I heard “The Lies That I Believe” by Thornley the other day. The chorus went like this: The lies that I believe are simple The lies that I believe are true The lies that I believe are so beautiful The lies that I believe are true This got me thinking about some of the beautiful […]
I have been a team member, a team leader, a department leader overseeing teams, and a CEO building companies of teams. All of this team building has required me to conduct a lot of interviews, and to think long and hard about what to ask. I have spent quite a bit of time searching Google […]
I came across an excellent article written by T. Boone Pickens called, “Having the Best People Won’t Give You the Best Team”. I agree whole heartedly when the article states that, “It is not about bring the best people on board. It’s about bringing the right people on board.” The key question to consider is […]
Are you looking for a Mentor, Coach, or Consultant? No matter what title you choose, make sure they can also function as a Devil’s Advocate. This is important at all stages of company life, but even more critical at the early stages. Why do I say this? Early stage companies tend to be smaller, and […]
I remember a project from some years ago that did not going well. It was a new direction for the company and it started with excitement and enthusiasm. We staffed up, bought equipment, hired contractors, and launched into the work. After some time had passed, the work grew harder and things started to go sideways, […]
I have seen a lot of press lately on the Maker movement. In order to try to get a pulse on what is happening, I have been attending the Hardware Startups Vancouver Meetup for the last number of months. There is so much activity, and so much to learn. Here is a tiny taste of […]
I attended a lecture last week on the subject of surveillance (Surveillance after Snowden: Decoding the Snooping Scandal). The speaker was David Lyon, a professor at Queens and the Director of the Surveillance Study Center at Queen’s University. When I hear the word surveillance, my mind immediately starts thinking about spy novels and John Le […]
During my networking over the last few years, I have collected a number of pithy sayings that speak to the challenges of building a business. These statements are worth taking some time to think about. Customers want to “hire” a product to do a job, or, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They […]
Many of the Pithy Sayings I listed in an earlier post mentioned the critical needs to both understand the target market and then to find a customer. So how do you go about doing this? I have found that two of the best ways to research these topics are Trade Shows and Public Company data. […]
How important is alignment within an organization? If a car’s wheels are not aligned, it will cause a lot of vibration in the frame. If a machine’s drive shaft is not aligned, it could cause the machine to self-destruct from the vibration. I believe this same principle also applies in business. If the key stakeholders […]