Leadership posts, articles, and infographics

Tolerance and Prosperity

May 6, 2012 by Fred Wilson
with 22 views

Yesterday, my partners and I invited Paul Romer over to USV for lunch. For those that don't know, Paul is a leading thinker in the world of economics and currently a Professor at NYU. It was a fascinating conversation. My favorite part of it was Paul's "lecture" on William Penn, early Pennsylvania, and the reaction to the growth of... [read more]

Small Businesses Still Not Hiring

May 5, 2012 by Jeff Cornwall
with 18 views

It is getting to be a broken record — we need small businesses to lead us into a real recovery that is based on job growth, but small businesses are just not ready to increase their workforces.Two job indexes released this week show mixed results.SurePayroll Scorecard data shows that month-over-month, hiring is down -0.1% and average... [read more]

Transparency in Succession Planning: To Tell or Not To Tell?

May 2, 2012 by Dan McCarthy
with 56 views

I recently attended a talent management networking meeting hosting by PDI Ninth House. The two presenters had a packed agenda with over 50 slides to get through. While it was all good and interesting, the part that sparked the most questions and discussions was the section on "transparency". [read more]

Are You a Coach or a Manager?

May 2, 2012 by Holly Green
with 57 views

Have you ever wondered why the head of a baseball team is called the manager and the head of a basketball team is called the coach? The answer may not be what you think. [read more]

We Don’t Need No Stinkin' Process

April 28, 2012 by John Jantsch
with 41 views

I’ve spent the last decade or so preaching the gospel of systems thinking for marketing.I chose the word system as the cornerstone of the Duct Tape Marketing point of view because after working with small business owners for many years I found that they had no problem thinking about systems when it came to things like getting the... [read more]

Did You See That?

April 25, 2012 by Holly Green
with 99 views

We think we see a lot more of the world around us than we actually do. That’s just one of six illusions that profoundly influence our ability to lead organizations. [read more]

Your Piece of the Pie: Does Being The First Full-Time Paid Employee Affect That Founder’s Equity In The Company?

April 21, 2012 by Brad Feld
with 63 views

You do an excellent job of looking at both sides of the question. While the founder who is working full time for the company is getting paid and the other founders are not, the other founders presumably are still getting paid from the day jobs. [read more]

Gorilla vs. Guerilla: How Smaller Businesses Can Win

April 15, 2012 by Tushar Mathur
with 86 views

If you are in a business where some of the competitors are much larger, you may be able to benefit from using guerilla tactics. As a guerrilla, we hide from our competitor; we do not try to crush them. I even go so far as to examine what they do well and let them do it. At the same time, I look for under-serviced markets and get to these markets fast. [read more]

Hey Forbes – I Award You No Points And May God Have Mercy On Your Soul

April 13, 2012 by Paul Hebert
with 62 views

Do those of you in HR think this is ALL you need to do? Those of you who are managers out, do you really believe you can increase the effectiveness of your team by ONLY saying “Thank You?” [read more]

How Leaders Can Build a Change-Friendly Culture

April 13, 2012 by Dan McCarthy
with 30 views

Organizations today are caught in a leadership perfect storm. The forces of internet transparency, rapid technology and young generations demanding empowerment are challenging organizations of all sizes across every industry to sail differently. [read more]

Setting Your Business Free Through the Practice of Systematic Delegation

April 8, 2012 by John Jantsch
with 21 views

After owning a business for over twenty years now, here’s something I firmly believe. Your business is worthless until it can operate without you.Now that may seem a bit harsh to some, but until you’ve created a system that allows others to bring in the business and provide the products and services without the need for you to make it... [read more]

Hire or Outsource Your Marketing?

April 1, 2012 by Bill Brelsford
with 71 views

Sean Crafts at Mavenlink posted an interesting, infographic-style decision chart on his blog that he titled “Should You Hire or Contract Your Marketing Department?” While many of the questions in the decision tree may not apply to small business marketing decisions (small business owners rarely start with budget) it... [read more]

How to Make Your Customers the Hero of Your Story

March 29, 2012 by John Jantsch
with 91 views

I use the idea of hero a fair amount when I talk about what we do. I don’t use it in an egotistic way, more aspirational really than anything. I think aspiring to be a hero to someone is a good thing. [read more]

Speechless

March 26, 2012 by Seth Godin
with 28 views

Compounded unhappiness become deep frustration. [read more]

Outside the Box and Ahead of the Curve

March 21, 2012 by Rick Schwartz
with 22 views

One of my favorite sketches from SNL’s Wayne’s World was when the guest star (memory eludes me) was a cool kid who was on Wayne’s show to announce what the new, cool word would be for the upcoming school year. That not only struck me as funny, it brought back memories of my own school days when it was very important to use... [read more]

Why All Leaders Are Social Workers

March 13, 2012 by David Zinger
with 27 views

Are you a social worker? I don’t mean someone who went to university and took a Master’s of Social Work with courses in welfare policy, community practice, or family dynamics. I mean someone who acknowledges, practices, and works socially. [read more]

8 Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

March 13, 2012 by Small Biz Bee
with 129 views

When you think about the people in the world who are highly successful, making money beyond their wildest dreams, and hear their success stories, do you wonder what it was that brought them success? Were they just lucky, or superbly talented, or did they just have a product that was seriously needed in the marketplace? [read more]

Are You the Agent of Your Own Change?

March 11, 2012 by Gavin Heaton
with 24 views

Have you ever made a deep change in your life? Did you look at the status quo and decide you didn’t like the shape, smell or grind that defined your life? If so – did you have the courage to change? Did you make that u-turn? At the recent fastBREAK event – Vibewire’s co-production with the Powerhouse Museum, five speakers explored this... [read more]

What B2B Marketers Can Learn from Lady Gaga

March 10, 2012 by Andrew Hunt
with 239 views

Now I know the title may sound cheesy, but there are actually some important lessons that many B2B marketers can learn from Lady Gaga. [read more]

Leadership and Introverts

March 5, 2012 by Kneale Mann
with 86 views

It’s often said that you need to be strong to be a leader and in order for others to see that strength, you need to show it outwardly. Since almost half of the human population is reserved or shy, we may miss the person who solves problems and creates solutions in solitude rather than on a large well lit stage. [read more]