Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Will I ever be able to play tennis again?

That's what author Stephen King asked his doctors after his near-fatal 1999 car accident.

"No," they said, "but you'll be able to walk."

He had so many breaks in his leg, his doctor said it was like "marbles in a sack."

Now, he can walk, as they predicted.  And better still, he can play tennis, he told Terri Gross, of NPR's Fresh Air (Tuesday, May 28, 2013 broadcast). 

Doctors tend to lowball, King opined, so that you'll think you're beating the system later when you achieve a bit more.

The process to get there was grueling.  Along the way, King became addicted to the pain medication Oxycontin, but kicked it after a a three-week withdrawal.

He closed his interview by saying, "Terri, next time you're up here, we'll play doubles....."

Something he couldn't have imagined years ago when he was laid low with the horrible tragedy and nearly lost his life.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Once fired, now "indispensible man"

Superb story on JPM chief Jamie Dimon in Bloomberg Business Week.

As with most of the high and mighty, there is a comeback story buried here:

In 1998, Weill and Dimon’s deal frenzy climaxed in an historic merger with Citicorp: They had built the largest financial-services conglomerate on earth. And Dimon was universally understood to be the next in line to run it.



Then he was fired. Dimon had clashed with Weill’s daughter over her role at the company as well as with executives who had arrived with the larger mergers, but Dimon’s primary sin had been crowding the Citi throne. He spent more than a year out of action."

Fired, unemployed for one year.

Now "Wall Street's Indispensible Man" according a to a leading business publication.

In the middle of the storm, remember:  As long as you don't quit, better days ahead.....