Month: January 2011

You might just as well say that “I like what I get” is the same thing as “I get what I like”!

– The March Hare,

While “knowing” the jargon of business, entrepreneurship, marketing etc, might be a requirement to have a seat at the table…It is clearly not a requirement for sitting at the head of the table.Talk about channels or synergy or pivot or curation when it’s not necessary only signals to the listener that you aren’t sure if you know what you are talking about.Of course jargon gets created as a form of shorthand. Sometimes this turns into a buzz word which spreads like wild fire.Blogger Laurie Reuttimann from theCynicalGirl.com. Has a nice post about her experience with colleagues who overcompensate with buzzwordshttp://thecynicalgirl.com/your-language-holds-you-back/

In December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi a 26 year old university educated vegetable seller set himself on fire in Tunisia in protest of government corruption and tyranny. This happened after having his produce confiscated for not having a proper permit. He was following an example set some 40 years ago by a buddhist monk in South Vietnam.

So two strategies for Regime change:
7 years of war, 777 Billion Dollar War, (http://costofwar.com/en/) thousands of dead soldiers, hundreds of thousand injured American servicemen and women, torture prison, hundreds of thousands dead civilians ( http://www.iraqbodycount.org/)

Or. Wikileak style transparency

http://www.businessinsider.com/tunisia-wikileaks-2011-1

Followed by self immolation,
Followed by social media organised protest, followed by clueless responses by the Regimes.

6 people attempted self immolation in Egypt this week, in case you think things were “pretty okay” in Egypt before the protests began.

Self Immolation in Egypt

There is no shortage of advice givers on leadership, and business success.
Most of the literature is full of platitudes and trite aphorisms.

 In that regard I’m proving 8 tips on how to run a company, and some tips on how to ruin a company.

It’s up to you to decide which list belongs to which category.

1.  Listen more talk less. (also known as Learn to Shut Up).  Learn to Compromise.
2.  Treat everyone with the same respect you give to your Grandmother
3.  Don’t get sick with “I didn’t build it syndrome”, but  If nobody else does it well, build it yourself.
4.  Get the money up front. (Sales, Investment, Salary all included)
5.  Don’t build anything that won’t lead to Sales
6.  Before you fire someone, make sure that you have tried to find the right job for them, everyone is good at something
7.  Get it in writing (especially contracts).  Hire a lawyer, and listen to them.  They know what they’re doing.
8.  Never ever Lie, but Don’t tell more truth than is necessary (“Yes you look fat in those jeans” doesn’t improve your situation.)
9.  There is no such thing as a single management style that works, each person has to be managed individualy according to their own personal incentive structure

 

 

1. Fight for your ideals, silence in the face of opposition is cowardly.  Always speak directly (even with customers)
2. Suffering fools only leads to suffering, and foolishness.
3. Find one core thing and only build that. Focus Focus Focus.
4. If you truly believe in a project, then you’ll believe in it enough to work for free, money doesn’t matter until its too late.
5. Create an awesome product and then worry about the business model, sales will follow success.
6. Sometimes you just need to fire someone to send a message
7. If you have to rely on a written contract, you’re already in trouble, if it’s going to work, a handshake is all you need.
8. Providing bad news in advance only demoralizes people, WAIT until you have to (You might turn around the situation before the news is needed).
9. Be consistent.  Find a style of management and stick with your decisions, even when they are wrong.