Marissa Mayer is a 37 year old executive of a technology firm that alone should create energy and excitement around leadership potential. She is joining Yahoo from Google and to be frank some rigidity is needed at Yahoo. So as we wait with bated breath to dissect her every move as CEO, here are things that I would like to see her bring to the troubled company. Well rounded … [Read more...]
What we need in incubators
Around the country politicians, industry leaders and small businesses have screamed their support for small business development centers and universities to get involved in creating business incubators that help build and sustain small business. The goal is admirable, small businesses stimulate economies and create more jobs. But there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction … [Read more...]
Is it time to stop running your business?
There are things in life that are inevitable, love, death, taxes and the failure of a business. Knowing that doesn’t make the pain any easier to deal with so if you are facing the decision of when to quit and when to hang on, I have four pearls of wisdom (ahem, at least in my mind) for you to consider. Did you give it your best shot? Hindsight is 20/20 and when making the … [Read more...]
The Myth of Talented Applicants
Yesterday I had the wonderful experience of attending a STEM collaboration workshop and the one question that kept running through my mind was, is it really a lack of talented applicants or are small businesses just inept at using technology to help us recruit the right people? Here are the three things that stuck. Talent is a Myth Talent is subjective at best and if … [Read more...]
JC Penney: The Aftermath
When JC Penney introduced their new pricing plan, I had reservations about the long-term success. Apparently I was right on target with everyone else, so as the retail giant gears up to revise the strategy here is what fellow entrepreneurs can learn. A confusing strategy is a bad strategy Anything that requires multiple explanations should be … [Read more...]
The Church of Business
Starting a business is optimism incarnate and we have all had that moment when the question” what are you working on now?” seems to be an indictment of our failure as an entrepreneur. I’ve noticed that there are some silver linings when warm leads dry up and you have to roll your sleeves up to stay in business. You learn what you are made of Failure isn’t for everybody … [Read more...]
Do Bosses Really Listen?
Today has been a common theme of acknowledging that ‘I guess I should have listened better’. I missed the event details for my daughter’s science competition, missed some bathroom renovation details, and didn’t notice that my client hadn’t signed the check until at the bank even though it was mentioned earlier. As I came to this conclusion I wondered if as bosses we do the … [Read more...]
When the Student is Ready, a Teacher Appears
As I listen to the stories of the business world and how many mistakes CEO’s make, I think about how no one talks about the lessons that they learned on the way to that success. There is a tendency to hold out successful business owners as gurus, when the reality is that they were blessed with good teachers and the ability to learn from previous failures. For some of us no one … [Read more...]
Super Women Leaders: GUTSY or NUTTY?
She got on the elevator in her full length mink coat. She had a Gucci scarf around her neck. Almost six feet tall and model skinny she looked ready to pose for Vogue. She smiled at the other tenants of this posh New York condo, all ready to brave the streets of Manhattan. They returned her smile. No one said anything yet wondering why she was wearing a fur coat in the heat … [Read more...]
What You Dont Know Can Hurt You
Many times when working with organizations on strategies to increase gender diversity in the leadership ranks the leaders will say " lets just get all the women together and ask them what they want". While this is noble and certainly talking with the women in the organization to understand how they experience the culture is critical it is not "the answer" . One of the most … [Read more...]