Every once in a while I miss my chemistry background. I had some free time this weekend so I decided to pull out my quantum chemistry textbook and start reading. It’s been about 15 years since I studied the subject and I like to keep my mind sharp.   The opening chapter talked about blackbody radiation. If you’ve ever cooked on an electric stove you’ve experienced it. As the metal coil heats up, it turns a bright orange color. In the early 1900s scientists were trying to explain this behavior with Newtonian physics. Unfortunately, whatever formula they came up with didn’t agree with the experimental results.   Max Planck was finally able to solve the problem. Read more [...]

Last Saturday was my son's last lacrosse game of the season. It was a new experience for both of us. I agreed to coach the 1/2 team, a group of about twelve 7 and 8 year olds. I really didn't know what I was doing. I hadn't played lacrosse since college (over 15 years ago).   I decided to do it mainly because I thought it would be a great way to spend time with my son Grey. I didn't realize how much I would learn.   As we drove home from the game, I had one of those heart to heart talks with Grey. I asked him if he gave 100%. We began talking about life and the fact that nothing is really "easy". You have to put effort into getting better. You have to force yourself to do things sometimes. Read more [...]

I love patterns. They allow me to recognize something I’ve seen before and give me confidence in dealing with “new” situations. It seems each week I’m confronted with a new “theme” or pattern. This week’s theme involved various areas of our business that were in transition. I noticed a commonality between situations where our company was transitioning from one thing to another. A case in point is our digital marketing tools. If you’ve ever been involved in software development you know that there is a need to maintain and improve a current version with updates and bugs patches. At the same time you must dedicate resources to creating your next version. Read more [...]

What does your brand, either personal or organizational demonstrate or communicate? Mark Sanborn’s book, The Encore Effect gives us a list: •1. Commitment •2. Professionalism •3. Skills •4. Values •5. Character Let’s take values for example. According to Sanborn, values are “those beliefs that person holds most dear”. What you hold most dear will eventually come to the surface and you will be known for those values. You can't hide it. I suggest evaluating both your personal brand and company brand using these five criteria. What does your personal commitment look like? What skills do you have? What are your company's values? Taking an honest Read more [...]

I watched an extremely interesting program on the science channel this weekend. The program was called “Connected: The Power of Six Degrees”. It explained how seemingly unconnected components of a complex network are connected. The scientists used the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game to confirm their theory. That is, every actor in Hollywood can be connected to every other actor in no more than 6 steps. What was even more interesting was the fact that this phenomenon could be described using fairly simple math equations. The researchers confirmed their equations with many other organically growing networks like the spread of disease, the World Wide Web and neural networks. This Read more [...]

I think it makes sense to perform an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses from time to time. It can really clarify things and make you more effective. A SWOT analysis looks at your: Strengths: attributes you posses which help you achieve your objectives. Weaknesses: attributes you posses which keep you from achieving your objectives. Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective. Threats: external conditions which could do damage to your performance. This type of analysis is typically focused on business ventures, but I think it can be applied to our lives and more specifically what we bring to the table in a business context. Seriously consider threats Read more [...]

I’m reading a great book on performance called the Encore Effect by Mark Sanborn. Sanborn draws the analogy of a great performance to that of our lives. When we watch an incredible performance we applaud and ask for an encore. Sanborn brings out several examples of how people lived their lives in such a way that people would ask for an encore. His book also highlights branding. Incredible brands have people coming back for more (asking for encores). Obviously, incredible companies are made up of incredible people. Incredible people give 100% each day add to a company’s brand. Poor brands are the result of poor “performances” which subtract from the brand. It’s important Read more [...]

I’ve been re-reading Jim Collins’ great book Good to Great. The book seeks to describe what distinguishes “good” companies from “great” ones. Collins performed extensive research and compared companies in the same industry. From this research he was able to draw certain conclusions. One of the main concepts of Collins book was that of “Level 5 leadership”. As he compared the leadership of good companies with that of great ones, he made some interesting conclusions. He labeled the “great” leaders as “Level 5 Leaders”. The characteristics of these leaders destroyed the myth of the charismatic, larger-than-life, egotistic leader. Read more [...]

I recently stumbled across a great new application (actually my partner found it J), Mindjet MindManager. It’s a mind map program. A mind map is a diagram used to represent processes, ideas or tasks. It’s a great way for organizations to map out all their processes and ensure everyone is on the same page. As an owner, you can use this to get an overview of how the different departmental processes are related and where problems exist. There is a web based application that can house all your organizations documents and processes. Check is out...there’s a free trial. Read more [...]

In chapter 5 of the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, the author talks about the “Law of the Word”. The essence of strong brands can be described in one word. Mercedes-Benz – Prestige Toyota – Reliable BMW – driving (the ultimate driving machine) Kleenex – tissue Kleenex owns the word “tissue”. Even when you use other tissues, you use the word “Kleenex” to describe what you're using. It’s a strong brand in the mind of the customer. So what’s your word? What word describes your brand? According to the book, the most successful brands are those that, “kept a narrow focus and then expanded the category”. Successful Read more [...]