A few weeks ago I was hanging out with friends, all of whom work in different industries. We shared war stories about the places we’d worked; it got us laughing and finally someone joked, “where are the good companies, anyway?” I’ve been thinking about that question lately. Are there good companies? Are there bad companies?…
First, put your weapons down. By “weapons”, I mean: the negative sentiment left over from your previous meeting, the stress you felt this morning when your kid peed on the floor, the remnant energy you held in while being polite to the client, your frustration with the way the payroll software locked up your screen,…
There’s someone on your team who embodies the spirit, heart and work ethic you value most at your company. This priceless person just walked into your office and told you (hopefully gently) that it’s time for him to leave the company. She needs to stretch different muscles or he got the opportunity to build robots…
I spent the majority of last week at Owner Camp, a small conference for the leaders of small digital agencies. Owner Camp gathers about 30 leaders to share and learn with each other while creating an incredibly supportive network in the meantime. Oh sure, the dinners were fun and the golfing was fun (… so…
I start every Monday morning at a cafe in Chelsea, where I have breakfast with a few other solo entrepreneurs. We update each other about our weeks, what our focus will be, where our travels are taking us. We teach each other how to use IFTTT; we recommend accounting software; we high-five about clients won…
Next week I’m speaking to a group of students at Dickinson College, a small, liberal arts school in Pennsylvania. It will be my first time in an undergraduate classroom since my days at Muhlenberg (another small, liberal arts school in Pennsylvania, wouldn’t you know it?) and so much has changed about the world. These people…
I went to my local branch of the Brooklyn Public Library the other day to pick up a book I’d put on hold. When I couldn’t find it on the shelves, I approached the woman working the help desk. She looked it up and saw that it had mistakenly been sent to a different branch,…
We’re newly into Q4 of 2013, but you may be well into planning for 2014. What have you been meaning to put energy into? Where are you headed? And what will it take to get there? My expertise is people. So if your goals for the next year have anything to do with the humans…
Though I didn’t attend, Brooklyn Beta took place at the end of last week here in Brooklyn. Over a thousand people gathered in the Brooklyn Navy yard to listen to inspirational speakers and to meet each other. I had drinks with a few Beta attendees Friday evening after following along on Twitter, taking note of…
Here’s how lots of tech companies start: two guys with an idea or a client, coding in a spare bedroom. One day there’s too much work, so they hire a cousin who knows HTML. Then a friend’s younger sister graduates with a degree in graphic design, so they hire her to design a login process…
You can see it in the way a person walks. His shoulders are hunched. Her head hangs a second too long before she looks up. He leaves the office quietly at the end of the day, slipping out unseen because, of course, he fears he is. If you’re managing a demotivated employee on your team,…
You’ve seen the show, right? Well if not, get watchin’. You have loads to learn from these demolition dudes. 1. You can’t afford move-in-ready. Your ideal candidate has 7 years experience architecting software, but in reality, someone with 4 years fits the bill. We often write job descriptions that are specific without the justification for…