Mark Casey (RO2)
I live in San Francisco with my wife Carrie, to whom I got married in January 2007. For the last 7 years I have been working as an investment analyst at Capital Research and Management, a mutual fund management company. I follow Internet and media and entertainment companies, and can somewhat plausibly say, when caught using eBay at work, that “this is part of my job.” My main hobbies outside of work are (1) singing with the Richter Scales, a men’s a cappella singing group; (2) reading; and (3) navigating the treacherous waters of San Francisco’s real estate market. Other salient resume points include my schooling (Yale ’92, HBS ’98) and prior employers (P&G ’92-95 and Siebel Systems ’98-00).
Questions for final Herodotus call – Monday, June 4
Folks,
I look forward to our final call with our special guest Robert Strassler, editor of the forthcoming “Landmark Herodotus.” Strassler has spent many years developing this new edition – he commissioned a new translation, wrote more than 100 maps, thousands of margin summaries and critical appendices. Before devoting his time to the classics, Strassler was a businessman in the oil industry. He graduated from Harvard Business School in the early 1960s, made some money in oil and then retired to dedicate his life to developing much better, easier-to-read versions of the classics.
He’s become a good friend to our book group and it’s great that he’s agreed to join us.
Final Herodotus call
Monday, June 4
8pm NYC time, 5pm Laguna Beach
1-800-615-2900
11215
Here are some questions for you to consider in advance of the call.
Andre and Phil
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Questions for Strassler?
1. We have had good debate about the structure and style of Herodotus – about the difference between linear and non-linear, modern and post-modern approaches to writing history. Herodotus was not just the first historian but perhaps the first non-linear writer and thinker. What do we want to ask Strassler about this – and about our debate/discussion?
2. What specific questions about the text do you have? What do you want to know from Strassler? How did the text originally come to us? How was it received in ancient Greece? How do historians deal with the “gold-digging” ants and other oddities of Herodotus?
3. Why should modern readers read Herodotus? What did we get out of the text? What does Strassler think is important? Why has he dedicated so much of his life to Herodotus and Thucydides?
4. We are reading the Landmark Thucydides next. What suggestions for approaching that text does Strassler have?
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Questions for Books 8 & 9
We are also finishing books 8 & 9 and can discuss these books with Strassler.
1. In Book 8.40-65, Herodotus narrates the momentous conference of Greek leaders – the Salamis conference – as they debate whether to fight the Persians at sea near Salamis, or to defend the Peloponnese at the Isthmus of Corinth, a natural defense. Has Herodotus embellished the decision to fight at Salamis in view of the victory? What of the role of Themistocles and his tricks?
1a. Themistocles later sends another message to Xerxes. Some of this writing by Herodotus may be more commentary on the Peloponnesian wars than on the Persian Wars. Do you see that? What does Strassler think? How does the conflict between Athens and Sparta influence Herodotus’ writings of the earlier Persian Wars?
1b. Regarding references to the Peloponnesian wars, the chapter ends with the Spartans urging the Athenians not to seek treaty with Xerxes. They say: “Again, it would be an intolerable thing that the Athenians, who in the past have been known so often as liberators, should now be the cause of bringing slavery to Greece.” (8, 142; page 552). By the time of the Peloponnesian wars, Athens was seen as a leading democracy that enslaved its empire – supporting freedom for its citizens and slavery for its possessions.
1c. Note: further reference and irony related to this aforementioned quote in Herodotus comes from the fact that the Spartans later make an alliance with the Persians against Athens – and that Persian support plays a critical role in the Spartan victory against Athens.
2. In the debate that Xerxes and his councilors have about the pending naval battle at Salamis, Xerxes seeks the opinion of Artemisia – a “wise advisor” and the only woman naval commander and combatant that is referenced. Her advice to Xerxes is not to hurry – that ‘we can win if he keeps the fleet on the coast.’ She also goes on to observe a key leadership fact: “good masters, remember, usually have bad servants, and bad masters good ones.” What does she mean by that? Do we agree? What do we think of the role of women in Herodotus and of this woman in particular?
