Time to face your Nightmare

OK, so you’ve ridden out the worst of the this economic storm.  You’re still alive, but your car’s sputtering and running out of gas.  And it’s dark and you’re not sure where exactly you are or going.  It there was a soundtrack to your life, now would be the time when the music raises the [...]

The Permanent Now

Last week a friend of mine was diagnosed with a condition that requires a visit to the specialist. Her doctor gave her two names.  She called one and the number routed her to an individual who took down all her particulars.  When she tried to schedule an appointment, the person on the other end said [...]

Find Your MacGuffin

This weekend, I my son and his friend introduced me to the world of guerrilla drive-ins and macguffins.
The guerrilla drive-in is a movie shown in secret outdoor locations.  The one in our area shows movies like “Ghostbusters”, “Back to the Future”, etc from the seat of a 1977 BMW motorcycle sidecar, typically shown on sheets [...]

Five Easy Steps to Grow Your Company

In a recent post at techcrunch.com, Sarah Lacy mused on whether execution is more important than vision.  The vast majority of comments testified to the fact that execution (getting things done) is more important than vision (having the idea).  In fact, the business world is littered with failed companies that had great ideas and successful [...]

Groucho Marx, CEO

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.  Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”  Groucho Marx.
I’ve loved the Marx Brothers since I was in seventh grade.  That was the year I switched from Catholic school to public school.  It was a year I felt I could breathe again, met [...]

Of Sofas, Living Rooms and Arm Chairs

I’m in my living room, looking at my sofa and I’m not happy. The sofa is beat — torn up and god knows what else from the animals. In addition, since I took up the last wall of the living room with another bookcase, it’s slung kitty-corner in the room, making a goal-line stand in [...]

Be Yourself

Companies spend a lot of time talking about their products and how they stack up to the competition. They strategize about the need to reduce their cost or add a bell or whistle to set them apart. Now, I don’t want to discount the need to have a strong product offer. But at the end [...]

Management Communication and its Disconnects

One summer during college, I worked with my uncle’s firm building microwave towers out West.  It was one of those great jobs that pay you more in experiences than dollars that I will always remember.  During that time, my uncle noticed that I a book in my backpack.
“What are you reading?” he asked.   “‘The Archeology [...]

From the Stadium to the Living Room — Is micro-social where it’s at?

This past week, Google unveiled its new application, “Google Wave” which will be released later this year. (To see the presentation of Wave by Google, click below.)

Wave at once makes communication and collaboration easier and makes it more personal.  Think of it as combining the intimacy of e-mail and chat-rooms with the malleability of wikis [...]

Three O’Clock Breeze

I’ve spent this Memorial Day opening our place up in Montana.  It’s not a tough job and I get more than a few of hours of time enjoying the lake, learning how successful the resident loons have been in building and maintaining its nest, exploring the logging roads and being continually amazed by the views [...]