Have you ever wondered how much smarter VCs, money managers, corporate CEOs, and the super wealthy really are? (They’re not.)

What “due diligence” actually involves? (Not what HP did.)

Do they really fall for scams and do stupid stuff like the rest of us? (Absolutely.)

CB Insights recently shared 17 Of The Biggest Startup Frauds Of All Time.

I found it hilarious (I have a warped sense of humor) and well worth reading.

Click the link (or save it for later) and all your questions will be answered.

Image credit: Beatnik Photos

Poking through 13+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

A lot has changed in the 12 years since I wrote this, but the preference for pictures to words has grown exponentially. That said, used well the right words can still draw pictures in your mind.  

Read other Golden Oldies here.

The old adage, “one picture is worth a thousand words” is usually true, that’s why fundraisers use some kind of graphic to show how close they are to their goal. That concept gave rise to millions of .ppt files, entire industries dedicated to presenting information graphically, and billions of dollars spent annually to do it.

The best communicators use words to create pictures—images that are simple and graphic enough to create identical impressions in all the minds that hear/read them.

When I was recently asked for an example of this I offered my favorite, which is a version of an email that’s been making the rounds for at least a decade. I think you’ll agree that the mental image created would be universal—and very graphic.

Lipstick in School

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem.

A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back.

Finally, the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

This version ended with the comment, “Here lies the difference between teachers and educators.” I would add that here lies the difference between talkers and communicators.

Image credit: JJ & Special K

Following up on yesterday’s post I thought it would be good to provide a graphic reminder.

Share it with any helicopter or snowplow parents you know, especially if they are looking back at you from the bathroom mirror.

Image credit: DC School HUB

——->

There’s been lots of talk and media coverage over the last few years about helicopter parenting.

That was then.

Over the last few years parents have raised the bar — or perhaps I should say lowered it.

They have become snowplows, which is even worse.

How bad is it?

At Stanford, said Julie Lythcott-Haims, the former dean of freshmen, she saw students rely on their parents to set up play dates with people in their dorm or complain to their child’s employers when an internship didn’t lead to a job. (…) Snowplow parents have it backward, Ms. Lythcott-Haims said: “The point is to prepare the kid for the road, instead of preparing the road for the kid.”

That goes hand-in-hand with my philosophy about coping vs. control.

Nor does end when they leave school.

In a new poll by The New York Times and Morning Consult of a nationally representative group of parents of children ages 18 to 28, three-quarters had made appointments for their adult children, like for doctor visits or haircuts, and the same share had reminded them of deadlines for school. Eleven percent said they would contact their child’s employer if their child had an issue.

Parents contacting managers isn’t new, I wrote about it way back in 2010.

Do you recall how the Boomers complained and blamed their parents generation for the world they were inheriting?

The world they are leaving their kids is in far worse shape, not to mention that they prevented those same kids from gaining the skills they need to deal with it.

Image credit: Les Chatfield and Stewart Kaye

Poking through 12+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Are you ready for Memorial Day? For the year to be almost half over? I’m not. That said, I’m going to enjoy the day and hope that at least one of these links will add to yours.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

This Memorial Day I thought I’d share links to favorite past posts.

Memorial Day 2012 links you to a look at vets and entrepreneurship.

Memorial Day 2011 shares a poem on who provides the basis of your life, no matter your beliefs or ideology.

Heroes and Memorial Day 2010 looks at fools, with my father as the example.

Memorial Day: Now And Future 2009 takes a graphic look at a future I’m sure I won’t live to see.

And while you’re enjoying yourself today, take a moment and give thought to all those who made it possible to enjoy the sales, food, beer and whatever else you indulge in today.

As a sign near me says, “The home of the free because of the brave.”

Image credit: vladeb

Whether you can already say “mea culpa” or are just learning here are some insights that may be of use to you.

Maya Angelou provides truly wise counsel about people.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Speaking of feelings, J.K. Rowling’s words in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are a truism that can’t be denied.

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

Bernard M. Baruch was very clear in his belief that what people showed to the world should reflect their true values.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

Oscar Wilde recommended the same more succinctly.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

Most interesting to me was Marilyn Monroe’s take.

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

How true. Nobody’s perfect — or even close — so don’t expect them to be.

Most importantly, when trying to make sense of this world, never forget the words of Albert Einstein.

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”

Image credit: Prabakaran Thirumalai

Back in 2015 I wrote about the importance of living your own life, instead of trying to live someone else’s as seen on Instagram. Last month we considered the idea that it is our values that are the basis of true authenticity and yesterday the lesson was that mea culpa was valueless if it wasn’t sincere, AKA, authentic.

