Corporate America

Corporate America — No Comments
20
Oct 11

6 Reasons Why We Should Burn The Quotes

Spend enough time in a corporate environment and you’ll eventually come across “The Quoter”. This is somebody who chooses to frame every presentation, every email, every document…..in fact every method of friggin’ communication period with an inspirational quote. From Gandhi to Gandalf, Franklin to Ford – you can bet your life that The Quoter will have somebody else’s words of wisdom ready for every occasion. And I hate them. Hate, hate, hate, hate them. Here’s my top 5 reasons why we need to burn the quotes. Continue reading →

Corporate America — No Comments
27
Sep 11

The Unhealthy State of American Innovation

It’s very cheap to get sick in America, but extremely expensive to get well. You could probably live on fast food for the rest of your life for less than the cost of a Caribbean vacation, but in order to treat the resulting heart disease, stroke and diabetes you’d need enough money to buy a Caribbean island. With the 2012 Presidential elections just around the corner politicians on both sides of the asylum are once again presenting their plans for how to fix healthcare in America. But one thing you don’t really hear in these debates is how our health system is strangling innovation and stifling entrepreneurship. Continue reading →

Corporate America — No Comments
3
May 11

Why You’re Probably Working Too Hard

Move to Jamaica, and it’s likely you’ll develop a penchant for rum. Move to New York, and it’ll be Prozac. From my experience Americans work harder, faster and longer than almost any country in the world – to the point where it makes them sick, disrupts their family life and makes them even more susceptible to persuasion from TV prescription drug adverts. But health impact aside, working long hours is just a bad idea period. It leads to less efficiency, more unnecessary complexity and anybody who admits they’re a workaholic is not somebody I’d want on my team. Here’s why.

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Corporate America — No Comments
25
Apr 11

The Case Against Conferences

It was back in the summer of 2010 that it struck me how digital media conferences were taking over the world. The number of invites I was getting to different events was verging on the ridiculous, from round-table discussions on the future of mobile to all-day events on social media. And everybody was trying to get in on the action. Vendors were organizing them. Tech blogs. Random organizations I’d never heard of. Everybody wanted a piece of the conference pie. But amid the flood of voicemail and email invites, two things particularly stood out. Firstly, why do organizers insist on naming these events as if they’re herbal sex drugs (Pulsate 2010, Pingback, Ignition, Delve)? And secondly, are they helpful to anyone other than the organizers? And that’s the subject of this post.

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Corporate America — No Comments
11
Apr 11

How to Predict the Future Success of a Business: Count The Assistants

As a general rule, I’ve found executive assistants to be very nice people. They’re usually saddled with the Herculean task of putting up with the mood swings, tantrums and general overall craziness that is often flung their way from their executive bosses. But outside of the Jamba Juice runs and the PowerPoint deck printing, executive assistants play a hugely important role. Because in short, they are direct indicators of the potential success or failure of a company.

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Corporate America / Digital Content / User Experience — No Comments
8
Apr 11

Why The Daily Continues To Struggle

Back in February The Daily – Rupert Murdoch’s iPad only newspaper – launched to the market with great fanfare. There were bold proclamations of how this new app was going to revolutionize the newspaper industry by offering an experience that people would actually want to pay for. I reviewed The Daily as soon as it hit Apple’s App Store and didn’t see anything particularly compelling or unique. It was pleasant enough to look at, but was ultimately still conceived as a page flipping, linear product that offers homogenous, non-personalized content. I felt this would go down as a missed opportunity, and while I also said the same thing when Disney failed to re-make Herbie Goes Bananas upon the launch of the re-styled Volkswagen Beetle, this time I meant it. So how are things going? Continue reading →

Corporate America — No Comments
5
Apr 11

Working For a Traditional vs Pure-Play Company

When Mario Batali finished his culinary training, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that he was champing at the bit to either work in one of the greatest restaurants in the world or open his own restaurant. Working as an army chef probably wasn’t top of his list of next career moves. Because the army is primarily about ~~killing foreigners~~ protecting our country from hostile enemies, not serving great food to entitled forty-somethings in dinner jackets. But people who work in the digital space are often faced with a similar situation. Is it better to work for a pure-play or enlist with the digital group of a traditional, non-digital company for an extended tour of duty? As somebody who’s done both, here’s my take.

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Corporate America — 2 Comments
31
Mar 11

Don’t Flush Your Good Ideas Down The Plan

Zsa Zsa Gabor once said that:”Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans”. Or was it John Lennon? I always get those two mixed-up. But the sentiment of the quote is clear – your best laid plans usually disappear down the pan faster than the time it takes for a coherent thought to leave Sarah Palin’s head. A small percentage of people do end up realizing their dreams via a strictly adhered to life plan, but most end up in situations they’d never conceived of at the beginning of life’s journey. But while we accept that it’s difficult – and maybe pointless – to try and intricately plan out every detail of our life, this is not the case in business. Businesses – especially corporations – are obsessed with plans. Short, mid, long – any kind of term you can think of – they want a plan for it. And here’s why this approach is completely wrong. Continue reading →

Corporate America / Technology — No Comments
21
Mar 11

Dropped Calls, Dropped Balls

Competition – one of the central lynchpins of our free market system – is a wonderful thing as long as there are players who are actually competing. When that happens services improve, prices fall and customers get a great deal. But once this honeymoon period is over, the natural endgame is for the vast majority of competitors to disappear – having either gone bust or been swallowed by bigger fish in the ocean. This usually leaves 2-3 bloated organizations who can feast on the spoils of victory and have the opportunity to screw their customers for an extended period of time. Continue reading →

Corporate America — No Comments
25
Feb 11

How To Write A Resignation Email

Winners – as the old saying goes – don’t quit. But actually they do, and quite frequently for that matter. Unless you’re Mother Theresa, the odds are that at some point in your life you’ll decide it’s time for a career move. And there are a whole bunch of reasons for wanting to do that. Maybe you want a new challenge, maybe you want more money, or maybe you just realize that your incompetent actions over the last 6-12 months are almost ready to blow up in your face and you want to exit before they do. But while quitting itself can be a big deal, something that’s gained more prominence and importance over the years is the accompanying resignation email. But what should you say? And to who? Continue reading →