Survival Skills for Tough Times

Daniel S. Rippy

Daniel S. Rippy heads strategic planning for CellStar, a wireless distribution company in Carrollton, Texas. Prior to coming to CellStar, he held similar positions in business development with Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He is also the author of Sizing Up a Start-Up: Decoding the New Frontier of Career Opportunities, a career guide for people thinking of joining tech startup companies.

Coordinates: danrippy@hotmail.com

Laura Rippy

Laura Rippy is CEO of Handango, the complete source for handheld and wireless business computing, in Hurst, Texas. Previously Rippy spent six years in general business management with Microsoft, where she launched Sidewalk.com and MSNHomeAdvisor.com.

Coordinates: laura@handango.com

Wrote about: Survival Skills for Tough Times

Are reading:

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
By David Brooks

Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts
By Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan

What It Takes: The Way to the White House
By Richard Ben Cramer

Are learning:

• How to lead a team in a chaotic economic environment.
• How to invest in a slower growth economy.
• How to plan vacations with friends in far-flung places.

Hans Ruinemans

Wrote about: Survival Skills for Tough Times

Is reading:

• Leading the Revolution
  By Gary Hamel
• After the Ecstasy the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path
  By Jack Kornfield

Coordinates: hans.ruinemans@glocorp.com

James Short

James Short is a visiting associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and associate director of the school's new Center for eBusiness. He is on leave from the London Business School, where he is both an associate professor of strategy and information management and a founding director of the School's i:Lab digital research laboratory. Short's research and teaching focuses on new digital ventures and technology-enabled strategy. He recently embarked on a large-scale project on mobile and wireless communications.

Wrote about: Survival Skills for Tough Times

Is learning:

• How to think about consumer-centric markets and the ways in which they develop.
• How to think about the introduction of new wireless technologies and the ways in which they will affect social communication and the commercialization of content
• How to think about how consumers will affect wireless technology development and introduction.

Is reading:

• 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!': Adventures of a Curious Character
  By Richard P. Feynman
• The Accidental Theorist and Other Dispatches from the Dismal Science
  By Paul R. Krugman
• The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
  By Michael Lewis

Coordinates: jshort@mit.edu