The romantic idea of creating something innovative and new can get us sidetracked quickly in entrepreneurship. There are 28 million small businesses in the United States as of this writing. You are competing with all those businesses, minds and offerings. The likelihood of being original is difficult against such staggering numbers! Think about how youContinue reading “Don’t Be Original”
Tag Archives: Strategy
How to Drive Clarity
Are you doing what you are supposed to be doing? Is the work you have been doing for many years as relevant today, or are you having to unlearn and reinvent? I think that effort and working hard are relatively natural for many driven and successful people that I know. The hard part is theContinue reading “How to Drive Clarity”
The Lucky Fool and Reality
“It manifests itself in the shape of the lucky fool, defined as a person who benefited from a disproportionate share of luck but attributes his success to some other, generally very precise, reason.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness If you haven’t read Taleb’s book, he does a masterful job of pointing out how our perceptionsContinue reading “The Lucky Fool and Reality”
Reduce the Handoffs to Increase Efficiency
Every handoff in your business is a failure point. When one person is handling information and moving execution to the next step, often you can get things done without many mistakes or delays. When you have to hand off a lead, support call, requirements, or project task, it’s risk. What if the information is notContinue reading “Reduce the Handoffs to Increase Efficiency”
Don’t Get Fooled By Heroics
We humans tend to live by emotion more than logic. It’s why politicians, business leaders and religious authorities can sway the masses too often. You may have heard that famous saying, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” It’s an opportunity for heroics to come into play. And those affected by a crisis areContinue reading “Don’t Get Fooled By Heroics”
Give Them What They Want
If you spend most of your time trying to convince people of what they need, you may be in for a highly expensive and wasteful lesson from the marketplace. I get it. When you have an idea that you love, you think others should love it as well. But, we have to take heed ofContinue reading “Give Them What They Want”
Learn to Unlearn
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ” ~ Alvin Toffler I often think about that phrase, “What got you here won’t get you there.” It’s a powerful reminder that you can’t rest on your accomplishments for long. SomeoneContinue reading “Learn to Unlearn”
I Like the Boring Business
When it comes to business building, I like boring. I like creating outputs from inputs. I like throughput. Drama, inconsistencies, high stress and heroics are fantastic for movie plots. But they don’t contribute positively to profit and loss in a business. Boring helps cash flow. Cash flow makes customers, vendors, employees, and owners happy. IContinue reading “I Like the Boring Business”
Don’t Limit Yourself
Too often we are mired in the circumstance we chose thinking we are limited. This is not necessarily so. You can always choose differently, and that is the opportunity to grow and become bigger than your circumstance. Perhaps you hate your job, your life or even a bad deal you are currently in. The stress ofContinue reading “Don’t Limit Yourself”
Doing What You Want to Do
There’s a big consequence for winging it. If you allow your days to be dictated by the demands of others or the urgencies that days tend to push on us, it is difficult, if not impossible, to do the things that you want or matter to you. Furthermore, your own energy levels and resistanceContinue reading “Doing What You Want to Do”
