Startups often spend scarce time and resources trying to attract funding to upscale operations. Recently, a veteran business builder pointed out that organizations that take money for operations usually end up losing the companies to their funders within three years. The funders have no clue how to operate their new company. Rationalizing income to expenseRead… Read more »

Change happens. We have no choice. There are choices about how we use change, which shows a lot about us. “For your convenience, the number has changed. Please hang up and dial the new number.” …says what exactly? Tips 4 The Big Chair – Obvious after you know it.

Recent conversation. “Well, what do you give to your prospects? You know they’re not going to buy here. They need to walk out of the room and consider.” “My business card?” How does that work?” “It doesn’t, but better than my brochure. Nobody wants my brochure.” The question is what do you offer that allowsRead… Read more »

One of my disappointments with Google Docs is that I haven’t figured out how to make good stationery templates. My Word templates have over 20 years of refinement, so when I need multiple pages, or one page two column with narrow margin, I’ve got the first sheet, second sheet, margins, headers, footers, and type spacingRead… Read more »

Jack remarked I have a lot of ready opinions, based on active study, about more subjects than most. I said that was because I organize relatively. That allows me to reach a firm conclusion quickly and move on. Need to change a conclusion? Not a problem. Quick acceptance and move on. I am most uncomfortableRead… Read more »

I am reading a gripping management how-to guide, Decision Points, where the author explains how he learned to navigate to avoid being, “College Smart, Sidewalk Stupid.” Today, I was observing that in the wild with Jack, who said that when he was studying Water Buffalo Management at the University of Vietnam, they learned to evaluateRead… Read more »

Have you ever been called to give advice to someone just starting their career? Heck, have you ever considered giving yourself a career checkup? Letters To A Young Scientist by Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward O. Wilson is a delight. Twenty one “letters” (actually each is more focused than a letter, how about a greatRead… Read more »

Last week I was telling a story about how many years ago, before internet, I got my first fax machine. I told my clients the number. One sent a question using the fax. I was doing something else. About ten minutes later I got a phone call. He had sent the question, where was theRead… Read more »

I read another message touting peer review as a benefit. Umm, maybe. My experience with peer review is that it is often a closed, self-congratulatory model from a closed, self-congratulatory society about work that is destined to go into the stacks. We need better. At one point I led sixty top writers in a productionRead… Read more »