Tag Archives: business

Sunday’s Top Links (5.19.2013)

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Categories: Sunday's Links
rain

Welcome to this week’s top links!

1. The New Science Of Giving

An interesting look into the world of philanthropy and how one couple is trying to change the way it’s done.

2. How To Not Get Sidetracked

Not able to finish what you started? Learn the secrets to not getting sidetracked by other projects.

3. Brain Games

As part of the new show from National Geographic, Brain Games has fun challenges that coincide with each episode to test your aptitude.

4. Faking Powerful Body Language

In this talk from Amy Cuddy, learn how you can fake your body language to reduce stress and make you more confident.

5. How To Build Online Businesses

A series of case studies from Tim Ferriss examine how 5 different entrepreneurs launched successful online businesses in various industries.

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Sunday’s Top Links (4.28.2013)

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Categories: Sunday's Links
Mad Men Ads

Welcome to this weeks top links!

1. Ten Ideas Driving The Future of Social Entrepreneurship

At the 10th Annual Skoll World Forum we get ten ideas that can change the future of social entrepreneurship and make the world a better place.

2. What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?

Why do we really feel good about our work? Not money or joy. Dan Ariely explores what truly motivates us – progress.

3. You Should Do Everything Yourself

Not forever of course, but you should be familiar with every position in your company so you understand problems and realize ideas.

4. The Best Ads From The Mad Men Era

We all love the show and now we can see why the 1960′s served as the creative revolution in advertising.

5. Why Good Storytelling Helps You Design Great Products

Storytelling not only helps you sell a product but also design it. See how story can be used to make products both beautiful and functional.

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Sunday’s Top Links (2.17.2013)

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Categories: Sunday's Links
Busy

Welcome to this week’s top links!

1. Why Ideas & Products Become Contagious

Jonah Berger gives us his formula on why certain things go viral and what he sees in the future of several products & their potential.

2. Sweat The Small Stuff

In this TED Talk, ad man Rory Sutherland tells us how we often over-complicate solutions using clever, often hilarious examples.

3. Don’t Give Up Before It Gets Good

Thinking of quitting? Think again – sometimes you need to know when to stick it out because things are just about to get good.

4. Why Designers Should Be In Love With The Process

Yves Behar, creator of the Jawbone, gives us his insight into how design is a business model that takes you from idea to production to marketing and beyond.

5. Is Being Busy The Secret To Happiness?

Sounds odd, but being busy may be the secret to happiness – at least under certain circumstances.

And if missed last week’s links check them out here!

Sunday’s Top Links (1.6.2013)

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Categories: Sunday's Links
Sugar

Welcome to this week’s top links!

1. How To Find The Best Job For You

An interesting new tool, Sokanu, that can give you career advice and help find you the ideal job based on survey questions.

2. Top 10 Sustainable Business Stories of 2012

A look at green business, corporate sustainability and more in the review of sustainable business for 2012 from HBR.

3. Sugar, Sugar

Work your brain in Sugar Sugar, an interactive puzzle game with the simple goal of filling a cup with sugar.

4. Simplify The Internet

Information overload is more prevalent with the infinite distractions online – use this guide to simplify the internet.

5. Ads Worth Spreading

Some ads are just brilliant and this initiative by TED brings you the best of the best every year. Check out these ads worth spreading!

And find last week’s links here.

The Naysayers

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Categories: Musings
dont let

Everyday in our lives we believe in our ideas, our businesses, and our projects. This belief often leads to sharing your thoughts with friends, family, and peers, but when you do this, you need to be aware of a common reaction.

There will be those who are naysayers, who tell you your idea or business or project will never work. That you will fail. That you shouldn’t even try.

You should ignore these people. Letting others dictate what you do is not doing you any benefit, for several reasons:

  1.  You are not being yourself
  2.  You will always wonder what if
  3.  You won’t grow and learn from your mistakes

All these naysayers may very well be right and you may fail all the same, but with every failure comes a lesson, and without these pivotal points of learning, you’re more likely to not progress.

