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failure

B2B Sales: If You’re Going to Lose, You Had Better Lose Early...

February 22, 2011 by Bob Apollo with 83 views

There are few things more dispiriting than investing months of effort in a long and complex sales campaign and then coming second to a competitor. Unless, of course, it’s losing to your prospect deciding to do nothing at all. Whilst losing late in a sales campaign can perhaps never be completely avoided, the risk can certainly be reduced... [read more]

11 Secrets of Tactful and Diplomatic Selling

December 3, 2010 by Jim Estill with 521 views

A friend of mine talked to me about internal family business politics. A different friend talked to me about frustration in working for a big company and not being able to "get her way" which was causing high frustration.I loved being in business with all my brothers and even hired my father. We worked together for years. On balance... [read more]

The Two Most Important Skills Of The New Leaders.

April 5, 2010 by Tac Anderson with 262 views

  Silos beget compliance. Silos are getting in our way and so is compliance. Things are changing but it’s changing slower than many of us would like. In the meantime we’re left with porous organizations with the semblance of vertical structures (and the illusion of control). Consciously or subconsciously we do... [read more]

How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur: “Don’t Take Risks?!”

March 9, 2010 by Margot Heiligman with 797 views

We hear it time and again; the qualities of a successful startup business leader or successful entrepreneur: “risk taker” – “not averse to risk” – “takes chances” – “will take a gamble in hopes of winning” – “not fearful of uncertainty”, etc. – so much so - that it is ingrained into our thinking.  Risk-taking is inherently... [read more]

Cup of Joe: Congratulations on Failing in 2009!

January 2, 2010 by Andy Beal with 120 views

I have to admit that I spend way to much time at this site. Some may think that I have some sick, twisted obsession with complete losers. But I like to think that it’s my way of appreciating humanity’s potential, by witnessing their lack of success. You see, whenever we fail, we are given a golden opportunity to then rebound and... [read more]

Can failure be our greatest strength?

November 14, 2009 by Zane Safrit with 136 views

I’m comfortable sharing my failures. I may not be perfect at sharing my failures, but when it’s my turn at bat here, I’m comfortable in the batter's box. Practice makes perfect. I have had a lot of practice failing. I have failed at everything I’ve ever tried in every area of life. Some grand and awesome failures. None of them stopped... [read more]

It's your employees' reality that matters.

November 3, 2009 by Zane Safrit with 110 views

Stephen Lynch, COO of Results.com offers 5 Warning Signs that Predict Failure. They are: Failure to Confront Reality Lack of Trust Power Politics Wrong People on the Bus Lack of an Effective System of Execution. The last one makes me laugh... darkly. It says to me that... even if you confronted reality, had built a... [read more]

Failure

September 9, 2009 by Fred Wilson with 132 views

Barack Obama said this in his "back to school speech":You can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next timeThat's so true. It took me a while to learn that lesson.When I first started out in the venture capital business, I was afraid to make a mistake.... [read more]

Employee Engagement: Make Success Your Own

July 30, 2009 by David Zinger with 283 views

Alain de Botton is an exceptional author. His recent book is The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Alain is a fine writer and speaker. In this talk he weaves a quick pace, wit, and humor to look at our outlook on success and failure. I encourage you to watch his TED Talk on A kinder, gentler philosophy of success. On this video he... [read more]

Managing Yourself

July 20, 2009 by Steve Roesler with 152 views

Unlike Wally Bock, I never met Peter Drucker.Yet he has made a huge difference in my life (as has Wally). I'm discovering that although a generation of managers were raised on Drucker's wisdom and insight and benefited as a result, many who are new to supervision are unfamiliar with the depth and applicability of his work. In the March-... [read more]

3 Perspectives for Handling Failure

July 17, 2009 by Zane Safrit with 120 views

Fear of failure, misunderstanding its inevitable role in our path to success, is too often a barrier to success for too many of us. Regularly, I share quotes on failure or case studies from leaders and role models who were once considered failures by their peers, co-workers, family or nation. Here are three perspectives for handling... [read more]

Failure shouldn’t be your goal (Texas Startup Blog)

June 11, 2009 by NorthCarolinaStar... with 113 views

Jason Fried’s recent talk at Big Omaha caught the attention of David Cohen (my partner in SpringStage).  In his talk, Jason railed against the recently popular meme among entrepreneurs, “Fail Early, Fail Often!” He suggests, ‘this industries obsession with failure has got to stop.’ Check out the video here: David suggests that... [read more]

The Best Entrepreneurs Know How To Fail Fast

April 28, 2009 by Brad Feld with 266 views

Last night at the TechStars Boulder Mentor dinner I got into a conversation about what makes a better CEO of a new startup – an experienced entrepreneur who’s last company was a failure or a big company executive with a stellar pedigree who has never worked in a startup. Give me the experienced entrepreneur who’s last company was a... [read more]

To Define Success, First Define Failure

March 18, 2009 by Tim Berry with 174 views

It took me a couple decades running my own business before I realized that everybody in their own business should step back, every so often, and define success. It isn't obvious. Some people want business growth, some want recognition, some want independence, some want to stay at home, and some want an office to go to. People are... [read more]

Learning from the Unthinkable

November 28, 2007 by Jeff Cornwall with 65 views

Entrepreneurs don't like to think about it. They almost never want to talk about it. And they never seem to plan for it.Failure.It is a word that is even hard for this entrepreneurship blogger to type. I bumped up against ithe topic of failure in a recent post I wrote about worst-case planning.When I see worst cases presented in most... [read more]

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