Home Leadership Turn Archives Me RampUp Solutions  
 

  • Categories

  • Archives
 
Archive for 2014

The Day Before Christmas

Wednesday, December 24th, 2014

santas

‘Twas the day before Christmas I sat down to write,
but nothing came—writer’s block was my plight.
The net was the answer, I knew in my bones,
infinite info would lead me back to my zone.
The idea leapt out as you will see,
a once-a-year treat found by using this key!
Then enjoy Christmas day, it’ll soon be past;
be mindful and caring, ‘cause the time won’t last!

I want to wish you all a lovely, mindful day filled with caring companionship and joy.

And for those of you who need help facing down all those holiday goodies, check out the truth about chocolate. It should help.

I also want to give a heads-up.

I have a heavy schedule between now and 2015, so new posts will be intermittent at best.

See you all for sure January 2, 2015. (A date I find hard to believe is happening next week!)

Image credit: unkown

Ducks in a Row: Christmas Parties

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheffield_tiger/4154808517

“What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.” –Phyllis Diller

The economy is up, companies, especially tech companies, are doing more for their annual parties.

The Annual Christmas party (or whatever it’s called) has often been the cause of broken relationships, harassment claims, dangerous driving and a raft of other problems.

Considering the frat house culture so prevalent today along with over-the-top spending means it has the potential to be much worse this year.

Think about it.

There are better ways to spend the money.

Better ways to draw your team together.

Think about it; better yet, discuss it with your people.

Flickr image credit: Sheffield Tiger

A Ray of Hope

Monday, December 22nd, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rich8n/6083030243

Trolls are the bane of the internet and harassing, insulting and degrading women is a prime focus.

This is especially true on Reddit, with extra attention paid to AMA sessions, such as the one held earlier this month.

…to cap off Computer Science Education Week, three women computer scientists from MIT did a Reddit ask-me-anything session to answer questions about programming and academia.

The discussion was flowing until—yup. You guessed it.

But because this is the internet, a few trolls showed up, too, asking bizarre and rude sexist questions, some involving parts of the human body. A PR person from MIT forwarded the links to us [Business Insider], asking us to expose these trolls.

To everyone’s amazement, instead of leaving it to the crowd to vote the yucky comments down, Reddit stepped in.

But Reddit aims for these AMAs to be respectful. Reddit’s policy is that it will remove comments that are “abusive or harassing” as well as “comments where there would be no possibility of a real answer, especially where it is deliberately creepy or offensive.”

Reddit exemplifies the anything goes/no censorship/trust the crowd to police itself internet.

One has to wonder if this is a sign that people have had enough, that anonymous hate and bullying are finally falling out of favor — at least a little bit.

Image credit: Rich Aten

If the Shoe Fits: What is Failure?

Friday, December 19th, 2014

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mWhat is failure?

Is it having a startup/project/marriage go left instead of right?

How many times can a person fail?

Once/twice/several/more?

Failure in the startup world has essentially become a non-event, since that outcome is more likely than success.

According to research by Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer in the entrepreneurial management unit at Harvard Business School, 30 to 40 percent of venture-backed start-ups blow through most or all of their investors’ money, and 70 to 80 percent do not deliver their projected return on investment.

However, I believe that you can only fail once.

That’s because the only failure I recognize is that of not trying again.

Also known as quitting.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pictoquotes/14385726019

Image credit: HikingArtist
Image credit: BK

Entrepreneurs: a Tale of Two Billionaires

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoneppink/9229714799Chamath Palihapitiya grew up poor, became a billionaire, but found it wasn’t enough.

As a VC, he is building the kind of real legacy he wants by investing in companies like Glooko, a mobile diabetes management company, and Treehouse, a company that trains computer engineers and helps them find jobs.

Compare his attitude to billionaire Vinod Khosla, who blocked access to a previously public beach and now is ignoring a judge’s order to return public access.

Khosla’s actions even spurred passage of a new law that can use eminent domain to force a sale of the property.

Perhaps it’s time to follow an old Roman custom that was used to keep victorious generals’ egos in check; they were required to have a person in their victory chariot who kept repeating “Remember, you are not a god.”

It’s definitely time to rewrite the adage, “money is root of all evil” to a more accurate “ego is the root of all evil.”

Flickr image credit: Jason Eppink

Ask Tough Questions.

Wednesday, December 17th, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/valeriebb/3006348550I’ve been in sales in one form or another my entire career.

One of the most common questions successful salespeople hear is along the lines of, “What is the secret to successful selling?”

Most answers are some variation of ‘hard work’, ‘persistence’, ‘it’s a numbers game’, etc.

My response is a little different — ‘you have to ask the tough questions’.

