“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

What is mindfulness? In a word, it is presence. It is to live (or rest your mind) in the present moment. That means letting go of the...

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

I’m excited to announce a company my co-founders and I have formed to go after a big market problem. Today we announced the launch and funding of my new company, Mass Relevance, co-founded with Brian Dainton and Eric Falcao. You can see early coverage at the Statesman, AustinStartup (more full story here) and TechCrunch. I foreshadowed this announcement with a market thesis post I just wrote, and the point that there’s a big content gap in the market. Chloe Sladden on how Twi

“What are you doing now?” That is the question facing you every time you open Facebook, Twitter or other social networks asking for a status update. Through follows, fans and likes, you are connected to people, brands and content. Web and mobile devices ensure you are constantly connected and empowered to create your own content. Brands are starting to display their Facebook URL and Twitter names at the tops of their sites. And thus, the explosion of social experiences is

I’ve been in digital marketing and ecommerce my entire career. As such, I recognize that online marketing is about balancing the creative with the analytical. In the case of my Dell career (managing Dell.com) it was heavily analytical. That’s what I love about online direct marketing, you can justify investment and grow a business through learning what works and what doesn’t. Here’s the problem though. The cycle of learning what works, of failing fast, of cycling through test

This is a post about change. Winston Churchill said, “There is nothing wrong with change, as long as it is in the right direction.” This is not your typical resignation. You could call this a ‘planned’ or ‘friendly’ departure. During this time I plan to remain on as Bazaarvoice CMO while I help recruit for my successor (one of the reasons for this post), and upon my departure I will be on the Bazaarvoice Board of Advisors to help the company’s continued growth. “Growth means

We started second annual Capital Factory program which I co-founded with Joshua Baer and Bryan Menell last year. I'm excited about this year's companies, some are further along than others, but I'm most impressed with the entrepreneurs themselves. Here are the companies: Hurricane Party (Austin, TX) – a location-based social networking application that helps users create, manage and discover events that are relevant to them. Simpz (Boston, MA) – helps event organizers reach

I have to share this story…it’s about how my son got offered the job of Co-CMO for Bazaarvoice. Last week we had kids-at-work day. I brought in my 8-year-old son Kyle and 11-year-old daughter Haley in for half a day to experience my work. They were very excited, however, I had a number of meetings and conference calls. During these meetings my daughter colored, read, and ate ice cream. My son, on the other hand, walked the halls and started offering advice to our employees. S

A good friend and ex-Dell colleague passed away on Friday, April 25, 2008, after a courageous and inspiring battle with brain cancer. I want to celebrate and share the piece of his life I knew, and the words of wisdom he left for all of us. Two months after I joined Dell in March 1999, a curly-haired Harvard grad moved into the cube next door. Over the next seven years Rich and I worked together to help build Dell’s consumer eBusiness to a $3.5B business, and then on Dell’s

Maybe with the new baby I’m in a nostalgic mood to share this with you… I was going through some old files on my computer tonight and found a local version of my personal home page I built in 1995 and abandoned in 1997. My home page simply featured my online resume and list of links live, but it’s an interesting trip back in history, with an animated gif and .gif photo of myself (everything was .gif back then!). You can see some early Internet links, many of which are not liv

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

Facebook launched its open platform in late May, preceded and followed by a lot of buzz. As a (late) early adopter, I launched a profile several weeks ago. I uploaded my contacts and found many professional friends were already on Facebook. People who joined after me did the same thing, and added me as a friend. Today I have 140 friends on Facebook, and growing. I’ve told my team to get on Facebook and introduced colleagues to Facebook. I suppose I’m an evangelist right

Growing up my father always quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain." Perhaps this was his favorite quote because he coached executive speaking…and studies say speaking is more feared than death! Here’s a picture of my son launching into a bellyflop, who only two months ago was afraid of swimming without a vest. How he got to this level of comfort, I can’t say. It just happened day by day, risk after risk. One day he was floating, t

Here’s some meaningless fun. Who wins this Look Alike Contest? Scoble vs. Hoffman Rubel vs. Bezos Dell vs. Knight

The response has been great to the ‘soft’ launch of Bazaarvoice. Several blogging friends have posted topics and Q&A on their blogs, including Jennifer Rice of Brand Mantra, Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion, Phil Gerbyshak of MakeitGreat.org and (ahem) my father of Decker Communications and BertDecker.com. There’s also coverage from Internet Retailer, DM News, Austin Business Journal, and ClickZ. I’ll keep you updated with article and blog links here. If you’re interested in l

I started my career in startups, mostly early, Series A companies. Then I spent 7 great years at Dell (I’ve been blogging here for over 2 years). But as my friend Roy Williams says, you have to decide to pull the trigger and ride the next bullet. Bang! Effective now and announced tomorrow publicly, I am VP of Marketing and Products for Bazaarvoice, an Austin Ventures-backed startup focused on building word of mouth for online brands. We’re still in ‘stealth mode’ on our full

[I thought this repost from last December might be interesting to share with your friends as we enter the Christmas season…] Christmas is a multi-billion dollar consumer-spending "tradition". It’s the ultimate excuse to buy. Unfortunately, the originally intended meaning of Christmas gets lost in this annual shopping frenzy. Nonetheless, it is a marketing marvel to see how the Santa Claus "Brand" developed. Here is the story of players and events that solidified Santa Cla

Christmas is a multi-billion dollar consumer-spending "tradition". It’s the ultimate excuse to buy. Unfortunately, the originally intended meaning of Christmas gets lost in this annual shopping frenzy. Nonetheless, it is a marketing marvel to see how the Santa Claus "Brand" developed. Here is the story of players and events that solidified Santa Claus and Christmas traditions. (Adapted with permission from Lee Krystek, curator at Unmuseum.org): 1. The original St. Nicholas

Here is Harvey Mackay's formula for a good speech. 1) Start with humorous story or joke. Engage the crowd 2) Present idea / principle 3) Share quips, anecdotes, stories and jokes related to that idea 4) Repeat #2 & #3 several times. 5) Close with great story and thank you. That was it.