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"…keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
| Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart |
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Henry Clay (quoted in The Little BIG) |
Tom Peters New Book — you don't read Tom's book as much as scan it for ideas. And as he suggests himself, probably best scanned while sitting on the toilet! Entitled The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE, it aligns in philosophy with Chip and Dan Heath's new book Switch — it's the powerful LITTLE things that make the big difference, not necessarily big things — there's definitely a common theme resonating as we start this new decade.
Just-Showing-Up — Peters claims his inspiration for the new book came from reading Tom Stewart's book The Summer of 1787, a day-to-day account of the writing of the U.S. Constitution, the outcome of which was driven mostly by those who showed up (some states sent no delegates, teeny-weeny Delaware sent five who stayed the entire time); showed up with a draft document in tow; and then stuck around from the opening to the closing bell… "and bringing the right temperament to the party," notes Tom. This is an excellent formula for how to control the direction of your own industry — "show up, control the ink, stick around, be nice."
Excellence — if Peters owns a word, it's "Excellence" — and as he declares "Excellence (always capitalized!) is a 'way of life,' a 'way of being' — not a steady state to be 'achieved'" Or as Anon says, quoting from Peters' book:
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Excellence can be obtained if you: |
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…care more than others think is wise; |
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...risk more than others think is safe; |
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…dream more than others think is practical; |
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…expect more than others think is possible. |
Print this out and post it everywhere! And always strive for Excellence in all you do.
Favorite Ideas (at this moment):
#3 — Flower Power — flowers everywhere in the offices — unlimited flower budget — and send flowers to four people that have helped you recently — they set an important tone
# 16 — Bottom Line in Bad Times: Obsess Over the Top Line — that's why sales & marketing are so critical this decade — suck up every tool you can to power the top line
#22 — Job One: Amuse Yourself — if you're not "alive" how can your company and customers be? The key is to take "Internal Vacations" — stay fresh, stay engaged, learn! Take the day "off." Spend the day in the lab with engineers. Learn about new projects. Monthly devote at least two work days to "far-out stuff" aimed at personal battery recharging. Ray King, founder of AboutUs.org (largest wiki in the world by page count), is spending a month in Barcelona, stepping away from the day-to-day of his third company, recharging and reinvigorating himself and his creativity (happy to help any of you do the same here in Barcelona).
#42/43 — Work on Your First and Last Impressions — notes Peters "I feel quite sure that we need constant reminding not just of the Power of First Impressions, but that there is a full-blown Science and Art of the Construction and Execution and Maintenance of Fantastic Beginnings.
Blinding Flashes of the Obvious — OK, that's about a fourth of the way through the book. It's all "blinding flashes of the obvious" but that's the point. Business and life is about doing a 100 little things right — and Peters has 163. Order the book, set it next to the porcelain throne, and pick up one good/great idea a day. Excellent work Tom!!
The Secret to Happy Employees — Scott Nash, founder of MOM's Organic Market, pointed me to this March 9 NY Times blog written by a dear friend Jay Goltz. What is one of Goltz's keys to having happy employees? "I fire the unhappy employees!" (#39 on Peters List!). Take three minutes and enjoy this article.
Fortune "Venture" column — here is a link to my new column in Fortune magazine (p. 70, March 22 edition) — I share the six best pieces of advice I've ever given companies to drive their growth. Checkout the unique layout of the column in the paper magazine.
New Gazelles Logo — using 12designer.com , one of the incubator firms within Grupo Intercom (leading Spanish internet incubator), Gazelles has a new, cleaner, logo with our own new "swish" — which represents our willingness to bend-over backwards and push you forward in growing your business. Go to www.gazelles.com to take a look! And while there, book an "internal vacation" — the Fortune Sales and Marketing Summit in Vegas.
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I have had the privilege of spending a lot of time as a strategic advisor and investor across the size spectrum — from small early-growth companies to large Fortune 500 companies. The basic tenets of growth strategies are common: establish a clear and compelling vision; define a durable competitive advantage; and develop a clear execution plan to make it happen. But the appropriate strategic and operating philosophy should change during the phases of a company's business-building process. This week, I'm going to discuss two predominant modes for a firm to recognize: strategy as jazz and strategy as symphony.
Which of these two types of strategy is required is driven by the stage of a company. Are you in an early proof-of-concept stage or ready to scale up to the next level?
Jazz is impromptu, intimate, and improvising. Jazz musicians can create great things out of disparate inputs because of their raw individual talent and adaptive skills. Like jazz, strategy at the formation and early growth stages happens in real time, and the leader plays along with the band. It’s about sensing a “vibe” and evolving as necessary. It is critical to have a big vision and directional sense of what the strategy and business model might be, rather than a perfectly premeditated plan. The “beat” of early stage companies is continuous execution with frequent adjustments. The one thing certain of early stage business plans is that they’ll look quite different within a year or even within months. Creativity and intuition go a long way during the start-up stage.
As a company grows, it needs to shift into a more symphonic mode, with the leader acting as conductor. In order for the business to scale, plans need to be worked out more fully before execution gets ahead of itself. Vision is, of course, necessary at every phase of a company, but at this point it needs to be complemented with processes that can often be seen and felt as less than inspiring. This phase requires more rigorous research, more delegation (conductors don’t play instruments and conduct at the same time), and a greater focus on team alignment and clear metrics. Entrepreneurs who struggle with more formal structure and process, and with letting go of things they once controlled, fail to lead at this inflection point of company growth.
