Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Monday, July 6, 2009

The ten minutes that changed your life.


To Be or Not to Be!
The ten minutes that changed your life.

Just yesterday I was talking to Jeff Pulver about his thoughts on chance, providence, and good old luck. I was thinking that each of us must have experienced an episode that changed our life, shaped our career, secured our financial well-being or brought about fame. Some of us have had several, but if I asked you to recount the most critical ten minute segment in your CAREER, what would it be? And how did luck/coincidence/providence/hard work figure in? Here is mine, an excerpt from my new book (coming out in a few weeks) entitled "Save Your Breath".

"…In frustration, I petitioned Tel Aviv University to let me manufacture samples of the two-phase mouthwash by myself (this would have been a disaster, as I still have no manufacturing expertise). At the last moment, fate took the form of a telephone call. Chaim Regev, head of marketing at Israel's largest manufacturer of toothpastes and other household products (Shemen-Soad Ltd.), had heard about the mouthwash formula from a newspaper article. He told me that they had thousands of empty mouthwash bottles lying around, and had been thinking of throwing them out. Could I fill them, he wanted to know. I explained the advantages of the two-phase product, and mentioned the issue of having to shake it before use. Chaim Regev turned the disadvantage into an advantage. "We'll emphasize the need for shaking. We'll color each phase in bold hues. People with bad breath won't mind shaking a container if they believe the results will be positive."

The product turned into a hit in Israel, then was followed by a British version that became Dentyl pH, the second bestselling mouthwash in the UK.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

On the Fly

I was recently sitting in a hotel at the Dead Sea, ruminating about life, and observing an annoying fly who was about to die. So here are its last few words, as recorded by me, and which in turn I would like to dedicate to the late, great Ogden Nash who wrote the immortal poem:
"The Lord in his wisdom made the fly/And then forgot to tell us why."

On the Fly

I don't know why
I'm just a fly
I could have been a horse, of course,
A singing sow, a mellow cow,
I might have been an elephant
Or even more significant
ly
Mother Goose or fluffy Eider
Muffet's friendly little spider
A meely eel
A clapping seal
A heavy wren
Or even just a lousy louse
On the collar of a mouse;
But then again
There has to be
A reason why
A high
er
purpose
to reveal
Why I am not an ancient tortoise
Butterfly
Or any porpoise.

Someday I know
As cold winds blow
I shall grow old
So I've been told
On my last wings
While angels sing
The Cherubs sigh,
They shall draw nigh
Into my ear
The secret dear
They will
convey
The reason why
I'm just a very