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The halfway point: Break out of your rut
We are just about half way through the year, a good time to reflect on your progress to goals set in January. Early in the year, I spoke with a number of business owners who were looking to change what they did on a daily basis to break out of the sales rut they got in […]
The Leadership Lattice: Brad Feld
The Leadership Lattice, an interview series designed to cultivate conversation about building strong leadership in the public and private sector, presents: Brad Feld, Co-Founder at Foundry Group, a Boulder based venture capital firm. You can view the video of this interview by going to YouTube and searching “Leadership Lattice” When you are looking at a […]
Failure to launch
Superior execution is one of the strengths of the Colorado success stories we have been profiling over the past few months. But these companies are the exceptions; nearly 65 percent of all strategies fail to reach expectations. Why do so many business strategies fail? Barriers to successful planning and execution develop in all companies over time. In […]
Erratic gizmos in the C-suite
My brother and I have a long history of buying “gizmos” for each other for birthdays and Christmas. As an example, last Christmas I bought him a remote control flying helicopter with plastic missiles so he could torment his wife and the cat while sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine. He bought […]
The Leadership Lattice: Bruce Dines
The Leadership Lattice, an interview series designed to cultivate conversation about building strong leadership in the public and private sector, presents: Bruce Dines, Vice President and Managing Director of Technology Investments for Liberty Global Ventures. What is your approach to leadership? Many leaders get confused between their sphere of influence and span of control. The great […]
Working on—rather than in—your business
I spent the other day in Kansas City at the Kauffman Foundation with about 20 women entrepreneurs who were the E&Y Winning Women from 2008, 2009 and 2010. As part of their program, Paul Kedrosky and I spent the morning talking to them about accelerating their growth, dynamics around financings and boards – mostly about […]
Lessons from Buffett and Munger
I was fortunate enough to attend Berkshire Hathaway’s Annual Meeting last month, otherwise known as “Woodstock for Capitalists.” Berkshire’s Chairman Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger answered questions from shareholders and representatives from the press for nearly six hours, addressing topics ranging from the recent Sokol insider-trading scandal to Mr. Buffett’s outlook on commodities [&hell[...]
Is your lemonade stand on a closed road?
It’s spring and the lemonade stands – staffed by budding young entrepreneurs – are starting to pop up. This is a great learning experience for a young lass or lad, but might it also teach us something? On the way home from a recent bike ride, I took a road that I enjoy and ride […]
Seven traits of Colorado success stories
Since the beginning of this year, I have met with the CEOs or owners of over 120 private companies. These companies range from new technologies, products and services in such diverse fields as education, web conferencing, burgers, trucking, logistics, steel distribution, medical devices, focus groups, outsourced services, and social media. Some of these companies are […]
Six tips for increasing worker wellness
More and more companies are offering wellness plans, but what separates the best ones from the rest? As a firm that serves companies of all sizes, we have seen a variety of wellness programs in action. Successful programs share a number of characteristics, but one consideration stands out: employee engagement. To paraphrase the lottery, your […]
Leaders: Trust your gut
The percentages vary, but leaders of all varieties are trusting their gut more than ever before. Eons before Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking, hit the best seller list, leaders have practiced gut check as a leadership skill. As early as 1937, Napoleon Hill talked about the power of the “master […]
Mastering magical persuasion
In business, you are negotiating all the time, with suppliers, employees, bosses and with your clients. You’re also probably always negotiating with someone in your family at home to get them to do what you want. Learning how to easily get to agreement is useful in any situation and can make life lots easier. The […]
