Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship / Leadership / Tips

Four reasons to see your colleagues as people first and places on organization charts second

Do you see your colleagues more as people or do you work and relate with them more based on their place on the organization chart? Over and over clients come to me with similar perspectives and challenges. Often they see their managers as people to please, whom they want to learn about but never do because they don't feel it their place to get to know him or her... as people they have to earn their place to work with. They see people who report to them as having to perform for them or to earn their places with them. If they want to do something at work outside of what they've been told -- that is, to take initiative, to act entrepreneurially, or to…

January 24, 2014

Awareness / Entrepreneurship / Freedom / Leadership

A leadership position doesn’t make someone a leader

Many of my clients tell me they want leadership positions. Come to think of it, many of them are already in what most people would call leadership positions. They manage people, direct them, decide on bonuses, hiring, and firing, and so on. But they aren't satisfied with their current positions. They don't know why. They just think they'll like things more when they are higher on the organizational chart or running a company they started. They misunderstand leadership, confusing a position or title with having control over their lives. The more your role consists of obligations over which you have no control, the less you are a leader and the more you're a follower, no matter how high your salary or vaunted your title. You…

January 13, 2014

Awareness / Entrepreneurship

Op/Ed Fridays: “Do Women-Only Initiatives Really Help Women?”

The article "Do Women-Only Initiatives Really Help Women?" began Recently I've noticed an uptick in "women-focused" pitches in my inbox. It seems in the last year there has been a lot of momentum in the "women-focused" space. Women accelerators, women incubators, women crowdfunding sites, women angel funds. We've covered some of those initiatives here and here at Nibletz, but I have to admit I've been a little ambivalent about doing so. Take this line from a recent pitch: Women need all the help they can get. Wait. What? I need all the help I can get just because I'm a woman? That's news to me. I've been told all my life that I can do anything I want to do, that nothing can hold me…

January 10, 2014

Education / Entrepreneurship / Events / Leadership / Tips

“How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again” — My January 18 Leadership Seminar in NYC

Want to motivate people more effectively? Come to my January 18 seminar, "How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again," with the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York, which will be held at NYU-Stern, conveniently located in Greenwich Village. Past attendees of this seminar rated it very highly. Below is the text from the CBSACNY announcement: Effective leaders motivate people from the inside — so people they lead contribute fully and thank the leader for giving them the opportunity to work with them. You can learn this skill too. Isn't someone thanking you for motivating them to work hard on your project the holy grail of motivation? People remember effective leaders their whole lives. If you had leaders and…

January 4, 2014

Awareness / Blog / Entrepreneurship / Leadership / Tips

Coaching works.

I've been coaching clients one-on-one for a few years, as readers have noted from my references to clients. I've coached nearly a hundred clients by now, most of whom found me through word of mouth. I added a new coaching page to this site to help people find coaching with me. Why? My clients succeed. That's why I love coaching. You can achieve more too. Because coaching works. I have a coach who helps me Identify my priorities Tell me how I look from an outside perspective (the one person you can't see from another person's perspective is yourself, the one you wish you could see that way most) Hold me accountable to finishing important tasks. I recommend you get one too. If you like…

November 10, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

Want to be less judgmental? Then realize “thinking positively” is as judgmental as “thinking negatively.”

There's no getting around that deciding if something is positive or negative means judging it. If you want to avoid judging, thinking positively undermines your goals. If you can't think of an alternative, you'll conclude thinking positively is your best option because it's your only option. But that conclusion just indicates sloppy or incomplete thinking. Sloppy thinking like that reminds me of some criticism someone gave me when I was learning to present my company for funding. When asked why someone should pick our technology over a competitor's, I said "Because it's better." The guy helping me stopped me and said Never tell me your technology is better. Tell me it's faster, cheaper, stronger, more durable, or whatever. But don't call it better. Everyone says…

November 7, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

A challenge in starting a technology company in New York City

Fred Wilson, a prominent New York City based venture capitalist, wrote about the size of the New York City technology sector in terms of number of jobs. I couldn't help but think about a major issue about New York's technology sector compared to other markets -- the competition for talent with money coming from banking, finance, media, etc. While some people love working in start-ups and would never do otherwise, the lure of high pay from other sectors pulls great talent away from young start-ups. I've heard this series of statements too many times: First: "I love your project. I've been looking for something I can commit sweat equity to that I care about. I want to be a part of it from the ground…

November 6, 2013

Blog / Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

A risk that paid off and learning from it

Here's an anecdote from a woman named Elle Luna: I was using Uber all the time in San Francisco, even though I hated the design. And then I went to the Crunchies awards ceremony and at a post-ceremony event, where I was in a ball gown, I saw the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, sitting at the bar. I was three whiskeys deep at this point and I walked up to him and said, "I use Uber all the time and I absolutely hate the app. I think you should bring me in to fix it." He replied, "Oh, yeah? What are the three things you'd fix about it?" I said, "I'd redo the logo, redo the entire app, and change the rating system." I…