I’m not saying to turn a blind eye to constructive criticism, but do not let it be the sole deterrent for you not pursuing your dreams. There are too many variables for success that nothing is ever certain, so if you believe in it enough, then you should try, fail/succeed, learn, and grow.

Sunday’s Top Links (9.9.2012)

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Categories: Sunday's Links
Sunday's Top Links (9.9.2012)

Back again and hopefully for good. Enjoy this week’s links!

1. Be Inspired

Need some inspiration? This great post by Leo Babauta goes through 7 simple situations and lessons that can be used to find inspiration everywhere.

2. 38 Ways To Win An Argument

Arthur Schopenhauer was a brilliant German philosopher (1788 – 1860). This list of stratagems was excerpted from his book “The Art of Controversy” to shed light on various ways to win an argument.

3. Reinventing The Encyclopedia

In this TED Talk by performance poet Rives, we see how Wikipedia can recreate the nostalgia of good old encyclopedias. Chimborazo!

4. A Small Businessman’s Guide To Innovation

How can any small businessman innovate? Why your first idea is always wrong at a fundamental level, how to make it on a shoestring budget, and more!

5. 101 Common Sense Rules for Leaders

Check out this managers cheat sheet on simple rules for leaders that includes tips on body language, meeting deadlines, relationships, and more.

Small Business: Hard Facts

In this infographic we learn about the ‘Hard Facts’ of small business in America. There’s some interesting numbers in here that show the value of these business that are often overlooked by there more visible, corporate counterparts.

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Categories: Media Musings
small_business_infographic

Small businesses are the heartbeat of the economy and true entrepreneurship. Unfortunately we often focus on the few startups that make it big, turn into gigantic corporations and file for million dollar IPO’s down the line. In the meantime, the hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses are overlooked. I feel like its often the same in government, as they focus on bailing out the major corporations, giving them incentives and tax breaks, but we’d be served well not to forget about the little guys. In the following infographic we get more information on small businesses in America and the Hard Facts if you will.

Infographic courtesy of Focus.com and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Sunday’s Top Links (6.26.2011)

In this week’s links find out why great people are overrated, be entertained by Freddie W, find some insight on learning, satiate your personal curiosity, and discover a billionaires 10 rules for success. Enjoy!

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Categories: Musings Sunday's Links
Capture

Welcome to this week’s top links!

1. Great People Are Overrated

William Taylor, founder of Fast Company magazine, recently wrote an article for Harvard Business Review about the idea of how talented people are overrated in terms of their value. Its an intriguing article that generated a lot of conversation, resulting in a follow-up post that can be read here.

2. Kung Fooled

Freddie W, YouTube star, features in this short film about stereotypes and how they can play out in exaggerated situations. Freddie W is known for his high quality content, humor, and solid story lines, so be sure to check out his other stuff.

3. Lessons

This post by Chris Brogan talks about the simple truth that we never learn something until we’re ready to learn it. He touches on the dynamics of teaching, learning, and preaching. The preaching part especially relates well with my own post ‘On Giving Advice’ that you can read here.

4. Curiosity

The Discovery Channel has launched a new initiative focused on satiating your curiosity by answering all kinds of questions that people are interested in. I always enjoy these types of sites, despite the randomness of content they are always very informative. One of my favorites is I Always Wondered by Jarrett Green.

5. A New Billionaire’s 10 Rules of Success

The newest member of the billionaires club, Bob Parsons of GoDaddy web hosting service shares some advice with The Wall Street Journal. In this article we get his 10 Rules for Success, such as making decisions quickly and not taking yourself too seriously.

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Monday’s Top Links (6.12.2011)

In this week’s links learn more about common barriers of effective teamwork, the advent of DIY education, how preferences lead to choices, exploring the creative overlap, and the differences between how we can do work. Enjoy!

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Categories: Musings Sunday's Links
do-it-yourself

Sorry for the delay, was travelling and had some technical difficulties, but here’s this week’s top links!

1. Six Common Misperceptions About Teamwork

This HBR articles acknowledges the importance of collaboration for success, but there are a number of misconceptions that can seriously derail productive teamwork. These include harmony, fluidity, size, communication methods, leadership, and talent.

