Blog
Does it work? Was it designed in and for the real world? It's critical to take whatever idea you have and see if it stands up to the rigor and texture of people - customers, partners, critics, etc - in the real world. That's honest design. Credibility comes
Productivity
We remember the game as kids. The hot potato moved around the group and your job was to touch it and pass it. You were part of the game of movement. You lose if you hold on too long. When you are dealing with information, you are holding the hot
Blog
It can be hard to decipher whether people want to truly solve the problem you are thinking. But that first question can save a lot of trouble in projects, relationships and business if you can get what people want. Solving the problem you are thinking matters may not be the
Blog
Today, we have too much information and technology, not too little. And information and tools are cheap and accessible. You can create value for others by curating information and sharing it specifically and personally. Sure, people share on social media, but it gets drowned out and is hard to consider
Blog
We are always working on yesterday's commitments. And when we have committed, it's so easy to make those decisions sacred. Such reverence for our past commitments builds up continual clutter, drag and mediocrity in our work and lives. Without knowing it, we are managing many subpar
Blog
When we are buried in the details of our work, it's hard to look around and see connections to worlds outside ourselves. We can be talking to the same people within our crowd, read the same blogs, and look at the world through a myopic lens. Some of
Blog
You may have to build a business with 100 employees. Maybe a 1,000. That's the manpower tax to help get your product into the hands of your customer. Instagram had 13 employees serving 30 million users at a $500M valuation at one point. That's leverage.
Blog
Principles prevail in a world of chaos. Much of life is indeed chaos. I think the importance of collecting and testing your mental models - how you problem solve and approach the world - is critical to drive success. The 80/20 rule can help you focus on what has the best
Blog
There is an irony about free markets that the collective participates in. On the one hand, we have massive choice in many categories. On the other hand, over time, we have a winner-take-all outcome. Over time, people consolidate and choose the best. We don't have all
Blog
I went through a lot of old digital files recently in my Google Drive as part of a pruning day. I had everything from client projects from years ago to books I was working on to consulting and coaching tools for strategy. The vast majority of information was irrelevant to
Blog
The SaaS company WorkBoard announced it closed a Series B round for $23M to total out its fundraising to $36M to date. At this point with their revenues tripling year over year, they have market validation. With more complexity and faster growth, keeping the main thing the main thing is
Blog
The romantic idea of creating something innovative and new can get us sidetracked quickly in entrepreneurship. There are 28 million small businesses in the United States as of this writing. You are competing with all those businesses, minds and offerings. The likelihood of being original is difficult against such staggering