These are some of the essays written by James Mitchell.
Personal Management and Responsibility
Various Sayings by James and Others
James four favorite sayings of his, as well as many others he is fond of.
The Mitchell Unconventionality Index
Here is a humorous index of how conventional or unconventional you are.
About the Myers-Briggs Personal Inventory
The Myers-Briggs personal inventory ("MBTI") is the most popular inventory in the world, with over 3 million people taking the profile every year. This describes the MBTI.
On Time Management and David Allen
Think of time management in three generations of thoughts. The third and most advanced generation is David Allen, who argues that the point is to have your mind be free (what he calls mind like water), and he describes how to achieve this Zen-like state of being in the moment.
Some common sense advice about personal finances
What is the Most Approrpriate Form of Communication?
Humans crave communication with other humans, yet many people regularly regularly choose the wrong form of communication.
Business executives analyze total cost of ownership when purchasing goods and equipment. I argue that in choosing friends and lovers, one should analyze the total cost of interacting with them.
Responsiveness and Dependability
A discussion of responsiveness and dependability
Some advice on figuring out what you want out of dating, and then how to intelligently do it
Why E-Mails are Useless in Judging Connection
With on-line dating, a lot of people, particularly women, want to have an extended series of e-mails before they have a phone call. This essay explains why this is a really dumb idea. It also explains why setting up a meeting without at least a short phone call is equally dumb.
What's Wrong with Online Dating Sites
Almost everyone agrees that on-line dating does not work very well. In part it's because the sites are not well designed. Here's how to improve them.
Most personal ads are terrible. Here's how to write a good personal ad.
On-line dating clearly does not work well. This describes how a high end matchmaking service would work, and work well.
Visit our Dating & Romance section
Some useful advice on computers
A discussion of the pros and cons of the Applie Macintosh, by someone who has no axe to grind
An Index of Computer Skills and Knowledge
Do you think you're good at computers? Here's an index you can use to judge how good you are, from the perspective of Microsoft Windows, Office and Visual Basic for Applications
What's Wrong with E-Mail Packages
E-mail packages — even the better ones such as Microsoft Outlook and Eudora — are not designed to handle workflow. Here are several suggestions to improve e-mail packages.
Here are several suggestions to improve the Internet.
This describes a proposal to handle spam.
How to Intelligently Regulate Microsoft
The anti-trust prosecution of Microsoft by the U.S. Government and the states that joined in such litigation was one of the great missed opportunities in history. The governement was represented by one of the most talented civil litigators in the world, and the judge simply thought that Microsoft's Chairman was untruthful. The essay analyses how one could intelligently regulate Microsoft if one understood new economic theories and the computer industry.
How pornography should be dealt with on the Internet
Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership in Information Systems
Purchasing computers is a small percentage of the total cost of owning a computer, particularly when you're talking about a local or wide area network. This essay describes how to minimize the total cost of owning computers.
This is a 500+ page memo I wrote. It covers leveraged buyouts ("LBOs"), the difference between venture capital and LBOs, project and team management, time management and David Allen, knowledge management and intellectual capital, one-firm firms, professional development, and lot of other topics. This is my "magnus opus."
There is a trend among U.S. businesses to curtail the hiring of secretaries, as more and more managers are having to do more basic work themselves. This essay analyzes why this trend if foolish.
A Checklist for Successful Projects
If you're attempting an ambitious project, here's a "wish list" checklist for evaluating everything one needs to maximize the success of that project.
Differences Between Venture Capital and Leveraged Buyouts
Private equity consists of venture capital and leveraged buyouts. Many people who do not work in private equity — including many business executives — do not understand the difference between the two.
Fifteen Steps to Consummate a Rollup
If you're ever crazy enough to attempt a rollup, this essay describes the 15 steps one would go through.
What do Position Titles Mean in a Leveraged Buyout Firm?
One offers hears that "Tom is a Financial Analyst at Bear Stearns" or "Sarah is a Managing Director at KKR." What do those position titles mean?
Anyone who joins a leveraged buyout firm would be expected to be able to write an Excel model of a financial transaction known as a leveraged buyout. For those who have not written such a model before, this page outlines some simplistic assumptions one could make to write a very basic model, simply as a learning exercise.
Professional Development for a Career in Leveraged Buyouts
If you're considering a career in leveraged buyouts, here is some useful advice about how one would prepare for such a career.
Suggested Courses for MBA Students
MBA students often ask me for advice on which courses to take in business school if they want a career in leveraged buyouts. These are my thoughts.
Those who are interested in leveraged buyouts may want to visit Kensington Partners' Web site, which contains a lot of information on LBOs.
Managing lawyers and law firms is usually a challenging task, particularly since so many of them are clusless about looking at things from the client's perspective. These are guidelines I have developed. I can't say that I've always had great luck in achieving compliance.
Using Partnerships as Acquisition Vehicles
(co-authored with Kenneth Glusman)
This describes why partnerships structures (such as limited partnerships (and after we wrote this essay, limited liability companies) should often be used as legal entities for operating companies, as opposed to their more traditional use as investment vehicles. Today this analysis is commonplace, but when this essay was written, it was one of the first to explore this topic.
Every person on my invitation list is expected to write a description of themselves. This is my description.
This is a long Internet dating profile I wrote.
I've always thought that dating is somewhat similar to looking for a job, and this ad takes this thought to the extreme.
I'm on an Internet dating site called eharmony, which does ask some good questions. Here are my answers to those questions.