2. DIY U: The Future Of Education

Education has been a hot topic this year and one trend that is apparent is the movement of learning into a digital format, accessible to all. In this video, we are introduced to DIY U and the future of education, based on the new book from Anya Kamenetz.

3. Preferences Leading To Choices

This article from behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores the interesting situation in which we make many of our choices. More importantly he shows how we often alter our choices to match our underlying preferences, despite external pressures.

4. Exploring The Creative Overlap

In this Q&A with Janet Echelman from the TED Blog, we learn more about the creative overlap. She talks about the need for time to stumble upon the creative, the importance of collaboration across fields, and pushing the limits.

5. The Taskmaster Premium

Seth Godin does it again, as he compares and contrasts the work we do in two very different contexts. Either we can work for someone or we can work for ourselves, which do you think is more fulfilling?

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Sunday’s Top Links (5.29.2011)

In this week’s links understand the excuses we make when we expect failure, meet 100 creative business people, learn to embrace failure, find a new way to teach and learn, and explore the myths of creation. Enjoy!

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Categories: Musings Sunday's Links
Skillshare

Welcome to this week’s links!

1. Looking For The Right Excuse

Seth Godin talks about how we often are looking for the right excuse in preparation of something failing, and how this is often the first warning sign that things probably will not be going well.

2. The 100 Most Creative People In Business

Fast Company has put together a list of 100 individuals deemed to be the 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2011. Of course its essentially impossible to create such a list and I’m sure its mostly filled with well-known big names, but its an interesting list all the same.

3. The Power Of Embracing Failure

As part of Berghs School of Communication’s upcoming exhibition, ‘Could Have. Might Have. Should Have.’, a number of creative professionals share their thoughts on the fear of failure. In this video the esteemed designer Milton Glaser shares his thoughts.

4. Skillshare

Skillshare is a new platform that allows anyone to teach anything to people that are interested. I feel this is a great idea and further allows everyday people to share their knowledge and expertise. Although it has only taken off in New York so far, there’s great potential for such a platform.

5. Creation Myth

In this piece by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker, he explores how creation happens. More specifically he is focused on the development of the PC and the involved parties of Xerox PARC and Apple. He brings up some interesting points about creation and its myths.

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

SHINE: The Entrepreneur’s Journey

SHINE is a collaborative film project produced by Biznik.com, an online network for small business owners (mostly solopreneurs). In this short film, the story is shared of hundreds of entrepreneurs and why they do what they do.

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Categories: Media
shine

SHINE is a collaborative film project produced by Biznik.com, an online network for small business owners (mostly solopreneurs). In this short film, the story is shared of hundreds of entrepreneurs and why they do what they do.

I really enjoyed the wide range of perspectives that were covered in the film, hitting on both the highs and lows of this career path. It was also interesting to understand some of the psychology behind entrepreneurs, and their traits of novelty seeking. Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

The GroupThink Phenomenon

I’m currently reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson and he briefly touched on the concept of ‘groupthink’ and how it affects individuals. Groupthink occurs in a close group of individuals who make decisions based on avoiding conflict, conforming to the perceived expectation, and ignoring your individual beliefs.

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Categories: Musings

I’m currently reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson (great book by the way) and he briefly touched on the concept of ‘groupthink’ and how it affects individuals.

Groupthink occurs in a group who make decisions based on avoiding conflict, accepting the perceived expectation, and ignoring individual beliefs. Essentially this occurs in a group where the expectation and the need to conform often overrides the value of independent thought, despite the potential outcome. We see such behavior in business, where managers may agree with CEO’s or upper management, on the basis of not going against the authority figure even if they may disagree with a decision. A great example is seen in the cartoon below.

It seems that those who are conditioned to this groupthink mentality of not speaking up are more prone to behave similarly in the professional world, so the source of the issue needs to be addressed. The first instance of groupthink is often experienced in school, through the defined hierarchy, the social clicks, and the strict rules. The entire basis of education is more focused on the collective instead of the individual, which thereby ignores individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking.

Greater focus on personal development is paramount for the future of our education systems. At least thats my opinion, what do you think?