3. Given Xerxes’ stubborness and dedication to invading Greece, why does he flee after the loss at Salamis? Does his earlier initial hesitation to invade come back to haunt him? Does he remember his dreams? Why does he now seem to follow the advice of his wise advisors Artemisia and Artabanus?
4. In one of the most astounding reversals in military history, the Battle of Plataea (book 9) resulted in a resounding Greek victory. What is the interplay between Athens and Sparta in the events leading up to this battle? How had the battle affected relations afterwards between Athens and Sparta? What can Herodotus tell us about the Greek city-states in general at this time before his Histories abruptly end?
4a. Note: Platea, the site of Greek united victory in the Persian Wars, plays a tragic role in the Peloponnesian wars – remember, this war between Athens and Sparta had likely begun by the time Herodotus was finishing his book.
World War II in Africa and Xerxes?
Rick Atkinson, author of “An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 19042-1943”, spends many pages at the beginning of the book making the point that this was one of the largest amphibious operations ever attempted. The combined American and British forces being sent by ship to the shores of North Africa was so big, according to Atkinson, that –
“Some belived it to the be greatest amphibous gamble since Xerxes crossed the Hellespont…”
While the American troops did not whip the Mediterranean for the bad weather they encountered, they did bring a Xerxes-liked confidence in their superiority in numbers and machinery. Thanks to Reading Odyssey member David Schrieberg for recommending the book to me. It does tell a story about the beginning of American involvement in World War II that I did not know well.
Phil
Nancy Miller (TOR)
In my position as VP, Internet & Technology for Woodcraft SupplyCorp., I am responsible for the Online Division, Database MarketingGroup and Information Technology Department. I have worked for thecompany since 1992 and over that period have transformed Woodcraft.comfrom a simple online catalog to the primary source of gross profitdollars for the company.
I also manage all aspects of the online sales channel, including:programming and development, creative, advertising, e-marketing andsearch advertising. I have created a powerful team that has facilitatedsales growth and increased site traffic over 100% in the past twoyears. Internet sales now exceed catalog sales.
Within the past two years, I spearheaded a complete rebuild ofWoodcraft.com. My team brought the programming and hardware in-housefrom a previous third party, and equipped the site with additionalsearch, analysis, and performance tools. The move to bring thee-commerce functions in-house has proven to be an excellent decision.The redesign also earned us the 2005 Outstanding Website Award from theWeb Marketing Association.
Woodcraft is a private, mid-size company that sells woodworkingproducts and education to consumers through multiple channels,including 80-franchise stores nationwide, direct-mail and an extensiveonline presence. I play a key role in uniting all channels. As aFranchisor, Woodcraft experiences challenges similar to manufacturersselling direct to the consumer.
Brandt McKee (RO2)
Brandt McKee – Brandt is a member of TPG Capital’s Operating Group. Prior to joining TPG in 2005 and between 2001 and 2005, Brandt worked at AlixPartners, LLC, a premier crisis management and turnaround services firm, where he focused on middle market turnarounds and large company performance improvement. From 1999 to 2001, Brandt served as Senior Director of Operations for Snapfish.com, an online photo retailer. Prior to his time at Snapfish.com, Brandt was Vice President, New Product Development and Enterprise Resource Planning Project Manager for Hirsh Industries, Inc. Brandt was also a Naval Officer prior to business school, serving four years as a Cryptologic Officer. Mr. McKee received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Christina Koukkos (TOR)
Christina Koukkos serves as head of product development at Meetup, a company that uses the Internet to bring people with shared interests together face to face. She (and Meetup) believe that a global resurgence in local community will make the world a better place. Before joining Meetup, Christina was managing editor at Release 1.0, Esther Dyson’s monthly newsletter on the IT industry. As editor she worked with such respected thinkers as Clay Shirky, David Weinberger, Steven Johnson, Dan Gillmor, JC Herz, Dan Farber and (of course) Esther Dyson. She wrote an issue of the newsletter on the use of technology in politics. She also identified, invited and guided startup IT companies that presented at PC Forum, Esther’s annual executive conference for the IT industry.
