I’m going to stray from my normal topics to hop up on my soapbox here for a moment in this newsletter. I’m a big Dallas Stars fan; this shouldn’t come as news to anyone that has read my writing. A few weeks ago, the Stars clinched their first playoff berth since 2016, and a giant … Continue reading Volume 75: “Deserving” Success
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Volume 74: What Raising Kids Taught Me About Running a Company
People think being the boss is easy: you just collect the checks while everyone else does the work. Boy, are they wrong. It’s especially hard to leave the security of a good job to start your own company with a toddler and a new baby at home, like I did back in 1996. Which takes … Continue reading Volume 74: What Raising Kids Taught Me About Running a Company
Volume 73: Holding to Early-Year Go
As the calendar turns to March, most of us are in a pretty good groove for 2019. We’ve stopped accidentally writing 2018 on checks and other documents, and we’ve got a set direction for the year. For some, this is a very good thing: they’ve effectively looked at the changes they needed to make at … Continue reading Volume 73: Holding to Early-Year Go
Volume 72: Overcoming Culture to Hire
Every company in the industry has a reputation. Recruiters hear it all the time: candidates are totally open for new positions, they’ll go anywhere! Except… they won’t work for Company X, because they can’t stomach that owner’s political beliefs. They won’t go to Company Y, because their friend told them they knew someone that worked … Continue reading Volume 72: Overcoming Culture to Hire
Volume 71: Achieving Goals Through Metrics
This New Year, I want to talk about using metrics to achieve, and judge, progress towards goals. Very simply, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and as I’ve shared before, an idiot with a plan will often beat a genius without a plan. Measuring What You Want to Manage: This is an area that … Continue reading Volume 71: Achieving Goals Through Metrics
Volume 70: Looking Back
This time of year, we inevitably reflect on what we have, and have not, accomplished in the current year, and look forward to what we hope to accomplish next year. Benchmarking yourself is an important periodic task: it’s difficult to know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. So, for this article, … Continue reading Volume 70: Looking Back
Volume 69: Happy Thanksgiving
In the years that I’ve been doing this newsletter, I’ve taken many approaches to the Thanksgiving article. I’ve used it to relate industry issues to the Dallas Cowboys, who, frankly, have enough of their own issues this year. I’ve sent out plain-Jane “Happy Thanksgiving” cards. I’ve occasionally used it as a soapbox to tell people … Continue reading Volume 69: Happy Thanksgiving
