CEO Craig Barrett's appeal, made Monday, for technology bigwigs to support public education. That got one of my moles, who heard Barrett speak at the influential Agenda conference in Arizona, thinking about a perverse cautionary tale this might be telling. After all, it was Barrett's former boss, Andy Grove, who published in his famous book Only the Paranoid Survive the edited calendar of one week in the life of an unnamed executive that showed how little attention the CEO was paying to business. His day was filled by official functions, education seminars and award ceremonies. Now that's a noble endeavor, but perhaps not at a time when technology industry leaders really would like to have known how Intel is going to re-ignite its growth.
Leaders pay paranoid attention to solving problems.
The complacent blame others and focus on extraneous issues. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Lashinsky writes a column for Fortune called the Wired Investor, and is a frequent commentator on public radio's Marketplace program. He welcomes your feedback and invites you to send it to Adam Lashinsky . Read our conflicts and disclosure policy .