Many entrepreneurs cannot make the transition from jazz to symphony; they want to continue to lead the band and keep playing. (For more on Why Do Entrepreneurs Fail to Scale, see this post.) And the opposite is also true. People who are good at scaling a business are often not the right people to start a business. The pace of an early stage company might be seen as overly ambitious and idealistic by a big-company-CEO type who can stifle innovation and kill culture if he’s not careful.
There is usually some truth in stereotypes. Meaningful differences exist between people who are more comfortable in a suit and briefcase and those who prefer jeans and a messenger bag. Its possible for the instincts for start-up and scale-up strategy to coexist in one person, but there just aren’t that many Steve Jobs around.
Of course, in the real world, the alignment between company size and vintage and the type of strategy required isn't absolute. Large companies need to go through transitions and innovate, and smaller businesses need to periodically step back to structure and plan things. The key is to recognize which strategic theme is most appropriate at a given time, primarily because it's a gut check on the leadership skills and strategic plan the company needs — and whether you are the right leader at the right time.
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Aceptamos iPad como animal de compañía. Porque hay que ver la repercusión que ha tenido. Pero prometemos que pasada la vorágine de su presentación, la actualidad volverá a la normalidad.
Nos extrañaba que no hubiéran salido antes fotos espía de las fundas para este nuevo dispositivo sin categoría creada todavía en el mundo de la electrónica de consumo. Pero la verdad es que no hacía falta. Con su tamaño de pantalla de 9.7 pulgadas cabe perfectamente en las fundas para ultrpaortátiles que ya tienen decenas de marcas de accesorios.
Belkin ha sido la primera en montar una imagen para ofrecernos la primera serie de fundas para el iPad que está por llegar. Son tres modelos pensados para proteger el cacharro de Apple y para llevar otros pequeños gadgets en sus bolsillos externos.
Sacar accesorios para el iPad de Apple va a ser más complicado esta vez porque la propia marca de la manzana ya ha mostrado los suyos, precisamente una funda multiusos y una base con teclado. Saldrán idénticos productos de otras marcas pero tendrán que luchar con los de Apple.
Las fundas no tienen mucho misterio. De diseño similar, cuentan con material externo ideal para que se agarre a la mano y no sea presa de despistes o animadas brazadas.
Los tres modelos de fundas para el iPad de Belkin llegarán con la primavera, como el nuevo cacharro de Apple, con precios de 40 y 30 dólares, dependiendo del modelo. También pondrán a la venta un recubrimiento para la pantalla para evitar arañazos que nos costará 20 dólares.
Si quieres fundas más adaptadas al iPad de Apple, Griffin ha mostrado ya sus Ellan Sleeve y Passport, de geniales diseños ambas y con precios todavía sin determinar.
Más información | Belkin.
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Recientemente Apple ha celebrado una reunión con los empleados de Apple para comentar el lanzamiento del iPad, sus consecuencias a corto y largo plazo, las reacciones de la competencia y algunos de los planes de la empresa para este año. En la reunión, por lo que parece, se han podido escuchar algunas interesantes declaraciones del CEO de la empresa, Steve Jobs.
En primer lugar, Jobs menciona a Apple confirmando la competencia entre las dos compañías:
En cuanto a Google, nosotros no hemos entrado en el mercado de las búsquedas pero ellos han entrado en el de los teléfonos. No os equivoquéis, quieren acabar con el iPhone. No se lo vamos a permitir.
También deja las cosas bastante claras en el asunto de Adobe:
Apple no soporta Flash porque está lleno de bugs. Siempre que un mac se cuelga, muy probablemente la causa es Flash. Nadie va a usar Flash, el mundo se está moviendo al HTML5.
Desde luego no deja a Adobe en una muy buena posición, aunque no deja de tener razón en lo del HTML5 al ver que servicios como Youtube están empezando a extender este nuevo estándar entre sus servicios. Más declaraciones después del salto.
Además de las aclaraciones relacionadas con Adobe y con Google, Steve también se han podido oír algunos otros puntos que despiertan la curiosidad de los medios. Según su propio CEO, entre los planes de la empresa de Cupertino figuran actualizaciones agresivas del iPhone OS, a un nivel que Google con su Android no será capaz de alcanzar.
Jobs también comentó que el iPad, junto con el iPhone, es uno de los productos más importantes que ha lanzado nunca, con todo lo que eso conlleva. También ha hablado de incorporar el equipo de la empresa Lala al equipo de desarrollo de iTunes, de que la próxima actualización del iPhone será una actualización muy importante, que los Macs del 2010 llevarán a Apple a un nuevo nivel y que en cuanto al Blu-Ray, Apple no va a implementarlo hasta que las ventas del soporte empiecen a aumentar a un buen ritmo, principalmente porque el software de ese tipo de discos es “un desorden”.
Parece pues que este año no sólo va a ser el año del iPad, puesto que veremos también actualizaciones importantes en otros productos de la compañía. Estaremos atentos a más novedades, sobretodo si vuelven a ser mencionadas por el mismo Steve Jobs.
Vía | Macrumors
En Applesfera | Steve Jobs afirma que el iPad es lo más importante que ha hecho nunca
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Recientemente Apple ha celebrado una reunión con los empleados de Apple para comentar el lanzamiento del iPad, sus consecuencias a corto y largo plazo, las reacciones de la co…
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