Day 280 – Building a Working Group
There is a harsh reality that you just cannot do great things all by yourself. You may be able to come up with a concept and perhaps do a bit of a test pilot, but the second you start to try to have an impact, then your individual efforts will not be enough. You will […]
Day 233 – Being a Top Performer Means Being Different
I was talking to the founder of a new company today, and she asked what she “should be doing.” The inquiry was well intended; she wanted to do the right things, the best things, to ensure the success of her new company. I realized that I had asked this same question many times in my […]
Day 222 – Consider the Long Tail
I collect what I refer to as “idea books.” These are books where the author expands on a concept that provides a unique perspective on an issue or problem that many people are trying to solve. I do this because these books usually receive a warm reception, often hitting best-seller lists before eventually fading into […]
Day 217 — Innovation Myopia or Sitting on Gold
In my experience, many people and companies are unwittingly sitting on mounds of gold. Instead of recognizing this wealth, their gaze is fixed on a distant vista—an elusive ideal they believe will yield riches. Yet, often, they are already atop the treasure they seek. This frequent oversight involves various elements-new business models, market strategies, or […]
Day 207 – No New Thing Under the Sun
King Solomon, or at least one of his hired courtesans, recorded the following in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” This may have been a commentary on […]
Day 206 – Out of Thin Air
The Myth of Spontaneous Ideas There is an idiom in the English vernacular that might be used in this context: that person came up with that solution “out of thin air.” This expression is used to describe the concept of a person coming up with an idea or an answer to a problem with no […]
Day 193 – Law of Conditional Progression
Anyone who has ever played a video game understands conditional progression. This is the concept that you cannot advance in a game until certain conditions are met. Once the conditions have been achieved, you are allowed to progress. When you learn how to develop software, one of the most basic algorithms you learn is conditional […]
Day 192 – Long Delays are Never Clever
“though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been associated with long delays.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War I have made my fair share of hasty, ill-advised decisions—some of them incredibly embarrassing. I think back on those moments and cringe at the stupid, brash, cavalier attitude that caused me […]