Working Wider

In Getting Organized: The Entrepreneurial Death Star, I described how the chaos of growth drives startups to get organized.  Organization comes at a price yet it seems that the only options are to stay small and creative, suffer chaos, or pick execution over agility. This piece provides two alternatives. Before we start, let me ask Read more

The goal of every startup is to rapidly outgrow startup size and status.  Few launch with an organization plan; nor should they.  A seminal moment occurs when the startup “gets organized” for the first time.  Like a baby’s first step, getting organized is a rite of passage.  Often begrudged, rarely is it questioned. The journey Read more

Unless you constantly cleanse yourself after every contact with the world, you’re dropping flakes of personal information behind that make the DNA information in epithelial cells found at TV crime scenes pale in comparison.  That’s data dandruff. Data dandruff comes from social network posting, cell phone and surveillance cameras, GPS sensors, web search queries, affinity Read more

Almost one hundred years ago, Dwight Eisenhower departed Washington, D.C. for San Francisco as part of the first military convoy to cross the United States.  In July, 1919, most roads were unpaved and unimproved since settlers moved west.  Vehicles were slow, prone to breakdowns or tire failure. It took 62 days at an average speed Read more

Sports figures have longed served as icons for business leaders.  They simplify and symbolize the essence of competition by their dedication and success. As an avid cyclist, I’ve followed the meteoric rise and fall of Lance Armstrong’s career with deep interest.  Without drugs, he was one the greatest cyclists of his time.  With drugs, he Read more

The two major candidates raised just short of $2B in the recent election. Rather than dissecting the return on investment politically, here’s a quick look at the leadership lessons that played out over the campaign. In no particular order: 1. Get Out Ahead: President Obama defined Mitt Romney while Romney was still finishing the primaries. Read more

Every successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur I’ve met fueled their dream with rapid cycles of learning, infused with facts and feedback. Granted the Valley’s engineering heritage places a unique emphasis on data, but it is also foundational thinking for every MBA program in the world. So riddle me this Batman, how is it that the convention Read more

Apple’s the closest company we have to a national hero.  When Apple prevailed over Samsung, I was pleased.  The good guys won. While the financial judgment is still pending, the $1-3B financial range is certainly not chump change. Yet relative to Apple and Samsung’s balance sheets, the impact is minimal. The victory was an homage Read more

While in the process of writing several more substantive pieces, my disk drive crashed. This started a whirlwind of customer service calls.  As I get back to the other pieces, I couldn’t resist a short piece that summarizes an all-too-familiar customer experience. How many times have you called customer service, didn’t get the problem solved Read more

One would think that the big news from Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference was the overdue refresh of the MacBook Pro with a sharper screen or that they’ve dropped Google maps for their own mapping technology. Not so. The developer conference is a leading indicator.  It signals where Apple is heading; where they see the next Read more