A chuckle was the first reaction when I saw Ann Handley’s (@marketingprofs) retweet of Ted Minnini’s post – For Sale: Business Culture – on the retailing of the Zappos culture. Zappos founder and CEO Tony Hseih – whose company was recently sold to Amazon – has been offering 2 days seminars for people to learn how to replicate the Zappos (success) story.… Read the rest
[Happy Birthday Dr. King] The Pace of Change – San Francisco
Tomorrow is the annual celebration of the Martin Luther King’s birthday, and as I sit here with my 7 year-old son, I wonder what Dr. King would make of aspects of our world today some 40+ years after his death.
Some parts of the world would like strikingly familiar. As chronicled in a trip to south Texas this past year – The Pace of Change: Uvalde, Texas 1953 – some parts of the nation look socially as they must have not only 40 years ago, but 60 or 70 years ago.… Read the rest
[Talent Keys for Entrepreneurs] It’s Not Just About “A” Team Players
Sachin Rekhi’s post PayPals Wars and its Lessons for Today’s Entrepreneurs caught my attention as I surfaced between US professional football (NFL for the locals) league play-offs this weekend. While there is much about the post that is spot-on right – strong vision coupled with short term pragmatic goals, push decision-making down as far as possible, etc. – Sachin makes the case that “It’s all about assembling an A-team.”… Read the rest
[A Study in Change] Willamette University
We are in one of those periods of great transformational change. Things that we’ve taken for granted, such as hard copy publishing (newspapers, magazines, books, records/CDs) – as well any number the “normal” ways things get done in different sectors and businesses – are morphing in front of our eyes.
The enduring challenge for continuing organizations, even educational institutions like colleges and universities, is to anticipate transformational changes before they occur: gain advantage on any favorable aspects of the change they can as well as figure out how to mitigate the negatives so they don’t sink you.… Read the rest
[How to Improve Your Leadership Skills] “Everything On One Calendar Please”
Just as former basketball superstar Michael Jordan, investor Warren Buffett, or businessperson Oprah Winfrey wouldn’t handicap themselves by taking their second-string game to work (e.g. imagine Buffett: “No, we just invest in companies whose names begin with M-Z), you want to take your best self to work and life. It means bringing the whole you – not just a part of you – to life.… Read the rest
[Life Back West] December 2009 – The Darkest Days
In earlier times, people in the northern hemisphere marked the winter solstice – the time of the year when daylight for the hemisphere is at its shortest – with rites and rituals. Even today those traditions live on with things like the California Revels and their event productions held in Oakland.
This time of year was regarded as marking the sun‘s ebbing presence in the sky, and the deepest moment of the cold winter’s dark.… Read the rest