The Startup Called “You”

The myth is that startups mostly exist in places like San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Austin, Portland and Boulder, Boston or New York City.

That part is no myth; startups up do exist in those places.

But there is another startup in the town where you live. In fact, it’s even got your name on the door.

It’s the startup called you.… Read the rest

Why Will You Hire an Outsider rather than an Internal Candidate?

Who knew that hiring realities and a trip to my home state of Oregon would intersect.

But they did.

You know the deal. You’ve got a candidate or two from inside the firm to consider and candidates from outside that are in the vetting / interview hopper for the job.

You end up – surprise surprise – hiring the outsider. Only later do you come across the statistic from the Center for Creative Leadership that approximately 66% of senior execs hired from the outside fail within 18 months and that the overall failure rate for external hires within 3 years is 40%.… Read the rest

[Life Back West] August 2011 – “Same Time Next Year”

Only the hopeful and the perhaps the ignorant confuse voluntary associations with work groups.

Yet the fact of the matter is that there are elements from the world of voluntary relationships that can help more than just a few work groups perform better and even have a little more fun.

These opportunities for shared lessons came to mind with the fifth version last month of what’s become an annual pilgrimage up to San Francisco Recreation & Park’s Camp Mather near the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valleys in the California Sierras.… Read the rest

Think!

IBM founder and CEO Thomas Watson had a sign in his office – and more signs plastered throughout the firm.

Aretha Franklin sang about it in the movies.

Buddha noted “What we think we become.

So why don’t we think more?

The thought came to mind as I trekked back from a week-long stay at San Francisco’s Camp Mather, a place in the high Sierras near Yosemite.… Read the rest