Hooray for Candor!

There are some advantages to being at the organizational top.

People below you on the business pyramid are unfailing polite, things sometimes happen on a suggestion and not a request, furniture is nicer and pay is usually greater. Tones are hushed, the carpet is deeper, and pleasantries are often the order not just of the day, but the minute.

Candor – the quality of being frank, open and sincere – is often missing in action.… Read the rest

[Building Great Companies] 5 Talent / Location Factors Founders Should Consider

There are a lot of ways to build a company – some by  accident, some products of history, and some by poorly conceived thinking (see Charlotte, North Carolina – who would think Charlotte would become a world banking headquarters?). An obvious goal is to base your business where it’s got good access to customers, talent, transportation or perhaps capital: do none well and you suck up time in travel, recruiting, and moving people that could be otherwise spent toward serving customers and making great products.Read the rest