When we think of leadership, we often gravitate toward lessons learned from our bosses (past and present). Generally this practice makes a tremendous amount of sense — longstanding success and a pattern of winning matter. However, by narrowing our focus to only learn from the tenured few, we miss out on many other lessons to … Read more
beckysue
As the Mother’s Day brunches and barbeques come to a close, many of us spend a few minutes reflecting on the impact our moms have made. They sacrificed and worked around the clock in a thankless job to prepare us to lead productive adult lives. This hilarious video illustrates just how outrageous the demands of the world’s … Read more
A marble rolls down a ramp until it triggers a spring that lights a match, which, in turn, ignites a candle. The heat from the candle inflates a balloon, which expands until it pops. The burst of the balloon moves a lever that lifts a barrier holding back a live mouse. The now-freed mouse heads … Read more
Embarking on something new is the most exciting, energizing feeling in the world. We get fired up and can’t stop talking about it, at least for a while. Then, inevitably, we hit a plateau. Stagnation sets in and we lose our mojo. For the purposes here, I’m assuming mojo refers to desire, passion or motivation. … Read more
What’s the secret ingredient to creating a successful company, organization, or initiative? Some may say it is technical wizardry and engineering. In other words, it must be those “propeller heads” who write code and watch “Star Trek” who create the magic. Others may argue it takes rigorous business chops — spreadsheets, discounted cash flow analysis, … Read more
The Define Fruit-Infused Water Bottle is all the rage. According to the product’s website, it is a “Beautifully-designed, eco-friendly water bottle that allows you to take delicious, nutrient-rich, fruit-infused water to go. Allowing limitless combinations of fresh fruit, teas and herbs, the bottle provides a great alternative to plain water and removes the temptation of … Read more
In the late 1980s, millions of us tuned in to witness Angus MacGyver’s ability to always find a creative way to get out of a jam. Regularly finding himself in an impossible life-or-death situation, he managed to come out on top through grit and resourcefulness. Instead of panicking, he’d simply figure out a way to … Read more
In the early days of the Internet, less than 2% of companies had a corporate website. To put your brochure on the web at that time was cutting-edge and bold. Launching a website was a newsworthy event; an opportunity to shine over your competition. I know this intimately, because the company I founded back in … Read more
When Greg Koch and Steve Wagner founded Stone Brewing, they could have ended up like thousands of start-up failures. They could have launched a me-too product and tried to compete head to head with the industry leaders. Instead, they decided to stick it to the man. Their beer was unapologetically different. It was bold and … Read more
When the crooks at Enron, Tyco and Worldcom committed fraud and marred their shareholders with huge losses, the Securities and Exchange Commission rightfully swooped in to prevent future cons. The problem is that the corrective measure came in the form of legislation known as Sarbanes-Oxley, which became a stranglehold on business. It was a broad-based, … Read more