Sometimes, excitement means something exciting is going on. But other times, excitement only masks confusion, disorder, and decline. If your organization places value on a strong work ethic and your people put in long hours, that’s exciting. If there are couches and soda and stock options, but all that effort is wasted only on fixing mistakes […]
You are 34 times more likely to get a response if you ask in person instead of via email
If you want a response, ask in person. It’s tempting to send an email. It’s easier. The cost for you to send an email is virtually zero. But the cost of receiving one is higher than sending one. That’s why many of your emails are ignored. (And it’s why you get spam: a conversion rate of […]
Nobody buys copy machines, but everyone buys copies.
Peter Drucker, on Xerox: One reason why the patents on a copying machine ended up at a small, obscure company in Rochester, New York, then known as the Haloid Company, rather than at one of the big printing-machine manufacturers, was that none of the large established manufacturers saw any possibility of selling a copying machine. […]
You are in business because of your customers
There are lots of reasons business exist. Sometimes they exist for profit. Other times, they exist for their employees. Many businesses exist for stockholders. But you are not in business to create jobs for your employees or dividends for your stockholders. You are not even in business to earn a profit. The reason you are […]
Tina Fey’s 4 rules of improv
In Bossypants, Tina Fey outlines her four rules of improv: The first rule is to say yes. Always agree and say yes. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created. So if we’re improvising and I say, “Freeze, I have a gun,” and you say, “That’s not […]
Throw yourself off a cliff and build an airplane on the way down
I enjoyed this profile of LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. His first principle is speed. His most tweeted quote ever is, “If you aren’t embarrassed by the first version of your product, you shipped too late.” His second most tweeted quote ever is, “In founding a startup, you throw yourself off a cliff and build an […]