“Encourage leadership at all levels” is the eleventh part of a twelve-part series. It’s a deep look behind the scenes of the “business playbook” that makes VC-backed companies successful and how to apply these lessons to your business. If you’re looking for the introduction to the series and first article, please click here. If you’re looking for other articles in …
After over a decade as a startup executive, I’ll admit I cringe when someone brings up stretch goals. But Dave, according to Google, they’re best practice! It says it right there in their 10 things we know to be true philosophy document: “We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet …
I’ll get to the leadership lesson in a moment, but first let me tell you a story. According to Greek mythology, Sisyphus was the founder and King of Corinth, a city in south-central Greece. Sisyphus was famed for his cleverness, leading Homer to describe him in the Iliad as “the most cunning of men.” Unfortunately for Sisyphus, he was also …
“It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive.” -Jim Collins, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… And Others Don’t” Generally accepted business wisdom agrees that the single biggest predictor of business success …
My client’s employee had worked through lunch and it was already 3 pm. As a doctor prior to starting his business, he knew all the reasons this was a poor idea. “The first commitment I made was to do no harm! Go to lunch!” my client told her. When he told me the story, I was impressed. He had connected …
If I had to define them in one sentence, I’d say: If your business looked in the mirror, KPIs are what would be staring back at it. But, since I have more than one sentence, I’ll elaborate. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. A KPI is a piece of tracked and trended information that helps explain how your business (or …
Leadership vs management… what’s the difference? If you Google it you’ll find a host of articles painting “management” as the shadowy underbelly of leadership done poorly and putting “leadership” on a worship-worthy pedestal. Is “leadership” the Dr. Jekyll to “management’s” Mr. Hyde? Or are these comparisons unfair? If you buy into leadership vs management as a light vs dark paradigm, …
One of our junior technicians was looking at me nervously. He had probably been expecting one of the managers to review his proposal to tweak our workflow. Instead, somehow I, the VP, Operations, had gotten a hold of it. I finished my read through and looked up at him, grinning. “This is some fucking great work,” I announced. His face …
Have you ever wished you could eliminate miscommunication in your business? I have. When miscommunication rears its head, failure tends to follow. This can include screw-ups like building the wrong thing for a client, setting incorrect expectations which lead to a missed deadline, or one of your team members wasting time doing work that isn’t want you were asking for …
As Super Bowl LII approaches, most people agree there is something special about the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles team. Some describe it as a sense of destiny, others have pointed out the team’s chemistry. But what is truly different and special about the team this year? As a lifelong fan, I thought it through and came up with a surprisingly extensive …