October 31, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

How you know when a deal is done

I have an easy way to tell when I've completed a deal with someone: A deal is done when the contract is signed. Or as I think of it: An unsigned contract is not a signed contract. I've found it valuable to distinguish between them. I've learned not to spend money due on an unsigned contract. Many people consider a deal done with people have agreed on terms. People often say things like, "We have approval, all we have to do is sign it," as if that means you can start acting on the deal. Sometimes they'll more clearly state the contract isn't signed by saying something like, "We have approval. It's as good as signed. All we have to do is send it to…

October 24, 2013

Awareness / Blog / Entrepreneurship / Freedom

Goenka and 10-day meditation retreats

Two days ago a guy named Satya Narayan Goenka died. Who was Goenka and why should I care? First, I'll mention how I found out about him. I had no experience with meditation when a longtime friend I hadn't seen in a while suggested I try it. The idea made no sense to me because meditation made no sense to me. I didn't know or care about it to that point in my life -- somewhere around 2006. But my friend knew me a long time and I valued her perspective. I decided to try a ten-day meditation retreat, I guess like jumping in the deep end -- these retreats allow no talking, reading, writing, etc for the first nine days. You can leave if…

October 1, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

“Getting the hang of” working in big companies taught me to keep starting companies

I know some people like working in big companies. They like the feeling of stability, the benefits, the uniformity, I guess. Regular readers know I prefer small companies, especially having co-founded one. Why? Because of big company culture. One incident cemented this perspective for me. I'll tell you the story that made me not like big companies. You may feel I extrapolated too far. Maybe. What turned me off from big companies Co-founding my company was my first experience in business. Before that I was a graduate student. I ran the company as CEO as best I could. Eventually it was no longer a start-up and needed different skills than I had and someone else became CEO. I went to work at a friend's company.…

September 24, 2013

Blog / Education / Entrepreneurship / Events / Leadership

Reminder: See my leadership seminar this weekend!

Brought to you by the Distinguished Leaders committee of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York (copying the following announcement from that site): Leadership Through Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence In a weekend, learn how to develop your personal leadership skills, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence through the latest advances in cognitive behavioral science, evolutionary psychology, and positive psychology. While business schools and corporations are increasingly focusing on personal leadership, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence as foundations for leading others, many MBAs never had the opportunity to take a formal course in personal leadership. Joshua Spodek, MBA, PhD, has developed a two-day weekend workshop in just this area. His experiential course combines advances in cognitive behavioral science, evolutionary psychology, and positive psychology with successful business leadership…

September 17, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship / Freedom / Leadership

People who succeeded despite adversity, part 2

[This post is part of a series on people who succeed despite adversity. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Ask yourself which helps more — having advantages or learning to overcome adversity? I base this series on noticing how many extremely successful people had problems that mediocre people claim hold them back. Sure, many successful people emerged from privileged backgrounds and sure, some social problems keep many people from any chance at success, but if you're reading this blog you probably have reasonable access to success. I decided to create a list of people who succeeded and some problems they overcame. I plan to…

September 11, 2013

Blog / Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Leadership problems today and a call to action

[I alluded to this topic before. I still have to write it up formally and edit it more than a daily post allows. I hope it gets the main ideas across. Please contact me if it interests you.] You only have to read the news to see the problems Do I have to convince anyone that we have many people in leadership positions who lead ineffectively? You only have to read the headlines. As I'm writing these words the New York Times' top headline is about a spy scandal in which the top person at the NSA lied to Congress, which is abdicating its Constitutional checks on the President, who is doing the opposite of what he promised the country during his campaign on this…

August 30, 2013

Art / Blog / Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Another awesome success — Museum Hack and Nick Gray

An awesome side benefit of writing daily is that awesome people find you. Recently a guy wrote to tell me he liked my writing and invited me to participate in what seemed like a crazy project, but turned out to be one of the most awesome things I've done in New York City in a long time. And I've done a lot of awesome things in New York City. It's an amazing entrepreneurial story too -- the kind we love, which is why I, who endorse entrepreneurship and believe opportunities are everywhere, am sharing it with you. He started doing something that he enjoyed, for fun and personal challenge, and shared what he loved and got good at (another example of how "Sharing what you…

August 27, 2013

Blog / Education / Entrepreneurship / Events / Leadership

See me on Leadership through Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness

Brought to you by the Distinguished Leaders committee of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York (copying the following announcement from that site): Leadership Through Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence In a weekend, learn how to develop your personal leadership skills, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence through the latest advances in cognitive behavioral science, evolutionary psychology, and positive psychology. While business schools and corporations are increasingly focusing on personal leadership, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence as foundations for leading others, many MBAs never had the opportunity to take a formal course in personal leadership. Joshua Spodek, MBA, PhD, has developed a two-day weekend workshop in just this area. His experiential course combines advances in cognitive behavioral science, evolutionary psychology, and positive psychology with successful business leadership…

August 16, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship / Nature

Today’s Harvard student versus 176 years ago

Let's look at two former Harvard students from now and nearly two centuries ago. 176 years ago Henry Thoreau finished Harvard in 1837, one of its best-known students of his age. Let's look at him before looking at this generation's most prominent Harvard student. Thoreau wrote Walden, his treatise on living simply, escaping petty human affairs and gossip, appreciating nature, self-reliance, and such. He lived for two years mostly on his own, growing his food, building his shelter, figuring out how to spend his time, and so on. The book opens When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore…

July 30, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

A discussion I started last week

Last week's post The risks of someone calling you smart and how to avoid them, got reposted on another site and generated some discussion. The site, Hacker News, is a community with many entrepreneurs, geeks, and science and technology types. Here's a link to the discussion. Check it out. I like that community and its discussions.

