Walter

Human nature is to compete. Especially among motivated and high-performing people competition is always “on”. Its tempting to value collaboration over competition, but I think that misses the point. One is a consequence and the other is a cause of being successful. Human’s compete. Compete for resources, dates, money,

It turns out WE are the audience.  We buy the toothpaste.  We take the vacations.  We check out the new ‘whatever’ it is we want to buy.  We are the people that get marketed to.  And we are the people that the entire advertising industry

A few days ago I drove over to the CU campus and participated in the Obama administration’s Startup America roadshow. To be honest, I didn’t come with very high expectations, but I did keep an open mind. What I saw and heard confirmed (2) things. I’m a

At breakfast the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. Lots of people take on challenges.  Losing weight, running a marathon, climbing a rock, starting and building a profitable business.  It all seems to get easier once you get past the point of no return and you’

Great things happen when you’re on a roll. Coming up with a smart idea usually kicks off more smart ideas; more smart ideas lead to innovations. Being confident in what you know and what your doing has a positive reinforcement in making you feel more confident, more creative, more

I like mountain biking analogies.  Like business there are different styles, types, and terrain.  Some people ride singlespeeds, some free-ride, and some ride on bike paths (dirt or no dirt). I was forwarded recently an excellent article written by Ben Horowitz.  Ben and I've never

I downloaded Color for my iPhone this morning.  At first I didn’t “get it”.  Snap photos, first of myself, then of random things and people. If you’re the only one on Color it worse than sucks – it doesn’t actually make any sense. After walking around

What a great metaphor.  I’ve been recently inspired by a couple of articles on similar subjects.  The first is the ever-entertaining Ben Horowitz in a recent column he wrote for Fortune.  The second a syndicated article in Techcrunch by Mark Suster. They got me to thinking

 A few years ago Black & Decker was trying to market their drills. They hired an advertising agency to help them with their positioning. The agency team began working to understand what Black & Decker's target market was (home users) and what made the drill unique (lightweight,

I have an issue with authority. Not that I’ve been arrested or committed any crimes … my issue is more in the sense of my career and how I approach things. I’ve always been one to challenge the status quo, call the spade a spade, push for

I love Dropbox. Part of the reason I love it so much is that it solves real "business" problems that most I.T. departments either don't agree with, or don't have tactile experience with. It's also not lost on me that there

It's in most people’s nature to try and place anyone or anything in a bucket.  A bucket lets them easily sort things.  The issue mostly has to do with filtering through the noise.  It also helps by not having to think too much or too hard.

I absolutely hate to lose.  Hate it.  Its one of those things that I know can be a fault of mine.  That doesn’t stop me from letting it drive me nuts especially when I know I could’ve done more or been better.  I don’

In school I was an "OK" student with "OK" grades. It turns out that I was more interested in other stuff than I was in the stuff I was hearing in the classroom. That changed when I got to grad school. The difference was that I wanted to learn the

Honestly, I don’t know for sure.  I’m pretty sure.  Sure enough so that I believe it goes off, but I can’t prove it doesn’t instead stay on when the door closes. The light is incandescent so it emits heat.  When I open the

Social networking is a big deal mostly because it lowers the barrier to relationships.  Its easy to have 100’s or even 1000’s of friends.  Some you know, most you may not.  I can share updates, send messages, re-connect with the past, share photos, poke people,

What’s the purpose of a company? Why do we do what we do? Peter Drucker said: the purpose of a company is to create a customer. The purpose is NOT to generate profit, nor make money. The purpose is NOT to generate shareholder returns. The purpose is NOT to

They haven’t agreed to sell just yet, but undoubtedly this is the final chapter in what has been for a long time a terminally ill company.  Earlier this week the Boston Globe reported that Novell was close to selling itself in 2 pieces.  The final chapter in

Not just smart, but wise.  I know plenty of smart people.  I know very few truly wise people. It struck me recently that I know too few wise people.  The ones I do know have a certain demeanor or way about them that’s unmistakable.  They

We’re all in danger.  It can happen when we least expect it.  We get comfortable and complacent and the next thing you know, we’re boring and worse we become irrelevant. Know anyone like this?  They talk about the same things.  They reek of the

#901 – The simpler the idea the more likely it will succeed. #32 – Partnerships matter. #742 – Its more complicated than that. #49 – If I like you and I trust you, I will buy something from you. #1127 – The harder the job, the more lonely it will be.

Sailing isn’t all that hard.  Sailing faster and more efficiently than anyone else when everyone has all the exact same equipment is really really hard!  It turns out that sailing and running a business have a lot in common. 1. Boat size = company size Sailing a small

Moving up through any organization is tricky and non-obvious.  Sure, some people have raw skill and natural talent; others exploit personal connections; others rely on luck.  It wasn’t until I spent time at larger public companies working for professional managers that I was able to really understand

The dirty secret about keeping things simple is how freakin’ hard it is to actually pull off.  My experience is that every successful business idea or concept has at its core, the elegance of simplicity.  In fact, every time I read, see, or hear about a really and