When I Thought I Was Smart (toyblog.typepad.com)

"i still think i'm smart, actually."

Not smart enough to use proper capitalization, it seems...

"comfort is the last state of mind before death."

Does this mean that being comfortable at a company that it's about to die? Not sure I understood this one, explain please!

  A possible interpretation along the line: "Only the Paranoid Survive" by Andrew S. Grove

Unfortunately, a lot of those "let's talk about improving the company" retreats do end up being historic wastes of time -- but not necessarily because the meeting itself happened, but because nothing happened afterward. Or more specifically, the people with the power to make changes based on what they are being told rarely take any followup action. For them, the conversation at the retreat is the action.

Great stuff. When a committee's job is to make sure that each individual in the room does what is necessary to keep their employeement with the company, the life is ready to be sucked out of out of the company.