Sécurité ferroviaire : PTC

Bon article sur le sujet.

Defined benefits vs. Defined contribution

Meanwhile, a longer-term problem is being stored up. Many companies have abandoned final-salary or defined-benefit (DB) pensions for new staff and switched to defined-contribution (DC) schemes, in large part because of the high cost of the former. These place the investment risk firmly on the employee.

Low real interest rates imply that workers should save a bigger sum for their old age in order to generate their desired income. But currently payments into British DC schemes, from both employer and employee, are just 8.9% of salary (the American contribution numbers are similar). According to the Pensions Corporation, another consultancy, a 35-year-old who funds a DC scheme at such a level will retire on just 8% of his final salary if interest rates are low. To earn the equivalent of a DB pension worth half their final pay-cheque, they or their employer would have to contribute 55% of their salary.

That might sound a tall order. But funnily enough, the Bank of England contributes 56.4% of its payroll to its DB scheme, which is almost entirely invested in inflation-linked bonds. It is a nice irony that the bank, which has done so much to discourage saving, is one of the most prudent savers of all.

(via The Economist)

David Foster Wallace - This is water

Discours de David Foster Wallace en 2005.

Leçons de Bill Ackman

Keys to successful investing :

1)      Invest in public companies

2)      Understand how the company makes money

3)      Invest at a reasonable price

4)      Invest in a company that could last forever (eg. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s)

       a.       Product/service people need

       b.      Unique

       c.       Attracts royalty

5)      Find a company with limited debt

6)      Look for high barriers to entry

7)      Invest in a company immune to extrinsic factors

8)      Invest in a company with low reinvestment costs

9)      Avoid businesses with controlling shareholders

Test de grammaire

Pour une entrevue.  Pourquoi pas ?

Listes 2012

Politique 

MUST READ - A murder foretold 
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/04/110404fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all 

GREAT READ - Echoes from a distant battlefield 
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/12/battle-of-wanat-201112.print 

Obama's way 
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/michael-lewis-profile-barack-obama 

The Obama's memos 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=3&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytmag&pagewanted=all& 

California and bust 
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/11/michael-lewis-201111 


Sports 
MUST READ - The most amazing bowling story ever 
http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/July/The_Most_Amazing_Bowling_Story_Ever_Bill_Fong.aspx?p=1 


Affaires 
Making the world's largest airline fly (read it for the coffee story) 
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/united-continental-making-the-worlds-largest-airline-fly-02022012.html 

Inside Pfizer Palace Coup 
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/28/pfizer-jeff-kindler-shakeup/ 


Divers 
MUST READ - The frequent fliers who flew too much 
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/05/business/la-fi-0506-golden-ticket-20120506 

GREAT READ - The man who broke Atlantic City 
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/the-man-who-broke-atlantic-city/308900/?single_page=true 

GREAT READ - The peekaboo paradox 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011801434.html 

How companies learn your secrets 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=3&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytmag&pagewanted=all& 

Personal best (on coaching) 
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all&mobify=0 

Confessions of a car salesman 
http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman.phtml 

The stoner arm dealers 
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stoner-arms-dealers-20110316?print=true 

Growing up is hard to do 
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/growing-up-is-hard-to-do-forced-into-adulthood-by-an-aging-parent/251085/ 

Is the iPad the only TV you need ? 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444165804578010371602729036.html

Belbin

82% - Monitor Evaluator
64% - Plant
55% - Implementer
52% - Completer Finisher
52% - Specialist
47% - Shaper
42% - Resource Investigator
35% - Co-ordinator
22% - Teamworker

As a prolific thinker, you possess talents for both originating and evaluating new ideas.  This means that you are most likely to make your mark in an area where the problems are complex and difficult.

In order to avoid being seen as "all thought and no action", keep an eye to the practical application of your ideas and strategies and do not be drawn into a general debate that can lead to purely academic analysis.

Buffett

To refer to a personal taste of mine, I'm going to buy hamburgers the rest of my life. When hamburgers go down in price, we sing the 'Hallelujah Chorus' in the Buffett household. When hamburgers go up in price, we weep. For most people, it's the same with everything in life they will be buying -- except stocks. When stocks go down and you can get more for your money, people don't like them anymore.

(via Fortune)

Leadership and the art of plate spinning

What are your company’s ten most exciting valuecreation opportunities?
Who are your ten best people?
How many of your ten best people are working on your ten most exciting opportunities?

It’s a rough and ready exercise, to be sure. But the answer to the last question—typically, no more than six—is usually expressed with ill-disguised frustration that demonstrates how difficult it is for senior executives
to achieve organizational alignment.


3 paradoxes that are both particularly striking and quite difficult to reconcile.

1) Change comes about more easily and more quickly in organizations that keep some things stable
2) Organizations are more likely to succeed if they simultaneously control and empower their employees.
3) Business cultures that rightly encourage consistency (say, in the quality of services and products) must
also allow for the sort of variability—and even failure—that goes with innovation and experimentation.

(via McKinsey Quarterly)

Link dump

Don Draper teams up with the data center - CMO / CIO cross-pollination
Patagonia: less consumption, less waste, and higher-quality goods
See's Candies (Berkshire)
Leadership lessons from Nick Saban
Kayak takes on big dogs
Jeff Bezos - The ultimate disrupter
Are Subarus the best cars money can buy ?