I thought meetings were pretty good until I got my Six Sigma green belt and started to see things through a DMAIC lens (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). It was amazing how many meetings started with the “Improve” phase immediately, before we had properly defined, measured or analyzed the problem. We were still successful through execution and correction, but we could be better. Test if you’re starting with the right objective by using the word ‘because’. Simply ad

I watched a documentary on Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini (boxer), a champion boxer. He said, “It is very hard to get to the top, but it is even harder to stay there.” I would assert that the hype of ‘being on top’ or the ‘coolest new thing’ for a person, topic or company has a half life that continues to decrease. It is the rare entity that can sustain greatness. But it happens for companies like USAA and Costco who keep a watchful eye on customer satisfaction. Name a restaurant th

“No” seems like such a negative word. Usually we don’t want to use the word when correcting kids or when your colleague asks to borrow money for lunch. Yet in business, as well as in our personal life, we want to say "no!" Saying "no" is the most strategic decision we can make. By saying "no", we focus and improve quality of the ‘yes’ areas. We improve ourselves and our organization’s effectiveness. "No" empowers people because it simplifies. Our companies succeed on the basi

These posts were prompted by many conversations for career advice or feedback from ex-colleagues and employees. As I recall, these were my most frequent principles. I’m sure I could think of more, but these are the first that came to mind…and 15 is a good place to stop. Here’s the list with links: Find and Follow Your Strengths Build Soundbites for Your Brand It’s Who You Get To Know Choose Who Your Work For Take Initiative Outside Your Triangle Inform Others Connect to a Vis

Remember that any idea worth a lot will roll up to some C-level. So you might think about what the C-suite is thinking about when they hear an idea. This is a helpful checklist to run any presentation or idea through: Chief Executive Officer: Will it increase the value of the firm? Chief Financial Officer: Where’s the return on investment? Chief Operations Officer: Can we execute on this plan? Chief Information Officer: Will it run on our systems? Chief Marketing Officer: Can

What makes a good strategic plan? How do you make a good strategic plan? Wait... what is "good"?? My perspective on planning may be similar to yours. Have you been part of a "strategic planning" meeting full of pie-in-the-sky-ideas prioritized by highest-paid-opinion-in-the-room resulting in a create-and-forget plan? I have. Nothing is strategic about a strategic plan that doesn’t get executed. A strategic plan effort is only so good as: the planning exercise itself produces

Is yours a board meeting or a bored meeting? Understanding what makes a great board meeting isn’t just important for the CEO and executive team, but also in helping everyone in the company operate more strategically. Great board meetings create confident investors and increase chances of future funding and risk-taking. First, it’s helpful to remember how board members and investors think. Every time you see them, investors want to know the same thing as when they first invest

Forrester interviewed me years ago for a paper on working with IT in startups and Dell. Bottom line: the most important aspect to good relationships is open and frequent communication. Here was the sidebar on my answers to these questions: How can CMOs and CIOs build a more effective partnership? In my experience, there are four key principles for a culture of effectiveness: agreement and accountability, face-to-face work with no “over the fence” mentality; open communication

I find motorsports fascinating. I find many parallels between racing cars and growing, in life and business. To win in racing (or to go faster) there are so many variables. As a driver you are trying to control something that wants to be out of control. To go fast requires aggression and restraint, blended together with finesse. It’s a craft. And and you can’t focus on anything but the road ahead of you, which is very zen. Let's start here… If you haven’t seen Formula 1: Driv

Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle I have always found plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Have you planned your 2016 digital innovation bets? Here’s my hypothesis: I believe if you plan innovation with a data-driven approach, you will dramatically impact the return on your investments. Moreover, a data-driven planning process will change the way your team operates going forward. Innovation planning can be derailed by focusing on the wrong prob

Have you ever gone to a meeting and it started with random ideas in search of a problem, or maybe one idea that takes over the agenda? Do you ever get questionable ideas from your boss, peers or employees for the web site, adding to a backlog? Perhaps you’ve launched something that has an unintended impact on your team’s time, or bought/built technology that sits stagnant. Maybe you find yourself wondering if you’re working on the right problems that impact agreed-upon goals,

The majority of brands have software to test, personalize and use data. But as we learned in our recent study, the readiness to achieve data-driven outcomes still suffers. The gap to real impact is the difference between your technical/data capabilities and the people, process and skills to fulfill its promise. These cultural headwinds may be against you. Before founding Clearhead we were ecommerce executives and have experienced these headwinds first hand. Now, after working

I was talking to a good friend today looking to redesign his company's web site. He got proposals from three agencies. His director of marketing evaluated them and their proposals. What I didn't see in the evaluation were the GOALS they are trying to reach and OBSTACLES most important to overcome. Matty (my co-founder at Spinach) and I think in terms of Goals, Obstacles and Hypothesis (GOH). An agency is a hypothesis to overcome an obstacle(s)... to reach a goal. This is beca

Overcoming inertia requires executive buy-in. Despite talk of innovation, it’s a challenge to get groups of people to do something new. Change takes a back seat to running the business. Let me emphasize ‘running’. Ironically, it’s the running that eclipses a decision for innovation that would increase growth. I’ll get to the rational decision for innovation at the end. But assuming a proposal for change is right, how does it get done? Those who CAN spearhead risk are often th

Strong enough to be weak Successful enough to fail Busy enough to make time Wise enough to say “I don’t know” Serious enough to laugh Rich enough to be poor Right enough to say “I’m wrong” Compassionate enough to discipline Mature enough to be childlike Important enough to be last Planned enough to be spontaneous Controlled enough to be flexible Free enough to endure captivity Knowledgeable enough to ask questions Loving enough to be angry Great enough to be anonymous Respons

And you can follow all 5 startups on Twitter! @CubitPlanning @FamiGoGames @Homstie @Hourville @PetzMD Capital Factory Invests in Five Startups for 2009 Fund Also Recognizes 5 Additional Finalists Austin, TX (PRWEB) April 22, 2009 — Capital Factory, an early stage technology incubator in Austin, Texas, announced investments in five emerging technology startups selected to participate in its inaugural 2009 summer program. Each company will receive a cash investment of up to $

Obviously you want to be a rockstar and you want to hire a rockstar. So what does a rockstar look like? How do you interview for them? In my career I’ve worked with thousands of people, interviewed hundreds, and hired over a couple hundred people. A minority of these folks (say 10%) were rockstars. There's 10% I’d never hire or want to work with. And the rest are in the middle. From my perspective, these are the characteristics I saw in the top 10% whom I’d be honored to wor

In my experience, when you’re trying to grow revenue as fast as possible with little time and resources, it’s important to think about the after-launch resources a program will take. Think about any program or initiative as an ongoing P&L. The best projects will have sustaining value, like a business that has sustaining profits. In fact, you should first think about the projects that have a clear and direct impact on revenue or cost savings. Can you answer the question: "Thi

My new friend never told me he was a Navy Seal. Serendipitously I found out he was a Seal through a web search on his name. I was looking for ‘extreme fitness’ (a la Navy Seal training) in Austin and saw his name on a web site. I admired his humility, which underscored his integrity, in my book. In contrast, I know many people who constantly name drop and talk about their achievements, connections and background in the first paragraph of meeting them. Which approach, in the

What moves consumers to action? Emotion. It’s not much different than with executives and managers…you just use data to create those emotions! In my experience, there are three emotions I’ve seen drive executive action: Fear – show the competition is having success with a strategy that you are not. I’m putting this first because fear is the biggest motivator in the human psyche. And the first reaction for executives when they see a competitor doing something successful is to