When times are good, loyalty is nice. But not wildly valuable. It is easy to be loyal when things are going well, sales are growing, customers paying on time, and the partners are happy. It is when times are bad that loyalty is gold. Loyalty is tested during the difficult times, when temptation to leave…
Here comes the 800 meters sprinters taking their paces in the final race. Then the top 4 brake ranks and take the lead. Towards the finishing line, one runner takes the lead. All the years and months of hard-work were in preparation for these final moments. She perseveres, the cheers keep getting louder and louder.…
Maybe, just maybe soft skills are actually not so soft, they are hard to master. Soft skills are no longer soft, new term is "hard skills" because they are not the easiest to possess. Time management Emotional intelligenceStorytelling Communication Problem solving Teamwork Empathy Decisiveness ListeningFlexibility PatienceLeadership “Soft” skills are actually quite hard. Soft skills are…
If an email exchange exceeds 4 back-and-forth emails with limited progress on what you are trying to communicate – stop. Pick up the phone. If you are going back and forth on whatever chat tool you use for longer than a minute – stop. Pick up the phone. If your text message spree is not…
Seth Godin shared an interesting blog post today that got me thinking most of the day: In reference to clocks, he says the following: _______________________________________________ Clocks Either you’re using time. Or it’s using you. You can watch the clock, but if you do, it’s watching you. Clocks have an agenda. They aren’t a part of…
The best way to get attention then is to give it unconditionally first. To really understand the worldview your customers and colleagues. To anticipate what people need and want. To do things without considering what the payback might be down the line. To create experiences without calculating what the return on investment will be tomorrow.…
Why for instance should I be called “Professor Cowen,” but few people would address the person fixing their toilet as “Plumber Jones”? For a long time I have insisted that my graduate students call me “Tyler.” My goal has been to encourage them to think of themselves as peer researchers who might someday prove me…
The highest form of maturity is interdependence, not independence. Success in business [and in life] is a team sport. Weather you are an olympic swimmer, 800 meter distance runner or an author, the people around you, the environment you are in, influences your success. According to the Maturity Continuum by Stephen Covey in his book…
Do I follow my passion or do I look for opportunities that bring lots of money? I don't think this is a mutually exclusive thing. I don't think you are forced to choose only one option and pursue it at the expense of another option. I think you can do both. You can follow your…
I do not think we have a calling. I do think it is possible to have a caring. A calling implies that there is just one thing for you, just one thing you are supposed to do. What we most need in our lives, though, is something worth doing, worth it because we care. There…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLW4jb0H_GA This goalkeeper just won a match against his former team in Uruguay. Instead of celebrating, he invited a fan with Down's Syndrome on to the field to take a penalty kick. It cost you nothing to be kind. Ps: How good was that, well done to everyone for letting it happen.
The spirit of startups is best embodied in music by Jazz. Every next note [or day] is quite unpredictable. Not everyone gets it, so can make many uncomfortable. The room to improvise is unlimited. Miles Davis says: If you’re not making a mistake, it’s a mistake. To be make innovative products, you will make mistakes Find…