Before joining Release 1.0, Christina lived in Budapest, Hungary. She had visited Hungary as a tourist, fell in love with the people, culture and impenetrable language, and decided to move there. She would have taken most any job, but was lucky enough to be hired by Uproar, an online game show and entertainment company. While there she held a variety of positions including director of production for Uproar Europe, where she led a wonderfully creative, multicultural team that developed 15 Uproar websites in 12 European languages.
Cate Bryant (TOR)
Cate has been in the online retail industry with Ferrit for two years. Prior to that, she had 10 years experience in fmcg marketing with major multinational organizations in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. These included Lion Nathan, a beer, wines and spirits conglomerate; the New Zealand Dairy Board, and Kraft Foods in the UK managing the Philadelphia cream cheese brand and a major UK gifting chocolate brand Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
Ferrit.co.nz is a comparison shopping engine a little like Shopzilla or Shopping.com. The major difference is that Ferrit has a shopping cart on the site itself, thereby enabling consumers to buy goods from many different retailers via the one shopping cart rather than clicking through to buy on the retailer’s site. The company is a business unit of Telecom New Zealand, the country’s dominant telecommunications supplier. Ferrit.co.nz was launched late 2005 and features many of New Zealand’s leading high street retail brands.
Cate’s role is colloquially known within the business as Ferrit Foresight. She is responsible for growth for the site over the long term. This remit includes:ensuring a compelling, sales result driven, value proposition for retail customers forecasting business and market growth monetizing Ferrit as a marketing channel for retail customers leveraging learnings from overseas markets and a global network of retail partners and finally responsibility for all analytics, market research, customer care and PR initiatives.
She also sails, goes walking in the beautiful and wild New Zealand countryside, and is still buzzing from a year long trip around the world in 2004, visiting all 7 continents, including Antarctica.
Noel Holmes (TOR)
Noel has been in the Customer Experience field for 20 years beginning as a user manual writer for Apple peripheral products (where the manuals served as interface specifications). He has been at Travelocity for 7 years total with some boom-time off to try a Travel startup in Europe followed by a very brief stint at Scient/Austin and a truly productive year at Prodigy before it was bought and shut down.
As Director, Customer Experience at Travelocity, he introduced the company to the roles of Information Architect and Front End Technologist and built out the amazing teams currently in place. He is now business owner of customer profiles and the Interactive Voice Response system. He also owns Travelocity’s mobile strategy.
He invested some quality and quantity time earning three undergrad degrees in Video/Film, Marketing and English at SMU. In May ’07, he’ll complete the Executive MBA course at SMU/Cox School of Business. His absolutely stunning and brilliant wife, Noel (yes), and his handsome and daring twin boys are counting the minutes until his courses are done and they can have their husband and dad back.
Chad Houghton (TOR)
I am currently the Director of Internet Operations at the Society for Human Resource Management. I have worked in the web and software development field for over ten years and have experience leading teams in user experience design, ecommerce development, content strategy and management, usability testing, information architecture, and multimedia. In addition to being a longtime GEL’er, I have been actively involved in the user experience design community for a number of years and presented on a variety of topics related to web publishing.
Joyce Haas (TOR)
Joyce Haas is a product manager at WebMD Health where she currently leads the search experience across the various health information sites in the WebMD network. Prior to joining WebMD, she was a Vice President with Tavistock Lifesciences, managing early stage biotech and bio-informatics investments and working closely with the management teams of Tavistock’s portfolio companies. Prior to that Joyce was the director of Product Management at Cariocas, a venture funded Silicon Valley software company that used proprietary algorithms based on game theory to create integrated promotions focused on engaging consumers throughout the product life cycle. She also worked with Monitor Company and Goldman Sachs.
Joyce has a MA in economics from the University of Amsterdam and an MBA from Harvard Business School.