July 29, 2013

“That’s not art. I could do it.” — A new interpretation that activates art and yourself

Art / Blog / Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Tips

“That’s not art. I could do it.” — A new interpretation that activates art and yourself

We've all heard someone say "That's not art. I could do it." Maybe you said it yourself. The comment can lead to interesting discussion on what makes art, but rarely. It can lead you to realizing that the value of art doesn't depend on how hard it was to create. The usual response is "Well, you didn't. And they did it first." I suggest a new response. If the person who says it, perhaps yourself, sees beauty or truth in the work of art, suggest that they re-create it. Seriously suggest they do what they say they can do. They could have a museum-quality work of art on their wall if they do, for only the cost of materials. When you look at art with…

July 27, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

The risks of someone calling you smart and how to avoid them

When I was a budding entrepreneur, recently having earned my PhD in astrophysics, people would often introduce me as a rocket scientist. At first I enjoyed the praise. In time I found being called intelligent didn't help me in business. By "in business" I mean in business roles with leadership and decision-making. People talk about intelligence as valuable in business and some behave so, but I came to conclude successful businesspeople, especially investors, didn't value intelligence as someone's primary value. On the contrary, I came to find many venture capitalists and other investors viewed people with intelligence as their primary value as people whose inexperience they could exploit to make money off of. I think businesspeople in mainstream music look at talented musicians the same…

July 24, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

What kind of leadership is this: Obama fighting for less accountability and more centralized power

Leadership and politics overlap. I generally try not to take political positions on this blog to make it accessible to more people, but the push to increase surveillance and erode protections like habeas corpus seem enough like ineffective leadership that I feel compelled to cover them. In response to this article stating that Congress granted the president the authority to arrest and hold individuals accused of terrorism without due process under the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act of 2012], but Mr. Obama said in an accompanying signing statement that he will not abuse these privileges to keep American citizens imprisoned indefinitely Note it says merely "accused." Note it also says "indefinitely." I wrote the following on Hacker News (an entrepreneurial / geeky community site), which…

July 19, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

Napoleon, Pasteur, and luck

I read that when considering officers for promotion, Napoleon would ask if the man was lucky. Napoleon responded "Give me lucky generals," aware that "luck" comes to leaders who recognize opportunity and seize it. Consider all the words he could have used instead of luck. Louis Pasteur, pioneer of the Germ Theory of Disease, said "In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind." How do you reconcile two of history's most successful and famous people valuing luck and chance so highly? Needless to say they are just two examples of many more. What are luck and chance from their perspective? I think it's clear they aren't talking about gambling. They're talking about skills you can develop that look like luck and chance…

July 14, 2013

Blog / Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership / Tips

“Needs as understood”: How to start sales presentations — and conversations where you want to influence someone

I've written before about a student group from Columbia Business School I still contribute to long after graduation called InSITE that promotes entrepreneurship and connects students at several schools including Columbia, NYU, Harvard, and Stanford to entrepreneurs. A recent post on InSITE's blog by Lukasz Strozek, Stanford Business School 2014, described a challenge common in product development and entrepreneurship. It reminded me of a great solution I'll write below applicable to many situations where you want to influence people. The challenge Read that post for the details, but broadly it points out We care about products we create We want to get feedback from customers and potential customers Pitching the product gets closed answers, not broad understanding of a customer's needs or interests So the…

June 25, 2013

Blog / Entrepreneurship

Why dislike patents?

Here's something I wrote in response to someone who wrote about patents, confused why so many people, especially people who work in technology, are coming to dislike patents. I find people who don't work with patents have models about them that don't fit with how businesses use them today, their effects, and how and why we created them in the first place. The first quote is a question I read that I decided to answer. The rest is my response. In case anyone forgets, I've written several patents and co-founded and work at a company that fundamentally depends on those patents. I don't claim patents are bad. I'm only answering the person's question. What is with all the hate for patents? Should a company not…

June 21, 2013

Awareness / Entrepreneurship / Exercises / Models / Tips

Four models on entrepreneurship that counter discouraging myths

[This post is part of a series on "Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours." If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you think about starting a company? Or something else entrepreneurial, like starting and leading a project where you work, a community-based project, or the like? Do you also hold yourself back? Do you fear it might not go well? Or worry you're not doing it right? Or feel like you should prepare more for it? Today I'll cover four discouraging myths about entrepreneurship and four encouraging beliefs that counter them. Having started a business out of school, presenting on entrepreneurship…

June 4, 2013

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