The Profit Prophet

As a young boy, I was sent away to Military School and there began my journey on discovery of what makes a good leader, and what does not.   Of course we had to study many of the great leaders of history, but more importantly, when put into positions of power, I discovered that just having rank, did not necessarily give your power over individuals. From that time until now, I have realized that in order to get anything done, and done well, involves leadership, and being a boss is no exception.   Of course, good bosses have strong organizational skills, are smart, creative, have solid decision-making skills and they get things done; exceptional bosses have that and something more.   It is not the what, but the how, that make good bosses great bosses.   It is how they take care of the people around them, the esprit d corps they create, the joy they bring to any endeavor and the passion they instill to all they meet.   Great leadership makes ordinary people ...

E very startup team has different ambitions. “ Get big fast ” is sometimes one of them: raise as much capital as possible so you can hire an army of engineers, marketing, sales and customer service people. This is a very short-term view on what it takes to build and grow a company. For some reason, people often think companies with a big team are more successful. But in reality, it’s not the quantity of people that matters, but the quality . The bigger a company gets and the faster a company grows, the bigger the risk that people start feeling “alienated” from the company. There is a risk people will start feeling like a cog in the wheel, and a lot of times that’s when people start looking for other opportunities where they feel appreciated, where they can build cool products that are a true expression of themselves and where they can make a difference. As Stephen Cohen, cofounder and Executive VP of Palantir Technologies, said correctly , people tend to hugely underestima...

There have been tomes written about management styles, and what works best to motivate employees to produce the best product or service for the end customer.  While this is all well and good, what has to be remember is from where you are speaking: West Coast versus East Coast..because, East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet!  To help you understand, I put a translation guide for your reference.

If you want to know the secret of hiring great people, use this list of criterion in differentiating the difference between happy people, and those who tend to be unhappy, and you will have success beyond your days. There are just 15 questions you need to ask. 1. LOVE vs. FEAR. People who are really happy, FEAR less and LOVE a lot more. They see each moment, each challenge, each person as an opportunity to discover more about themselves and the world around them. They understand the meaning of love, that it is a gift you give not something you try to hold on to, and just importantly, that you first love yourself before you can love others. “Fear less, hope more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.” --Swedish Proverb 2. ACCEPTANCE vs. RESISTANCE . Happy people understand that you cannot really change a situation by resisting it, but you can definitely change it by accepting that it is there and by understanding that th...