Here’s a proposition for you to consider: 99% of all human social problems are the result of two or more groups of people holding different opinions, with each group lending no credence whatsoever to the others’. This happens almost constantly in life, and – unsurprisingly but almost always unrecognized – almost constantly in business.
As most of you know, I write lot. I enjoy it. I started out writing 800-page books; when I was offered by first 800-word monthly magazine column, a wise editor told me, “this’ll make you a better writer.” That’s because, when you only have 800 words, you choose every one with care. An unfortunate side …
There’s a fundamental element of business that I think a lot of people don’t fully understand – or even realize exists. Yet it’s such a driver of how business works that to not understand it is to not understand business itself, and to open the door for great frustration.
Grab a copy of your company’s employee handbook. Chances are, it’s more than a couple of pages long. If you’re at a large company, it’s probably huge, and filled with rules – including complex time-off provisions, dress codes, policies, and more. You might, in fact, find some of it to be pretty ridiculous. But every …
My friend Lee used to work for a company that did Sales training. Sales is, at its very essence, about persuading people to buy something. Even if they need that something, you have to persuade them to buy yours, rather than someone else’s. And one of the big maxims Lee’s company would teach is that logic is not persuasive. …
There’s an enormous problem inside some organizations where, whether this is just perceived or actually true, the InfoSec team “maintains” security by “just saying no to everything.” Obviously, no business can survive if one component of itself is simply shutting down all initiatives willy-nilly. “No” isn’t a security position; it’s a death knell. And, if …
Ever invest money? Like, even a 401(k) or something? What’s the first piece of advice you’re usually given by investment people? Diversify. The idea in finance is that, if one part of your portfolio sucks at the moment, you kind of want it balanced with something that doesn’t suck. So you invest a bit in …
Orin Thomas recently told me that the average IT Pro, in the Microsoft world, is 43 years old. Makes some sense; younger kids tend to be attracted to younger companies, and younger companies are largely deploying Linux for their big dot-com-startup projects (which is why Microsoft ❤️ Linux all of a sudden). So there are …
Man, these guys are a lot smarter than me. I’ll just sit here and try to look pretty. Here’s a little secret: Every one of us feels that way, almost all the time.
I feel fortunate to have been pretty successful – by my family’s measure, if nobody else’s – in my career. I’m often asked if there was a secret to it all – and the answer is “yes.” My former business partner, Greg Shields, and I had three simple rules. These apply whether you’re independent, working …
