Joseph Fuller and Michael C. Jensen are suggesting that managers begin discussing their business’ strategy and get out of the earnings guidance game. In their recent paper, Just Say No to Wall Street: Putting A Stop to the Earnings Game, they tell managers to stay away from earnings guidance and provide information about strategic goals, [...]
Some important Brain Functions Improve with Age according to findings presented in HBR’s Conversation blog. In areas as diverse as vocabulary and inductive reasoning, our brains function better than they did in our 20s. As we age, we more easily get the “gist” of arguments. Even our judgment of others improves. Often, we simply “know” [...]
We’ve all seen it where lots of information compiled to make a decision did little to suggest an obvious course. And that was 20 years ago, when it took leg work to gather that information, not just a few keystrokes in your browser. Getting stuck in analysis was a problem thousands of years ago and [...]
In The Carbon Productivity Challenge, McKinsey & Company focuses on two objectives — stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) and maintaining economic growth — and proposes the world has 50 years to increase the GDP per unit of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) tenfold. A task the authors equate to the productivity improvement delivered during the 100 [...]
Is the world smaller? Maybe so or maybe good ideas stick regardless of the time and distance they travel to their location. In any event, you can find the latest business thinking in far away places. If you follow Robert Cialdini, then you will want to read this story about a rug business in Turkey [...]
The folks at Pragmatic Marketing have put together a great book describing their process for creating products and services that customers want and more importantly will buy. Tuned In is a quick read and should prove to be a valuable reference guide as you turn to your potential customers to define the products and services [...]
“Why do people feel pressure to have an answer for every question?” Even when they don’t know Jack, they make it up on the fly. Ten years ago our training courses included a short video clip of college students at some of the more prestigious universities speaking at length with great confidence about a subject [...]
No, it’s Conviction and Discipline according to Fred Wilson, “Conviction and discipline are two sides of the same coin.” I like the view. Similar to a great strategy with weak execution, conviction without discipline will often lead you into the ditch and will never get you to the mountaintop.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholder Letter is a must read and this one is no exception. Continuing last year’s scolding of the sub-prime mortgage banking industr, my favorite lines included these: John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, aptly dissected the recent behavior of many lenders: “It is interesting that the industry has invented few ways to lose [...]
Another high profile company going public has decided to maintain control while selling a majority of the economic stakes in the company to the public. This time it is Al Gore as a founder of Current Media. I certainly agree, the company’s shareholders have a right to decide the control structure they want to [...]
Speaking of the TXU purchase, Mr. Bonderman said the company was adept at running a profitable company and equally bad at politics from price increases to ecology to labor relations. These shortcomings lead tothe opportunity which focused on addressing these public concerns.Opportunities for private equity include exploiting public investorsfocus on short term focus, their dislike [...]
The 4 hour work week is an interesting and educational book, even for those who would not choose to work only half a day each week. It pushes you to think about different ways to get your job done and to think differently about which activities you keep inside and which you push to others. [...]
Day two included another round of interesting speakers. We began with a horse of a different color as Paul Orfalea, Founder of Kinkos, shared his store, advice and leadership style (close the door and let the kids run the store). Then we moved on to customer satisfaction and the Net Promoter Score as described by Fred Reichheld, [...]
The annual Gazelles Growth Summit began today in Las Vegas with a host of interesting speakes. Robert Bloom was first at the podium to discuss his new book Inside Advantage. It is a good read and I will write a separate post on it soon. Bloom is full of real life examples from his long [...]
Stowe Boyd, author of /Message, presenting today at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference identified a model for designing Web 2.0 applications. Build for the individual first, then for groups of like minded people and then focus on the money making activity for a “market”. Stowe claims the Internet is increasingly becoming the Third Space, our primary [...]
Even though the most likely outcome for a successful technology company is via an acquisition, I have never liked the idea of planning for it. Plans and actions then often go away from what will help our customers and help us succeed in the market to what would ABC Inc. like to see in an [...]
Buzzmeister’s beware! The Valleywag buzzmeter shows Web 2.0 hits saturation. That’s so 2006. How should a capital hungry business owner create excitement among the technology captains of capital?
I haven’t found it, but I’m sure if it hasn’t already been done, someone will analyze this advertising campaign in terms of publicity vs. cost. They may well find that the additional publicity from the disruption of business in Boston was well worth the $500 to $600 thousand the company will pay Boston for damages. [...]
Tom Evslin’s post Web 2.0 – Greater Initial Investments Required suggests that early Web 2.0 companies seized the advantage of low cost technical infrastructure and low cost marketing to gain cost advantages. These companies were able to get big cheaper and faster than the first generation internet companies. While he agrees with Fred Willson that [...]
Why are private boards putting more value on the efforts of top managers than comparable public companies? With no doubt there have been compensation structures for CEOs that were neither aligned with the interest of the shareholders or other stakeholders in the corporation. However, the comparison between the pay at the top of the organization [...]
A candid interview with Seagate’s CEO reveals his success cookbook. The secret to managing a board of directors: “You never ask board members what they think. You tell them what you’re going to do.†Are you sure you have the right board members?
In Web start-ups snub the big money, the International Herald Tribune suggests this is a trend that should be expected to continue for a few if not spread to many companies in the space.“By then, Meebo was being courted by venture capitalists, but it decided to take a modest $100,000 from three angel investors, people [...]
MercuryNews.com | 08/16/2006 | VC Deals: Hercules allows investment in pre-IPO start-ups“Hercules invests primarily in high-tech companies, usually through “mezzanine” debt financings coupled with an equity component such as stock warrants or options, in private companies previously funded by leading venture capital firms. The loans are typically secured by some or all of the assets [...]
Ta-Da! Cheaper Stock Options! Are stock Betas, volatility, really going down as fast as stock option valuations suggest. This article suggest they are not. Look, the only reason any investor wished companies to expense options is to reduce the number of options granted. An appropriate goal, perhaps, I question the approach. There is limited value [...]
or overstepping the boundaries of government? Which of these best describes the recent “Healthcare for All” bill supported by an overwhelming majority of the Massachusetts Legislature (154 to 2 in the House and 37 to 0 in the Senate) and Govenor Mitt Romney? The plan’s objective is one shared by all concerned about the unisured, [...]
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