The Difference Between Very, Very Good Founders. And Truly Great Founders.
I consider myself a “Magna Cum Laude Minus” founder. Nothing I’ve done has ever failed (although I’ve almost failed many times). I returned 5x to my investors — twice. Look, that’s pretty good. And I think I was a pretty good CEO. But not the very, very best. And I didn’t really know what […]
The TACO Challenge
Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. In the US this is often confused with Mexican Independence Day, which is actually September 16th and is called Grito de Dolores. That made some people think of taco bowls and love Hispanics. Whatever. Our portfolio company mitú, the fastest growing digital video company focused on the Latino market in […]
Stuck in the Middle With You
Stuck in the Middle With You Reservoir Dogs … If it’s lost on you Google it It’s safe to say that all eyes globally are on the United States right now with an election that feels more like a script of House of Cards than the sad reality we’re living. There are reasons to be despondent […]
Never Ask Two People to do One Person’s Job
Why you do me like that? Over the year’s I’ve tried to offer some tangible, practical advice to help people communicate more effectively. I’ve weighed in on: But one thing really drives me nucking futs and that’s asking two (or more!) people to do the job of one person. If you want somebody to action […]
The Importance of Teams and Why the Best Leaders Cultivate Them
I was watching my favorite show on TV this morning – GPS (Global Public Square) with Fareed Zakaria. It is a hugely compelling show because Zakaria covers world issues that will affect all of us in ways that are accessible and with frameworks for processing disparate information. He brings knowledgable experts from varying points of […]
Understanding the Rich Tapestry of American Culture as Experienced Through Food
Like many immigrant families and many Jewish families I grew up around a kitchen table, often outside my house and experiencing food, culture, life and other people through meals. I remember fondly my dad (from Colombia) wanting to eat out of the house and experience the best multi-cultural foods one could actually find in […]
Research: Why CIOs fail and how to fix it
Digital transformation has placed CIOs under tremendous pressure. As expectations of IT increase, CIOs must adapt to a business environment where innovation, speed, and solution precision are essential. Unfortunately, the historical relationship between IT and the business has been fraught with difficulty. With IT failure rates estimated between 30- and 70-percent, CIOs have significant […]
"Trying to be nice" Becomes Less Important For Developers As They Gain Experience
No, I didn’t say this, but 56,033 developers in 173 countries who responded to recent Stack Overflow’s developer survey did. I have always enjoyed going through these surveys to validate my several hypotheses and learn new things. I would strongly encourage you to go through the results from the most recent survey here. Here are some interesting […]
20 influential chief information officers
The CIO role has come under considerable scrutiny because enterprise technology is now more strategic than ever before. The shift toward strategic IT has happened with the growth of business models that rely on technology platforms. In summary, digital transformation has accelerated change in the CIO role from infrastructure provider to innovator. 20 Influential Chief […]
Why You Should Put Yourself Out There and Try New Products
In 2006 I started using Facebook and most of my friends & colleagues thought I was strange. They thought it was like MySpace and why did I need a MySpace page? In 2007 I started using Twitter and most of my friends & colleagues wondered why people would care what I ate for lunch. […]
Some Thoughts on Leadership Going into 2016
Having time to think about “leadership” at most startups feels like a luxury. It feels like something you could turn your attention to once you have tens of millions of dollars and a large staff to run operations and you could step back from it all and think about how to lead. The reality of […]
Don’t Fear Business Process Change. It’s (Usually) a Good Thing.
Recently I was having a discussion, not quite a debate, but a discourse with an extremely smart VC — far smarter than me — who was relatively new to SaaS, having spent more time in B2C. Like a lot of folks tip-toeing from B2C to SaaS, his first stop was in freemium. He was obsessed with […]
Personal disruption: Practical advice for corporate innovation, transformation, and leadership
Before writing her most recent book, titled Disrupt Yourself, author Whitney Johnson was a business partner with superstar thinker Clayton Christensen, who pioneered the concept of disruptive and sustaining innovation. In the book, Johnson urges readers to apply Christensen’s principles of disruptive innovation to their professional career. She believes that applying these principles to oneself […]
CIO survival skills: Digital mindset and the impact on IT
Historically, IT departments consisted of large computers, located in air conditioned facilities, requiring specialized expertise to run, program, and maintain. Given the complexity, cost, and difficulty of using these early computers, IT staff were the high priests and business users did not have direct access to the machines. In 1967, computer architect Robert S. Barton […]
How to Know if You Have ADD and What to Do About It
Let me start the post with three statements 1. I have attention deficit disorder, it is a real condition, I have been diagnosed including having radioactive isotopes through my brain to map my development and yet I’m a leader, I have accomplished much, I did well in school and went on to earn a master’s degree […]
