge of negotiation of technology deals: finding the overlapping space in two distinct circles of interest, otherwise known as a Venn diagram…

Digerati 9 “sold out” faster than expected and was filled to capacity. The free, but invitation only event formed a wait list quickly earlier this month. On Sunday at the private home of Ron Gutman, techies took in sun and a view from his deck while leisurely sipping champagne and eating mousse. I asked Ron Gutman about the Zen of Digerati. “There is no agenda and we don’t try to frame anything. We don’t tell people what to expect or how to behave. It just…