In a popular post about Why We Prefer Founding CEOs, venture funding expert Ben Horowitz at Andreessen Horowitz defend their preference for start up companies run by the founder: “The macro reason: that’s the way most of the great technology companies have been built. At Andreessen Horowitz, our primary goal is to invest in the […]
Leaders who have a clearly articulated purpose for their business and who are driven to make a difference can inspire people to overcome insurmountable odds, according to author Roy M. Spence, Jr. in It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For. “Life is short, so live it out doing something that you care […]
Since 2009, Google’s belied its CEO’s contention that Microsoft (with its Bing search engine) is its biggest competitor. If Google Wave, Google Buzz, and now Google+ are any indication, they are far more concerned with getting ahead of Facebook than anyone else. Wave was introduced at the Google I/O conference in May 2009, but it […]
In my last post I mentioned performance reviews and how important it is when setting individual goals to “look up” to departmental and corporate strategy. All employee tasks contribute to the overall business strategy but unless you’re making that clear to each member of the team, they may not realize it. Don’t miss an opportunity […]
It’s annual review time for one of my clients. This got me thinking about the top-down impact of corporate strategy. It impacts everything yet you’d be surprised how many managers are not thinking about their employees’ goals in light of the corporate strategy. They don’t connect the dots from employee and individual contributor goals to departmental […]
Have you noticed how fast things are changing? It’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to marketing strategies, social media updates, and staying up with what customers want. And now mobile devices require changes in the way your messages are delivered. I think many professionals welcome the shift in marketing strategies away from advertising […]
Given the results of procrastination – hurried work, mistakes, stress, missed deadlines and failed business strategies – it’s a wonder why anyone would put off what can be done right away. And yet who doesn’t let projects slide – especially the ones we don’t like doing? In the work I do as a business strategy […]
Social media, blogging and search engine optimization (SEO) have led to substantial shifts in the way companies market themselves. There is even a new term, “inbound marketing” to represent this new marketing paradigm. Predicated on the idea that by creating great, helpful and relevant content and engaging customers in online conversation, a company can draw […]
Companies like Starbucks, Nokia, P&G, and BMW are using social media to transform the way they innovate. Starbucks launched My Starbucks Idea, a website to crowdsource ideas for their products, customer experience, and social responsibility programs using Force.com, a cloud computing application offered by customer relationship management (CRM) and cloud computing juggernaut Salesforce.com. Starbucks has […]
Taking on social media for your business is an all or nothing proposition. By that, I don’t mean go out and set up company accounts and profiles for every social media network on the planet. Not only is that impractical, but it can damage your company’s brand rather than enhance it. As more and more […]
