标签: robert

I don't care what my dear old mom thinks, I honestly don’t think I have attention deficit disorder (ADD), although... Ooh, shiny!   I'm sorry. Where were we? Oh yes, I remember. I'm quite happy with my own company, and on those rare occasions when I'm trapped somewhere without anything to do for an hour or two ("You wait here Max while I go and look at the makeup; I'll only be a minute"), I can always enter a Zen-like meditative state and pay a visit to Max's World (where the colors are brighter, the butterflies are bigger, the birds sing sweeter, and the beer is plentiful and cold).   But, "still and all," as they say; if at all possible, given a choice, at the end of the day, when all's said and done, I prefer to be occupied at something or other. Oftentimes I end up doing a couple of things at the same time. If I'm watching television, for example, I'll invariably have a book on my knee to peruse and ponder during the adverts. Similarly, when I arrive at my office in the morning and I'm spending 10 minutes on the Jiggly Exercise Machine, I'll also be sipping a cup of coffee and reading a book at the same time.   Thus it is that, whilst I'm driving back and forth to work, in addition to listening to the NPR (National Public Radio), I also while away the time memorizing poetry. (If you see me at ESC, ask me to regale you with a monologue that tells the dread tale of Albert and the Hot Vindaloo .)   I had little interest in poetry when I was younger. I don’t recall us ever reading or memorizing poetry at high school. (Of course, I also don’t recall much of the 1970s and 1980s, LOL.) As I grow older, however, I'm finding that I do enjoy the occasional piece, such as To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence or The Emperor of Ice-Cream .   The one I'm currently working on (I try to add a line or two a day) is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I've almost got the first two stanzas down pat -- I'm hoping to memorize the last two lines of the second stanza on the way home this evening.   I'm sure you know this poem. You probably learned it as school. I find it hauntingly thought-provoking. In addition to memorizing each poem, I also spending a lot of time pondering its meaning and the author's choice of words. Take the first stanza of The Road Not Taken for example:   Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;     I tell you, I've been cogitating and ruminating over this for hours (I don’t want to read the official interpretations and discussions until I've wrung this little rascal dry for myself). Take the word "road" for example. I don’t think of roads in a wood -- I think of paths . Originally I really thought the poem should have been called The Path Not Taken and the first line should read "Two paths diverged..." But then I started to think that "road" has more gravitas when we come to the overall context of the poem. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.   And how about the third line: "And be one traveler..." What does this mean exactly? I'm guessing Robert is trying to say that he wishes he could travel down both roads (paths) at the same time. I personally think this bit is a tad awkward, although I can’t think of anything better off the top of my head.   The one word that is really giving me trouble is "yellow" in the first line. I can understand the author not wanting to say "summer wood" or "autumn wood" because that would establish a temporal reference point he may not have desired. Similarly, I can understand how other descriptive words like "tangled" or "dense" or "grizzled" or "majestic" or "verdant" might cause one to focus on this point, thereby detracting from the spirit of the poem as a whole.   But "yellow"? What does this mean? Are all the leaves yellow? If so, we're either back to autumn again or we have a very poorly wood on our hands. On the other hand, try as I might, I can’t think of a better word. I keep on coming up with suggestions and then explaining to myself why they don’t work. Can you offer any suggestions?   If we can’t come up with a better word than "yellow," then we'll be forced to admit that Robert may have gotten it right. You know, if he had worked a little harder at it, he might have had a career as a professional poet (LOL).

  他是 Forbes2010 全球富豪排行榜第 374 位的富豪，评估拥有 25 亿美元个人身价。 他被收录在 Diane Francis 《 Who owns Canada now! 》一书中，作为科技板块五人之一。 他今年 64 岁，白手起家打造出一家完全属于自己的商业帝国，公司年营收超过 40 亿美元。 他是电子分销行业的“教父”级人物，始终刻意远离媒体视线，因而披上了浓厚的神秘、传奇色彩，直到一场离婚案将他推向台前。 他的员工给他的标签是：外星人、真诚、慷慨、富有远见、思维超前、极具战略思维 他于 1968 年一手创建至今的企业正是全球第四大电子元器件分销商 Future Electronics 。   从我的角度来看， Robert Miller 能够白手起家，以 42 年时间创造出如此规模的商业帝国，本身就十分的惊世骇俗！因为富昌并非上市公司，而是完全排他的私人公司，他的资金来源绝非上市公司那样充裕和轻松，另外与双 A 从不间断的并购行动不同，富昌的成长几乎完全源于自身有机生长。这使得富昌在分销行业金字塔上端的公司们中显得鹤立鸡群，在越来越接近资本运作的市场中玩出了不一样的运作套路。   在中国市场，富昌也秉承一贯的低调作风，颇有“大隐于市”的感觉。 2010 年的缺货潮让很多人认识了富昌，因为他们——货源充足，为此不少终端客户、授权分销商同行以及贸易商们闻风而至。不少客户都将富昌视为是一个库存能力极强的分销商，而同行则评价为“业务模式很像独立分销商的一家授权分销商”，意即掌握信息很迅速准确，备货及时。“江湖”上就有这样一些传说，如 2003 年全球钽电容严重短缺之际，富昌早已有所准备，高价出售利润惊人等等。另一些传说则是富昌的员工待遇优厚，提成可观等等。   Robert Miller 或许有这样的天赋，对市场的供需矛盾有着非常准确的直觉，如同巴菲特一样能够神机妙算，但据富昌的一位高管透露， Robert Miller 的一些决策是以非常优秀的情报为基础，他与半导体供应商渗透式的深度关系能够为富昌带来比其它竞争对手更早更丰富的信息依据。而他的战略眼光则表现在作为分销行业最早（ 2004 年）一家投入 LED 及照明解决方案的分销商，已经在全球多重应用市场都有领先的实践案例，这部分的年收入已达到 3.5 亿美元。另外， Miller 和 Buffett 还有一个共同点，即是一个慈善家，据说 Miller 将公司一半的利润拿出来捐献给慈善机构。   Robert Miller 的传奇故事还有待继续挖掘，他的超出常人的智慧希望未来有机会能够分享给读者们。有兴趣的网友可以读一读《 Canadian Business 》今年 9 月份的一篇报道《 Miller's crossroad 》 (http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/strategy/article***p?content=20100927_10022_10022). 后面有位网友（富昌公司前雇员）的评论如是说：“ I am an ex-Future employee and I am one of those that hired a lawyer when I was let go. BUT I can say that Future Electronics and M. Miller provide professional opportunities to hard-working and dedicated employees that no company in Canada or the US does. Mr. Miller has built a corporate culture based in performance, excellence and challenging the status quo. He is a visionary and inspirational leader...eccentric yes, but a good man with a good heart. Business is a game and you have to play to win... He fosters and rewards winners. I for one am happy to see him step out of the shadows a little and begin to show himself - his story and the Future story are worthy of being told. ”