Dear Friend of CHARIAD:
I have to start with an apology to some of you. This note was first sent out last Wednesday – while snow filled the air. A few of you received the email – perhaps twice. But most did not. Some of you received it three times. And Steve Herman – “wintering in Miami” – has been a guinea pig as Google and Microsoft tech support tried to get my Friends group to work. As part of the transition I mention below, I have moved to an Office 365 platform and gremlins crawled out of the ether. One of the most frustrating was not being able to send this update to my Friends group. My fingers are crossed that you and all the other Friends will get this note. And I hope it brings a chuckle to your day.
Hard to think about sailing when snow is coming down – at least here in Boston.
My Advisory Practice Update
I have established Williams Advisory Partners, LLC, as a platform for my advisory work with the leadership of technology companies and my board of directors work. Please note my new work email Rick_Williams@WilliamsAdvisoryPartners.com. My Equity100 email (Rick_Williams@Equity100.com) is still a good one. Go to www.WilliamsAdvisoryPartners.com for an overview of the work I do with middle market, business to business technology companies.
If you or someone you know is trying to raise capital or overcome the barriers to growth or wants to maximize the value of their company prior to sale, I might be able to help. An introduction will be most welcome.
About 2,000 business leaders across the US are getting my occasional thought leadership articles on how to make their company more successful. Before distribution, these articles are published by the parent company of the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) in their 43 city editions across the US. If you or one of your colleagues wants to get on the distribution list, just let me know.
A Mystery Has Been Solved
Try not to hold this against me, but I escaped from the cold and ice in Boston and spent almost a week in Bermuda.
My feet were in the water last week in this scene while many of you were … well you know what you were doing.
Bermuda’s history is very centered on forts protecting it from pirates, the Spanish, and sailors from Newport. Here are cannons at the Royal Navy Museum.
OK – here is an anchor I would have left on the BYC dock because of the extra weight.
If you have sailed to Bermuda or gone over by flapping wings, you may have rented a moped to get around the island. You soon realize that ridding a moped is much more dangerous than sailing across 600 miles of the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat.
Here the Twizy that got me around the island this time.
The Rum Issue
OK – so what mystery was solved during this excursion to the island of rum. Let’s start with the rum issue. I asked to take a tour of “the rum factory.” The Gosling folks admitted that they do not actually make rum on Bermuda. Too small an island for something like that. They do blend rum from other places and sell it as Bermudian rum.
Why do Bermudians and Brits Drive on the Left Side of the Road?
But here is the important discovery. You probably know that Bermuda and all of Britton drive on the wrong side of the road. Going around a rotary clock wise on a moped is just asking for trouble. I wanted to know why this obvious error was made on an otherwise sensible island. Why do the Brits drive on the left side of the road instead of the right side? In depth research has uncovered the answer.
The Brits expect jousting to come back as an important part of British culture and a measure of manhood among the royals. If you remember the jousting tournaments, the knights ride their horses towards each other at gallop speed and try to knock each other of the horse with their lances. Since most knights are right handed, the horse/knights go at each other on the left side of the track.
The Brits carry this left side of the road approach forward today on their roads and highways so they will be fully prepared for the return of jousting. Using the right hand to manage the lance while jousting makes some sense. But in a Rolls Royce or Jaguar, the driver must shift gears with his/her left hand. The right hand could role down the window if we did that any more.
I discovered that jousting is happening today in local festivals. And there are jousting video games. Virtually ever picture from current day jousting has the riders on the righthand side of the track. Where are the upholders of tradition when they are really needed? Will the Brit Royals ride their jousting horses on the right side of the tournament track while continuing to expect everyone else to drive on the wrong side of the road? This issue should be addressed!
Friends of CHARIAD Social Gathering
That is my report. There will be a Friends of CHARIAD Meetup in Cambridge in a couple of weeks. Hope to see you there.
My best,
Rick
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