Why You Should Ditch Your Goals
10 years ago I write Goal-Free Living. The book as impacted more lives than any book I’ve written. But at the same time, it has remained relatively obscure in the scheme of things. When it was published, someone told me the book was a decade ahead of its time. It seems as though they were […]
So Many Websites Gone in the Past Decade
The other day I decided to check “broken links” on my website. Basically these are links from my site to other sites. In most cases, these were articles I referenced, books I promoted, or interesting people I highlighted. Since 2006, I have posted over 800 blog entries. ( I started my website back in 2001) […]
Happy Work Independence Day
Owning your own business is not for everyone. There are ups and downs. Joys and heartaches. Wins and losses. Ebbs and flows of income. There have been moments when I was unsure when the next paycheck would arrive (it’s happened more often than I’d like to admit). And although there seems to be an endless number of […]
What a Middle Aged Guy Learned from Girl Starters
I was invited to participate in the new television reality series, Girl Starter, to mentor young women in launching their businesses. The show pairs eight “girls”, ranging in ages from 18 – 24, into 4 teams. Each team develops a new idea from scratch and goes through the process of planning it, validating it, and […]
The Best Protection is Being Known for Your Innovation
best practices = copying someone else = plagiarism Recently I discovered that someone wrote a 1,000 word article that included passages lifted straight from my book, “Best Practices are Stupid.” The examples were the same. The language was the same. The only original part to the article were the first two lines. After that it […]
7 Disruptive Forces
I was recently asked by a European magazine to provide my list of the most disruptive companies of 2015/2016. I thought about it and struggled to answer. For me, companies don’t disrupt; platforms, industries, and other macro forces do. Given that I provided my top 7 disruptive forces… Peer-to-peer – This is causing disruption to all […]
Innovation Minute #25: How to Conduct Healthy Experiments
Today we continue the “Test”” part of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test). In the last video I discussed why confirmation bias will cause you to run faulty experiments. In this episode I share several techniques for overcoming this issue. Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: Today I’m going to give you […]
Innovation Minute #24: Confirmation Bias
Today we continue the “Test”” part of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test). In the last video I mentioned the need to focus on experiments. Unfortunately most experiments lead to ultimate failure due to a psychological tendency we have. Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: Today I am going to talk about […]
Innovation Minute #23: Don’t Fail; Experiment
Today we move to the “Test”” part of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test). Although failure seems to be the buzzword in innovation, it is actual detrimental to an organization’s success. There is an alternative: experiments. Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: Today on the Innovation Minute, I’m going to talk […]
Choose Your Business Partners Carefully
I am a big fan of business partnerships. My mantra is, “Innovate where you differentiate, and partner with others for everything else.” There’s an important caveat to this. Be sure to choose your partners carefully. Think about the bad experiences you’ve had with a company. Were they the company’s fault? Or was a business partner […]