Public opinion on climate change has reached a tipping point. Climate change and its impact are not something that will happen in the distant future; they are happening now. Over the next decade, climate change will be the dominant force affecting our daily lives and businesses, and with that comes potential opportunities for small businesses….
Ethics as a Competitive Business Strategy
In the years I have built and managed businesses, I gave little thought or considered ethics a business strategy. Of course, I understood that honesty and integrity were necessary, and businesses that did not operate with those qualities almost always did not survive over the long term. When I took over the operational leadership of…
Raising Money in Uncertain Times
For the most part, venture funding has been robust over the last ten years, the best since the dot.com boom of the late 1990s. This latest boom was driven by the unusually high valuations for tech startups doing seed rounds and initial public offerings. Profitability was not the objective; instead, growth was king. As with…
The Changing Face of Networking
Networking has always been my key strategy for business building. Networking has built my whole business career. The people I met are still my most essential acquaintances; some have become close friends. Woody Allen has remarked that 80% of success is showing up. I couldn’t agree more. It means that people with whom you can…
Selection is Key to Winning
I have said many times that if you follow the proper steps and execute them effectively, anyone can be a successful entrepreneur and run a successful business. However, I also follow that statement with an important caveat. Selection is critical. I mean that the selection of a business concept, value proposition, product, or service determines…
Boards – Asset or a Nuisance
The answer lies in whether the company is private or publicly traded and how much effort went into board selection. Another factor is whether the CEO is a founder and control freak or has challenges listening to advice, or the company has a group of yes persons on the board who rubber stamp anything management…
I am so Connected I Can’t Get Anything Done
We’ve all experienced this – checking email, Slack, Facebook, and Linkedin multiple times daily to ensure we don’t miss anything. We want to ensure that requests are answered (no one has patience any longer), and that we don’t appear to be ghosting the company. The urge to stay constantly connected has increased because many of…
Put Customers Before Shareholders
To create shareholder value, business managers need to put customers at the head of the stakeholder list. Employees and the community should also come before shareholders’ interests. This is not to disregard the interests of shareholders, as they are the beneficiaries of the business. Instead, we must concentrate on building the company, not the interests…
Creating Hot Zones – Turning Technology into Cash Flow
Technology drives our economy. An explosion of new technologies has given rise to endless new market opportunities. The challenge is linking technological development with the world of buyers, customers, and competitive markets. Often new technology is pushed on to marketing and sales departments to create a demand for the new product or service. Managers of…
Are You Getting People to do What You Want?
How do you get your people to do what you want as a business manager? The answer invariably is that you can’t. You can’t get your people to do anything. If you want it done, you will have to create an environment where doing it is more important to your people than not doing it….