Archive for May, 2010
Jump In
There are two ways to jump into a cold pool of water. The first is to walk into it slowly – toes first, then feet, then ankle, etc. This allows each of your body parts to slowly get used to the temperature, all while experiencing what you were most afraid of in the first place [...]
You’re Not Smart Enough Yet
I recently heard that Groupon Founder and CEO, Andrew Mason, works in a cubicle at Groupon’s headquarters. When asked why that was, he replied with, “I don’t feel like I deserve it. I don’t think I’m smart enough.” The question here isn’t whether or not he deserves his own office, because he obviously does. Instead, [...]
National Small Business Week
This week is National Small Business Week. The event is celebrated in Washington DC and spearheaded by the President himself. For more information on the event, click here. As a small business owner myself, I can’t wait to see what comes out of this conference and the entire week. Unfortunately, there is still not a [...]
Working Hard At Life
Most of us work hard at work in order to be able to go home and relax. I’m afraid that the term “relax” has become the focused argument against stress, when in fact, it’s quite the opposite. No matter what, success does not cause stress. And hard work creates success. This means that during those [...]
Pushing vs. Pulling
What type of leader are you? In order to reach and impact your followers, do you force them to complete tasks with harsh intensity? In other words, do you induce fear in order to create action? If so, you are a leader that pushes. You lay out the production items, a set of rules and [...]
Like a Game of Telephone…
No matter how loyal employees might be, they will never see the vision of the company the same way the founder(s) or creator(s) do(es). It’s because of this that small business owners need to make sure they are hiring the right people that try extremely hard to find something as close to that vision as [...]
Back Up
Sometimes when you are working on something with so much passion and focus, you tend to attain a skewed perspective on the process. This is dangerous because once you get so wrapped up into a certain way of thinking, it’s hard to get away from it. This could lead to you creating something that only [...]
Iconoclasm
Webster’s defines the word Iconoclasm as follows: 1. the practice of destroying images, especially those created for religious veneration.2. the practice of opposing cherished beliefs or traditional institutions as being founded on error or superstition.3. the doctrines underlying these practices. — iconoclast, n. — iconoclastic, adj. It’s odd that the proper definition does not reflect how the word is [...]
Juxtaposition
Good vs. Evil. Light vs. Dark. Horizontal vs. Vertical. How do you compare and contrast elements? Principles with similar weight but opposite meanings are very interesting anomalies. The juxtaposition between the two components itself makes the two similar, yet they are so obviously different in meaning. Is this how you analyze your competition in business? [...]
Where Do You Think?
Good ideas and inspiration don’t just come out of the blue. If they do, you have a brain that is one-of-a-kind. Normal people have to think their way through tough decisions, sticky situations and are even able to take a topic and turn it into a great idea with a few simple thoughts that usually [...]
