An occasional series in which a review of recent posts on MyVenturePad reveals the following nuggets:

Don’t forget to have fun
You may think it’s hard to measure the return on investment of levity at work—whether a go-cart outing, online vacation photo contest, or a well-timed one liner—but we’ve found a bevy of successful leaders in companies such as Boeing, KPMG and Nike who attest that fun is an essential component of their people, business and innovation strategies.

It’s all about you
There is really only one rule – there are no rules. Bring your authentic self to the table. It makes things so much more interesting. If people don’t like it, they’ll ignore you.

Learning is everywhere
In a recent study of leadership, researchers interviewed some of the world’s top leaders. Interesting, all of the leaders in their study talked of their commitment to learning as one of the most important factors in their success. They learned from books, but even more importantly they learned from their challenges and personal crises, from differences with others, from mentors, and the world around them as a “crucible” for reinvention.

Startup advice
My two favorite quotes these days are Ward Cunningham’s “What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work?” and Einstein’s “Simplify as much as possible, but no further.” I believe these to be essential to startup success, especially in a highly connected world, where what might have previously been a feature can now be a company.
—Albert Wenger: Reduce, Reduce, Reduce

A call for prudence
Over the last decade, business leaders came to expect explosive growth as the norm. As a result, many companies continued to take on more risks because they had been conditioned to expect only success, ignoring the clear evidence of declining markets. With few exceptions, they paid a painful price. So I’m suggesting that we reevaluate our assumptions and beliefs about what constitutes sustainable growth, and start acting a bit more prudently.
—Holly Green: The Return of Prudence?

Loose lips…
Tax officials in Minnesota, California and Nebraska were cited in the story as having success locating tax deadbeats who shared a little too much online. MySpace seems to be, for now, the primary source of finding out about individuals who might owe taxes. However, I'm sure Facebook, Twitter and all the other similar sites are getting a good once over just in case.

Just make sense of it
One of the best things about social media is that you don’t need to “make it up” yourself. Yes, that’s right. There are thousands of very smart people sharing their ideas, expertise and knowledge – for free. Your challenge is to take this vast amount of knowledge and contextualize it.
—Gavin Heaton: The ROI of Social Media

Hire right
First, you can work with someone for months before you offer them a job. Your pool is smaller (freelancers, joint venture partners, interns) but the exposure to how they work is spectacularly different. You don't get the thrill of finding a pearl in the oyster, the "wow, I found the most incredible hire!" bragging rights. Instead, you get exactly what you expect. Organizing for this sort of hiring isn't particularly difficult, particularly in a down economy. Not surprisingly, I've had 100% success doing this.