Every morning, each one of us wakes up a ragged mess and eventually, presumably after cleaning up a bit, exits the house dressed in attire that expresses his or her inner feelings.
Don't believe me? It's true; ask a shrink. The way you dress is a window into the subconscious. Of course, it helps if you know how to interpret the data. Sometimes the conscious mind overrules the inner self, so what you get is the opposite of what the person is feeling. It's complicated.
Okay, enough psychobabble. The premise here is that the way you dress matters and it matters in the workplace. Over the course of my career, I've noticed a lot going on with clothes, but nobody talks about it. Case in point, people have been commenting on the way I dress for decades, and I have no idea why.
Way back in 1981 - when I was an engineer designing chips for Texas Instruments - my manager told me I might consider dressing differently if I wanted to get ahead. I was wearing torn overalls at the time. Hey, I was just an engineer ... and it was Texas!
Anyway, he did have a point. Years later I read Dress for Success and began taking this stuff a bit more seriously. When I became a sales executive calling on customers, I began wearing a jacket and tie or a suit.
However, when it comes to really working, i.e. in the office, I'm strictly a blue jeans, untucked shirt, and sneakers or other comfy shoes kind of guy. I guess that's what comforts my neurotic subconscious.
When I worked at microprocessor upstart Cyrix in the mid-90s, Jack Kemp - quarterback turned politician extraordinaire - sat on our board of directors. That didn't entirely make sense to me, but he was a great guy and really fun at dinner parties. ... Read more
Most start-ups fail. There are lots of reasons, but in my experience, the most common cause is that they develop technology and not products. Lots of people confuse the two terms, but the distinction is critical in start-ups. Here's why.
According to the book Marketing High Technology by the field's godfather, Bill Davidow, "Marketing must invent complete products and drive them to commanding positions in defensible market segments." Bill called this the Strategic Principle.
Bill Davidow
(Credit: Mohr Davidow Ventures)In case you've never heard of him, Bill Davidow was senior vice president of marketing and sales at Intel, where he helped the Santa Clara company to become the chip goliath it is today. Later, he founded Mohr Davidow Ventures, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The man has credibility.
Let's break down the Strategic Principle.
The first part means this: it's one thing to develop technology that does something cool, perhaps even something that's never been done before. It's another matter to deliver a complete product that meets a critical market need better than the competition. And by "complete product," I mean hardware, software, infrastructure, sales channel, promotion, customer service--the whole nine yards.
The second part means that if your product does not have what it takes to be a market leader, then you might consider segmenting the market more narrowly. Perhaps the product will then have a chance at sustainable market leadership. The catch is that the narrower segment still has to be big enough to be of interest from a business standpoint.
Now tell me, who can argue with Bill's logic? What company, start-up or otherwise, doesn't need marketing? ... Read more
Bill Gates is one in a million. Most founding CEOs eventually become a liability that can destroy shareholder value faster than you can say Bernie Ebbers. They're fine for a while, and then, without warning, they go bad on you. Why not just fire them? Good question, but it's not that simple. It almost never is.
For one thing, CEOs don't come with expiration dates stamped on their foreheads. They're kind of like coconuts. Just the other day I cracked one open and it was all moldy inside. On the outside it looked perfect. But coconuts are kind of hairy so it's hard to tell. This one must have had a tiny crack somewhere, so it rotted. Who knew?
Short of cracking their heads open with a hammer and chisel, how do you know if a founding CEO has gone bad? Well, it's up to the board of directors to make that determination. And therein lies the rub. Boards are notoriously squeamish about dumping what was once a nice, ripe executive in the corporate compost heap.
It's ironic, because hiring and firing the CEO is a board's primary function. Didn't know that? That's exactly my point. Boards are so ineffective at it that lots of folks are not even aware that it's their job.
Why is that, do you think? I don't know, but maybe some directors are rotten too. I'm just thinking out loud here, but you know what lots of ex-CEOs do? They become directors of other companies. Are you starting to see a pattern here? ... Read more
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