This article is titled appropriately, and is filled with the short-sighted type of thinking that has led to the continued demise of many corporate structured businesses. Companies are going under and people are losing jobs—because “old school” corporate types refuse to budge in their rigid thinking. Great companies are the ones that are willing to take great ideas from anyone, not just “senior” employees.

Waking up earlier? Why? Because someone decided a 1,000 years ago that we push papers between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.? Who actually only works 40 hours a week anymore anyway? I’m not talking about the public sector. People should be judged on their work quality and their ability to complete successful projects ahead of schedule and under budget. Period. Do it where and when it works for you as long as it works for the team.

Details matter. I couldn’t agree more.

Experience trumps education. Sure, but I would say that experience = education. I wouldn’t overlook a hungry and capable recent college graduate that is ready to prove themselves. Having said that, if you’re great at what you do I don’t need to see a degree from Harvard.

Never be too good to get coffee. Totally, everyone should chip in and help wherever they can. But I also think that it means that good leaders lead by example. Don’t just haze the new person until they “prove themselves.”

Commitments are important, period. I don’t think it’s an age thing, it’s a people thing. I only want to work with people who value their commitments.

I agree about “multi-thinking” being a bad idea but I also think the dependence on meetings is a worse one. I won’t text or email during my meeting with you, if you keep the meeting under an hour and we actually work towards something actionable. Deal?

Organization is speed. Yup, we’ll use your forms. But when we propose a way to digitize the entire process and make communication and collaborative projects easier and more effective, please don’t tell us we’re crazy to think we can change things. Let’s slash some red tape.

This is crazy pants. –> “Younger workers often ask “why?” when it comes to policies, processes and approaches. This can be a little irritating to generations who are used to quiet, respectful compliance.”

Questions and challenging ideas and concepts is the only way your team will remain agile, strong and growing. I don’t want to work with anyone who just “goes with the flow.”

Things are changing. And you know what? That’s a good thing. Our generation is looking to work just as hard, only we want to get rid of all the ridiculous and arbitrary work settings that other generations did not have the luxury or the opportunity to challenge. We want to work towards our passions, but we want to do it to improve our quality of life. We want to spend more time with family and friends. We want to be a part of work that matters. We want to keep improving, so I hope future generations challenge everything we do also.

You folks paved the way, and for that, we thank you.

This is just a preview. If you’re interested in hearing more, make sure you follow Daniel Young Skateboards on Facebook.

I’m so excited to share this one with you guys, I hope you dig it.

Thanks,

Dan

We like it – even though it doesn’t smell like Christmas.

The closest we get to snow on the Hawaiian Islands.

Sure they look cute, but there’s a healthy rivalry there. Look, just don’t bring up the 2000 Super Bowl OK?

It was a good day. I was able to attend a keynote address by Pierre Omidyar. You know – that guy who founded eBay and donates billions to organizations that focus on social impact. Yeah that guy.

Sometimes I forget what an inspiration he is to people because I work with him. To the team at Civil Beat, he’s just Pierre – also known as our “headline guy.”

He covered a lot, but his advise on taking risks really resonated with me. I walked away with the feeling, ‘nobody ever accomplished anything while worrying about failing.’ Good advise.

You can catch his keynote here.

I was also able to talk with a bunch of great nonprofit folks about how social tools on the web can help them get their message out. I hope they found something useful from it, some of them are doing some really great things.

It was a long day but a good day. And it ended with a great view.

(And a homemade ice-cream  sandwich from Kim).

I’m not sure yet – but there’s a chance I may migrate to a Tumblr Blog.

The Management

There is something pure and enjoyable about riding a bike.

You learn to appreciate it as a kid – but as soon as you own a set of car keys that appreciation gets lost. Lately, Kim and I have been trying to get it back.

Today we drove the Jeep to Kailua, a quaint beach town on the eastern shore of Oahu. Kailua offers (among other things) world-renowned breakfasts, beaches, ocean-kayaking and a bike-friendly atmosphere. For those of you living in Honolulu or Waikiki, you can understand why we took the trip to enjoy a day of riding bikes.

