Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
“The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions” suggested Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Holmes, one of the 20th century’s most influential public figures, was on to something.
While youth (and fresh eyes) serve well with certain types of situations – think Emperor’s New Clothes, quant analysis, or the brilliance behind the Apple’s designs – wisdom from elders is something that you can’t find anyplace else.… Read the rest
I’m having lunch and a close-out conversation with an exec coaching client in Silicon Valley today. She has made obtained great results with small changes; her boss thinks she’s doing great and frankly so do I.
And she’s got a lesson or two that you can use.
One of the things she’s done is slowed down and let her direct reports (and a colleague or two) lead part of the conversation.… Read the rest
There are three well-known West Coast asset management firms (financial services speak for mutual funds, venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, or fund of funds firms) – none of them clients – where the firm’s leadership team members barely tolerate each other.
They talk when they must. Otherwise they minimize their working relationships as much as possible.
The firms make money. … Read the rest
There is a problem with women in business. Symptoms are everywhere.
And where you expect it the least given the perceived meritocracy – high technology – it appears to be the most present.
“Is the ‘Mommy Track’ Still Taboo?” blared a headline in the Wall Street Journal this week.
That piece follows the Journal’s post “Addressing The Lack of Women Leading Tech Start-Ups” that noted that only 11% of U.S.… Read the rest
There are lessons that some startups learn after they’ve crashed, and mistakes that successful startups either learn early or avoid making.
If you want to be successful as a startup, learn these lessons early – or be very lucky and avoid them.
Lunch yesterday with my friend and colleague Dr. Jo Whitehouse – a rockstar in the startup world – highlighted two of them.… Read the rest
Our 8 1/2 year old son Traylor seems finally settled on a transitional object.
The Peanuts’ cartoon character Linus has his omnipresent blanket; my little big guy has Flatopup.
Flatopup took hold after a number of other alternatives were considered and then discarded. When Traylor was in preschool my spouse and I were convinced that his friend Emma – another child of a non traditional (single mom) and adoptive family – was his transitional object, the enduring item in his preschool life that enabled him to go through any number of other changes with the sense of a constant at this side.… Read the rest