> Next week, Amazon turns 20 and on the eve of its birthday, the company introduces Prime Day, a global shopping event, offering more deals than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada and Austria.
Sounds intense.
Since about day two at my first job working in a “company”, I have had that itch to start something of my own. At the moment, [Kivus & Camera](http://kivusandcamera.com) is mostly satisfying that need. Still, I do like to read about “business” related topics now and again. Here is my current reading queue:
* [Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FUZQYBO/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00FUZQYBO&linkCode=as2&tag=johkiv-20&linkId=BDW5EW4P34NVJOWX) by Ed Catmull (*i.e.*, the Pixar Book);[^f1123].
* [Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time
](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EX0XYU6/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EX0XYU6&linkCode=as2&tag=johkiv-20&linkId=NFH5DR6HBD7NTJ3D) by Brigid Schulte;
* [Competition Demystified: A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QUEHKS/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000QUEHKS&linkCode=as2&tag=johkiv-20&linkId=LWZECBDMZQZ6RTHK) by Bruce C. Greenwald; and
* [The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQ845EA/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DQ845EA&linkCode=as2&tag=johkiv-20&linkId=SVG56ZTQSILKDSTP) by Ben Horowitz
[^f1123]: Affiliate Link (as are all book links in this post.)
No more state income tax, but a slight increase in the sales tax. Also, the sales tax would apply to various services (such as hiring an attorney.)
I cannot wait.
One of my favorite burger places in Charlotte makes its way to Raleigh[^fn1].
[^fn1]: There is going to be a [Cary Location](http://parkwestvillage.net/?url=directory/) too.
Seth Godin does not hold back when talking about Progressive Insurance’s handling of [Matt Fisher and his family:](http://mattfisher.tumblr.com/post/29338478278/my-sister-paid-progressive-insurance-to-defend-her#notes)
> if someone in your neighborhood used this approach, treating others this way, if a human with a face and a house and a reputation did it, they’d have to move away in shame. If a local businessperson did this, no one in town would ever do business there again.
> Corporations (even though it’s possible that individuals working there might mean well) play a different game all too often. They bet on short memories and the healing power of marketing dollars, commercials and discounts.
The whole story is horrible. Though I would like to think that there is some level of morality in some corporations, my work experience has indicated that is rarely the case. It is too simplistic to say “the smaller the corporation, the better the chance it has a moral fiber,” however, that statement is probably closer to being true than not
The new [Simple](http://simple.com) is a good example of paying attention to the “center circle.” Take everything annoying about banking and just strip it away, then take what remains and make it awesome.
This is, perhaps surprisingly, really good. My personal favorite is “don’t cultivate fear.”
> “Certainly the best way to fail in management [is to be distant and imperious]. You shut people down. If you have all the answers, why is anyone around you? If your ego is so big, then there’s no room for anyone else’s. The fear stuff—that is so rotten. You have to earn everyone’s respect.