It was a simple day really – we rode around the town and admired different homes. We talked about owning one someday – from the over-the-top mansions to the fixer-upper. We stopped at a couple of beaches and snapped a few photos.

At the end, we topped off a relaxing day of bike riding with a feast fit for a King. Buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks and potato skins – accompanied by a couple of pints of course.

I couldn’t have asked for a better Sunday.

Every so often, the ocean reminds me how insignificant I really am.

Living in Hawaii – it’s easy to take the ocean for granted. I mean look at her. She’s a gorgeous combination of blue’s and is always warm to me – even on the stormiest of days.

Today, the ocean gave me a small glance of the first real summer swell. Nothing crazy – I’m not talking North Shore here – but definitely significant enough to make me feel like I have no idea what I’m doing on a surfboard.

After a winter of surfing ankle and knee high biters, I paddled out in head high waves. It wasn’t the first time, but it sort of snuck up on me. A winter of borderline hibernation (one to two surf sessions a week instead of four or five in the summer) left my body in not exactly game-day condition.

I was a mess. I was flipped, tossed, held under and exhausted from getting stuck on the inside again and again. On a few of the bigger sets where I was ready to show the sea who was boss, the bottom fell out before I was able to stand up. Instead of cruising down the line I was falling through the air – praying that my board wouldn’t fall on top of me.

I was exhausted, defeated and a little embarrassed – then Kimmy signaled to me that she was ready for the last wave. I saw mine in the distance, but I was nervous to even go for it.

It built slowly and I was in perfect position. Even still, I was expecting to get clobbered like all the times before. At this point I had only caught a handful of waves where I actually made it out alive. But not this time – I earned one.

I paddled hard and stood up on a wave that was easily over my head. I took a clean drop that seemed to last forever. My legs were shaking the whole time but I managed to stay up. I even pulled off a couple of decent turns.

After what felt like minutes, I finally sat back down and realized that I was only a few feet away from where we originally paddled out. At this particular break (which is about a football field out) I had never taken a wave in this far.

After losing 14 rounds to the ocean, the judges finally gave me the points in the final round.

Rocky would have been proud.

Climbing rail-road tracks into a dormant volcano? Yeah – just another typical Sunday around these parts.

Koko Head is a well know hike on Oahu. It’s a great resource for a quick workout for the type of people that aren’t into the whole gym thing (me being one of them). You get a challenging hike that’s quick (about 45 minutes round trip but leave extra time at the top) with a real nice view the whole way up.

It can get crowded, but there is an unspoken etiquette where folks going down have the right of the way. Most people have earphones or a hiking buddy so if you want some time to yourself – you can have it.

The beginning is a bit overbearing – this bad boy gets steeper with every step. You get into a groove at first where you find yourself skipping steps, until at one point you stop to catch your breath and realize you still have a long ways to go.

The summit is gorgeous. You can walk around a bit and get multiple views that are worth a snapshot or two. It’s a 360 degree view that you don’t want to miss.

Today was the first time I did the hike alone – it was really nice to sit in some quiet and let my mind wander. There are enough spots at the top to either find a group to chat with or find a quiet spot and reflect.

The one thing I recommend you do is to make sure you have plenty of sunlight when you’re coming down. I’ve done the decent it in the dark and it’s a bit tricky. Plus if you time it right, it’s nice catching the sunset on the way down.

I captured a few other photos in the slideshow below, I hope you dig them.

These are from a fun day we had back in December. We were hoping to catch the Pipe Masters, but the waves didn’t really cooperate.

That’s cool – we had a nice chill day on the beach with good friends.

On a whim – Kim and I decided to drive over to the Botanical Gardens behind Koko Head and have a look around. It was great.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make your day. A two mile loop around a unique and diverse garden for instance. We strolled, took some pictures and talked about all kinds of random things.

It was just nice to be outside.