Given all that, what do you do when you

1. know you messed up; and
2. are incapable of admitting it?

Gurus of whatever type love to apply the 80/20 rule to situations like this, meaning that once you know/understand the problem (80%) then applying a solution is relatively easy (20%), so just do it.

Which, based on all I’ve seen and my own personal experience, is bunk.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my life it’s that one size or solution does not fit all.

What do you do when you know you should take responsibility and just can’t make yourself do it?

Let’s start with what you don’t do.

You don’t

• shift the blame (responsibility) to another person or the group;
• pretend it didn’t happen; or
• act oblivious.

Doing the first will turn your people against you; either of the others will make you look like an idiot — and turn people against you.

So what do you do?

Discuss the problem/situation openly, tacitly admitting the source by not specifying it and encouraging the team to provide solutions, as opposed to you.

Your people aren’t stupid or you wouldn’t have hired them.

They’ll understand your actions giving you time to change your MAP, so you can admit it openly the next time — because there will always be a next time.

Image credit: Bill Ohl

Poking through 12+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Mea culpa has never been anyone’s favorite thing, but in the eight years since I wrote this post hearing it has become even more unlikely — unless, of course, the speaker has already been outed for whatever and mea culpa is their default fallback position/excuse.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

In the popular vernacular, the expression “mea culpa” is an admission of having made a mistake by one’s own fault (one that could have been avoided if the person had been more diligent).

Mea culpa are two of the most powerful words any manager can say—as long as they are authentic.

Creating a culture where mea culpa is not just tolerated, but applauded is the mark of the best ‘leadagers’ (Leader + Manager discussion).

The words offer no value if they are uttered insincerely or as a means to an end.

Publicly taking responsibility for an error, let alone a real screw-up, is the mark of a good leader, a great manager and a true mensch.

How often have you said ‘mea culpa’ and meant it?

Image credit: Markus Tacker

Remember Juicero? The company that, in three years (2014-2017), burned through $120 million of venture funds building a $700 juicer requiring a special juice packet for each glass.

Following in that product’s footsteps, robotics company Vincross is planning to apply some of their consumer product knowledge to create a new product that is the equivalent of the Jucerio, except it will probably cost more.

The HEXA Plant is designed to look like a six-legged spider and can help anyone keep up with their plants even if they don’t have time to keep up with them. (…) Not only will the planter carry itself into the sunlight when needed – but it will find shade if the plant gets too hot. (…) The robotic planter is designed to stomp around or throw ‘tantrums’ when it is out of water…

The original HEXA robot sells for $949, so it’s unlikely the planter will cost less.

Here’s the robot, use your imagination to turn it into a plant pot.

And start saving, so you can finally have a plant that doesn’t die.

Video credit: HEXA

I used the following quote in a post about ego taking over startup founders.

Star CEOs grow dangerous when they see their success as destiny, their place at the head of the pack as the only path possible, rendering all of their choices justified.— Zachary First, managing director of The Drucker Institute (A 2013 Fortune article, link dead))

Obviously, it’s not only founders, but, just five years later, would you expect it to apply to so-called progressive managers?

It does, with a vengeance.

The (unfortunately) best (worst?) example comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The most egregious recent example of this troubling type appears to exist in Morris Dees, 82, co-founder and the powerful former head of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Alabama. He was removed from that post in March, following allegations of workplace misconduct. Specifically, the leader of the SPLC, known for its doggedness identifying and winning court cases against vile hate groups, was accused of racism and multiple counts of sexual harassment.

Dees’ fall shocked everyone, except the people who had worked closely with him, according to a recent New Yorker essay by journalist Bob Moser, who worked at the SPLC for a few years in the early 2000s. The organization known as a “beacon of justice” as he writes, was in fact what another one of its former writers called a “virtual buffet of injustices.” Employees worked within a two-tiered system: People of color were hired for support roles, while the higher-paid leaders, lawyers, writers, and fundraisers were “almost exclusively white.”

None of us like our heroes to have feet of clay, but it is easy to start seeing through an “I’m doing good in my world, therefore I am good and can do no wrong.”

In other words, if I’m fighting them, I’m not acting like them and shouldn’t be compared to them.

Years ago someone my crowd thought of as a good friend stole my credit card and jewelry and another guy’s car, etc. When he was caught he told the judge that, since he had done good for us, his stealing was no big deal.

Doing good is not a vaccine.

I recently wrote about the importance of objectively; using it on yourself can help you avoid the “do as I say, not as I do” trap.

Weekly, take a hard, look at your own actions and compare them objectively to someone on the philosophically opposite side.

Any similarities should serve as a warning.

Do something about them immediately.

Image credit: Anders Sandberg