Of course, people then ask ‘what are the tough questions’?

The answer to that is simple. A tough question is any question to which you don’t want to hear the answer.

In sales the hardest question any salesperson asks is the one to which the potential client will say “no.”

It’s what’s called a “closing question” and it can take place anytime after the first hello.

Salespeople often avoid closing questions to keep the discussion going, kidding themselves and their boss into thinking it’s a live one.

A no means having to make more cold calls to refill the pipeline whereas it’s more comfortable to avoid the no and believe they can rejuvenate a deal with additional contacts.

More subtly, salespeople (like the rest of us mortals) want to be liked.

By asking the question that will either take the deal to the next level or end it, the salesperson is risking not being liked any more, i.e., rejected, AKA, no.

Tough questions permeate not just sales, but hiring, product/software development and all parts of life.

The trick is realizing that the faster you ask them the faster you will hear ‘no’ and the faster you can move on to something more positive.

Flickr image credit: Valerie Everett

Ducks in a Row: Short-Term or Long-Term?

Tuesday, December 16th, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21923568@N00/9582074886

I’ve written many times describing the value of benefits and their effects on worker productivity.

Last year we looked at Amazon as a poster child for treating lower-level employees as expendable, replaceable ciphers.

However, some companies are eschewing Wall Street’s demand for short-term profit in favor of treating their employees and the environment better in the name of long-term profits and sustainability.

… a new type of business called a benefit corporation, which means its mission is to consider the needs of society and the environment, in addition to profit. There are 27 states that have passed legislation allowing companies to incorporate as benefit corporations…

Companies not located in one of those 27 states can apply as Certified B-Corporations.

The companies pledge to think about people and the planet in addition to profit, and an outside nonprofit inspects them and makes sure they’re doing so.

The premise is more back to the future than original — it’s called “stakeholder capitalism” and dates back more than 60 years.

Economists like Robert Reich, the one-time Labor Secretary, wondered if the Market Basket saga was a sign that the country was “witnessing the beginning of a return to a form of capitalism that was taken for granted in America sixty years ago.” He wrote that he hoped it was a return to “stakeholder capitalism,” in which employees and customers are also part of a company’s decision-making, as opposed to the “shareholder capitalism” of the last few decades that has focused on maximizing shareholder value.

While it’s Wall Street’s short-term, investor-as-god thinking that’s behind the minimization of workers and customers, it’s those same people, i.e., workers and customers, who are driving the change in attitude — along with multiple studies that prove treating all stakeholders well pays off.

More proof that, as I and others have said multiple times, business is like a three-legged stool — customers, investors and employees. When one or two legs are wildly out-of-whack with the third the stool falls over.

Maybe not immediately, but sooner than you think.

Wall Street and investors don’t care; they just go their merry, destructive way.

Flickr image credit: Gábor Kovács

The More Things Change…

Monday, December 15th, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/croweb/2836990301

the more they stay the some.

Does this sound familiar?

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”

The result of a new study? The words of a trusted expert?

No, it’s a quote from Socrates (469-399 B.C.).

Just as the Boomer generation was defined by the actions of a large minority, not all Boomers did drugs and dropped out, so the millennial generation has been defined by another large minority.

But they are a minority.
New patterns show they may not be as self-absorbed as they first appeared — maybe as a result of ageing.

But a very different picture of millennials emerges from what may be the most illuminating literary project of our era, the Pew Research Center’s sequence of reports on millennials. The 2010 edition, subtitled “Confident. Connected. Open to Change,” offered an X-ray of its first wave, the “roughly 50 million millennials who currently span the ages of 18 to 29.”

After all, you wouldn’t expect a 29-year-old’s attitudes and goals to be the same as an 18-year-old’s.

Socrates’ words show two things clearly.

  1. Every generation has been sure that the following generation will be the downfall of the human race.
  2. Every generation has been wrong.

Flickr image credit: Ben Crowe

Lean Startup Conference 2014: Wrap and Thanks

Friday, December 12th, 2014

kg_charles-harris

KG Charles-Harris is once again attending the Lean Startup Conference and sharing his impressions and what he’s learning with you.

Once again the team of Sarah Millstein & Eric Ries has created a weeklong conference – the Lean Startup Conference – that hits it out of the ballpark! 

If you didn’t see my updates from last year’s conference, I must reiterate that this is the most useful of all the tech/business conferences I have attended.  And this year they took it to a new level of excellence in several different areas.

There were two very notable differences from previous years, firstly, the larger contingent and programming for enterprise organizations and government (intrapreneurship), and secondly, the significant inclusion of women and minorities in the speaker and mentor lineup.

