Clarity:
Had a great call today with a prominent Venture Capitalist (have several more scheduled next week). He confirmed an opinion that we had been floating around the office for some time. We need to focus on our climber.com product. Like most entrepreneurs, we are thinking ahead to climber version 3.82 and in reality we are still completing our beta version.
Sometimes, it takes someone from the outside to gently nudge you in the correct direction. This does not mean changing the destination just the road. So we are working with godspeed to complete our user interface for Climber.com (by the way we are hiring talented User Interface people, send resumes to info@mingle.com). The new look and feel should be completed in the coming weeks and we should have a news set of features!
Cheers,
Mike
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Clearing the Mind:
I just got back from a great vacation with my wife. It was a nice break from the hectic pattern of life. It was the equivalent of my mind letting out a big sigh and I realized that I really needed to take time to decompress.
Laying on a beach with nothing but blue water and the sun is the best medicine for clearing the brain. I think everyone will agree that once you do decompress it allows your mind to attack your problems from a new perspective. It frees you from some of the biases that could cloud your judgment. This allows you to create a new solution with true insight. Your mind sorts out what it needs and flushes everything else out. For me this happens in the background, without really thinking about it.
Many people talk about similar experiences when they do yoga or meditate. I often sit quite for a few minutes and try to let go of the world.
Cheers,
Mike
I just got back from a great vacation with my wife. It was a nice break from the hectic pattern of life. It was the equivalent of my mind letting out a big sigh and I realized that I really needed to take time to decompress.
Laying on a beach with nothing but blue water and the sun is the best medicine for clearing the brain. I think everyone will agree that once you do decompress it allows your mind to attack your problems from a new perspective. It frees you from some of the biases that could cloud your judgment. This allows you to create a new solution with true insight. Your mind sorts out what it needs and flushes everything else out. For me this happens in the background, without really thinking about it.
Many people talk about similar experiences when they do yoga or meditate. I often sit quite for a few minutes and try to let go of the world.
Cheers,
Mike
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Burning Desire to Succeed:
One of the traits that I admire most in other people is a burning desire to succeed. When I hear the success of other people it inspires me. I recently was able to hear William Taylor speak, he is the founding director of Business 2.0 and author a book to be released later in the year, "Mavericks at Work". He provided many stories about success and the desire to succeed. It seemed that against all odds people succeed. He pointed to the example of the airline business where collectively it has lost billions of dollars since inception save one company, Southwest Airlines. He went on to say that Southwest was the best performing stock in the market since 1985 (I could be wrong on the year). The arguable worst industry in the world you find the most successful company. I take inspiration from this, Southwest understands itself and they can communicate their message effectively to their customers and shareholders.
I see this as a war of will and likewise I believe in any role you need a burning desire to succeed to stand out.. This passion for success is easy to identify in people. They are often high energy positive people who love a challenge. They are competitive and can see the value of a team of people with like mind. When many of these people get together with a single focus their chances of hitting that goal is increased exponentially.
Cheers,
Mike
One of the traits that I admire most in other people is a burning desire to succeed. When I hear the success of other people it inspires me. I recently was able to hear William Taylor speak, he is the founding director of Business 2.0 and author a book to be released later in the year, "Mavericks at Work". He provided many stories about success and the desire to succeed. It seemed that against all odds people succeed. He pointed to the example of the airline business where collectively it has lost billions of dollars since inception save one company, Southwest Airlines. He went on to say that Southwest was the best performing stock in the market since 1985 (I could be wrong on the year). The arguable worst industry in the world you find the most successful company. I take inspiration from this, Southwest understands itself and they can communicate their message effectively to their customers and shareholders.
I see this as a war of will and likewise I believe in any role you need a burning desire to succeed to stand out.. This passion for success is easy to identify in people. They are often high energy positive people who love a challenge. They are competitive and can see the value of a team of people with like mind. When many of these people get together with a single focus their chances of hitting that goal is increased exponentially.
Cheers,
Mike
Monday, March 13, 2006
Tough Weeks:
These last few weeks have been very trying. Anyone who has put together a software product know that this is a difficult process. Creating something that is unique online and creates true value for its users is even more difficult.
We have had to make some employee changes as well. This is very difficult in a young business, but the bottom line in the bottom line. A product that is delayed even a month or two means missing some critical numbers and also increases the burn rate. In order to stay on track sometimes it means making the tough decisions. This week was no exception. It is compounded by the fact that the changes we had to make were with truly great people, who will succeed elsewhere. They just were not the right people for the right job. In the book, "Good to Great", this is covered very well. The author explains that if you have someone in the wrong seat on the bus you are doing them a disservice and that you as the manager have to be the adult and make the tough decision.
Cheers to a better week,
Mike
These last few weeks have been very trying. Anyone who has put together a software product know that this is a difficult process. Creating something that is unique online and creates true value for its users is even more difficult.
We have had to make some employee changes as well. This is very difficult in a young business, but the bottom line in the bottom line. A product that is delayed even a month or two means missing some critical numbers and also increases the burn rate. In order to stay on track sometimes it means making the tough decisions. This week was no exception. It is compounded by the fact that the changes we had to make were with truly great people, who will succeed elsewhere. They just were not the right people for the right job. In the book, "Good to Great", this is covered very well. The author explains that if you have someone in the wrong seat on the bus you are doing them a disservice and that you as the manager have to be the adult and make the tough decision.
Cheers to a better week,
Mike
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Taking Employees Home With You:
I was visiting a friend who has a very successful design company. He was very frustrated with one of his managers. He had spoken to a lot of his friends and colleagues about this person. He had been thinking about it this person for some time and how she did not fit the company any more. She had become complacent and had some issues dealing with customers.
The bottom line is that she was stealing time from him. When he went home he was frustrated and consumed with her ineptness. Sometimes the toughest thing to do is to cut the cord. Today he is still struggling with this employee and time that he should be enjoying after work is being stolen by this employee.
He knows what he should do, but he has failed to act. As soon as he realized that this was happening, he became culpable. Once he solves this issue he will be free to work on items that will allow the business to continue to succeed.
Cheers,
Mike
I was visiting a friend who has a very successful design company. He was very frustrated with one of his managers. He had spoken to a lot of his friends and colleagues about this person. He had been thinking about it this person for some time and how she did not fit the company any more. She had become complacent and had some issues dealing with customers.
The bottom line is that she was stealing time from him. When he went home he was frustrated and consumed with her ineptness. Sometimes the toughest thing to do is to cut the cord. Today he is still struggling with this employee and time that he should be enjoying after work is being stolen by this employee.
He knows what he should do, but he has failed to act. As soon as he realized that this was happening, he became culpable. Once he solves this issue he will be free to work on items that will allow the business to continue to succeed.
Cheers,
Mike
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)