One would think that for a startup conference, having a large portion of programming dedicated to mature and large organizations would be a distraction or departure from the core values and intent of the conference.

However, the way in which they developed the programming, it became a learning experience for aspiring entrepreneurs of how to not only grow their companies, but also for how to keep their companies vital and vibrant as they became larger.

Several of my conversations with people who came from large organizations and governments, both nationally and from far flung destinations like Norway and Portugal, displayed a tremendous optimism that the Lean Startup methodology had potential to revitalize their organizations and how they serve their customers/constituents.

The second important difference from previous years is that the conference was characterized by the diversity of speakers and mentors. 

In terms of gender, age, racial background and experience, the conference was replete with different perspectives that give us the knowledge that Lean Startup is good execution regardless of whether I am a diminutive woman from India or a large, bearded white male. 

This made the conference much more interesting than any other I’ve attended and the networking was exceptional as a result. 

Clearly the conference organizers thought carefully of how they could provide both a learning experience in business and a culturally expanding perspective. 

Thank you Sarah and Eric for both a superb learning experience, as well as a personally expanding event – truly exceptional!

Lean Startup Conference 2014: Mikkel Svane and Zendesk’s Story

Thursday, December 11th, 2014

Startup Land book

KG Charles-Harris is once again attending the Lean Startup Conference and sharing his impressions and what he’s learning with you.

It was especially interesting to listen to Mikkel Svane’s talk about Zendesk’s story, because I had read a pre-publication copy of his book Startup Land.

The book was the basis of the talk, I found Mr. Svane to be enlightening, honest and real and all that carried over in his book.

Startup Land was an enjoyable read from a strong entrepreneur, with real stories about the struggle of starting, moving and growing a technology company. 

The fact that they started as entrepreneurs in Denmark and moved an embryonic company to the US only increased the complexity and challenges that the three founders had to traverse in making the company a success. 

Not only were the founders outside the normal Silicon Valley entrepreneurial eco-system, but they were also in a different country with little access to the information or thinking patterns common in the US.  It is a testament to the tenacity and determination, and even more so to the “hustling mentality” of the founders – they were willing to take significant risks and stay completely focused on two things — building a great product and getting immediate revenue on this product.

The author rightly credits the Scandinavian social system for their ability to take some of the risks that they were able to assume — they knew they would never end up on the street homeless, but could suffer a temporary reduction in living standards if they failed.  This is radically different than the case in the US and many other countries where startup failure can lead to destitution.

Regardless, the ingenuity and determination displayed during the process of bringing Zendesk from birth to maturity was an inspiration.  I’m a serial entrepreneur with international background myself, and I know how much effort is required to make that kind of move. 

The major challenge, however, comes with adjusting to the new mindset and culture in your host country.  Startup Land discusses this to some extent, but it would have been interesting to get some more insight about it.

Mr. Svane does a good job of synthesizing his experience into practical advice, summarized in special sections at the end of each chapter.  As such, the book can be a practical guide to such things as what to consider when hiring team members or how to think about particular aspects of the business. 

Also, some of the most interesting, and sometimes funny, parts of the book are found in how the three founders interacted based on their particular personalities and proclivities. 

Considering that founder dynamics is one of the most prevalent reasons for startup failure, this information  should be studied closely.  The difficulties and required tolerance for navigating these issues is core, especially the sensitivity required by the Founder/CEO.

In short, the book is well worth reading — it’s a quick and easy read with practical insights and a good dose of humor.

RSS2 Subscribe to
MAPping Company Success

Enter your Email
Powered by FeedBlitz
About Miki View Miki Saxon's profile on LinkedIn

Clarify your exec summary, website, etc.

Have a quick question or just want to chat? Feel free to write or call me at 360.335.8054

The 12 Ingredients of a Fillable Req

CheatSheet for InterviewERS

CheatSheet for InterviewEEs

Give your mind a rest. Here are 4 quick ways to get rid of kinks, break a logjam or juice your creativity!

Creative mousing

Bubblewrap!

Animal innovation

Brain teaser

The latest disaster is here at home; donate to the East Coast recovery efforts now!

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation or call 00.733.2767. $10 really really does make a difference and you'll never miss it.

And always donate what you can whenever you can

The following accept cash and in-kind donations: Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, Red Cross, World Food Program, Save the Children

*/ ?>

About Miki

About KG

Clarify your exec summary, website, marketing collateral, etc.

Have a question or just want to chat @ no cost? Feel free to write 

Download useful assistance now.

Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.

Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
while $10 a month has exponential power.
Always donate what you can whenever you can.

The following accept cash and in-kind donations:

Web site development: NTR Lab
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.