Category: Business Process

The best way to get around the devil and all his advocates is to crank up confidence stage by stage.

• Stage 1: Seed money to develop concept
• Stage 2: Small bed to develop strategy
• Stage 3: Medium bed to model in test
• Stage 4: Large bet to launch in market

It was pioneered by oil entrepreneurs who lacked certainty about which wells would produce black gold and which would fizzle. It was further developed a favorite venture capitalist to lacked certainty about how ideas, markets, and business models would combine to produce profits.

From “The Designful Company” by Marty Neumeier

Image by Jörg Prieser from Pixabay

Business has a much broader positive impact on the world when it is based on a higher purpose that goes beyond only generating profits and creating shareholder value. Purpose is the reason the company exists. A compelling sense of higher purpose creates an extraordinary degree of engagement among all stakeholders and catalyzes creativity, innovation, and organizational commitment.

From “Bourgeois Dignity” by McCloskey as referenced in “Conscious Capitalism” by John McKay CEO of Whole Foods Market

Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash

I’ve worked with exceptionally successful people in the entertainment and business world. Each of them has taught me something about the minds of exceptional people.

They have confirmed my belief that the ideas people choose to have about themselves largely determine the quality of lives they lead. We can choose to believe in ourselves, and thus to strive, to risk, to persevere, and to achieve. Or we can choose to cling to security and mediocrity. We can choose to set no limits on ourselves, to set high goals and dream big dreams. We can use those dreams to fuel our spirits with passion. Or we can become philosophers of the worst kind, inventing ways to rationalize our failures, inventing excuses for mediocrity.

From “How Champions Think” by Dr. Bob Rotella

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Jack Ma of Alibaba thinks almost anyone can be successful if they really try hard.

Here are three of Ma’s keys to success in business that don’t require any special knowledge, money or connections.

Thinking differently is your power. “If everybody agrees, then there is no opportunity,” Ma said in Paris. When everybody else believe it you have no chance. When only few people believe it, you believe it, you prove it, that’s your chance,” Ma said in Paris.

Be like Forrest Gump: Never give up. Ma is inspired by Forrest Gump in that respect: “I love Forrest Gump,” Ma said. “Simple — never give up.”

Use what skills you have. “I know nothing about technology, I know nothing about marketing, I know nothing about [the legal] stuff,” Ma said in Paris. “I only know about people.” So Ma used that. He had learned how to inspire and empower people in his first job, when he was an English teacher, and he translated that into inspiring and encouraging his team.

From “Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma: Almost ‘everybody can be successful if you really try hard’” by Catherine Clifford

Photo by Hassan OUAJBIR on Unsplash

Founded in 1969, the the Project Management Institute (PMI) sets standards for the project management profession. It has 454,000 members in 180 countries.

According to the PMI there are five process groups:

1. Initiate
2. Plan
3. Execute
4. Monitor & Control
5. Close

Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

There is a new reality. Today anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few bucks or even free. One person can do the job of two or three, or in some cases, and entire department. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is simple today.
You don’t have to work miserable 60-80-100 hour weeks to make it work. 10 – 40 hours a week is plenty. You don’t have to deplete your life savings or take on a boatload of risk. Starting a business on the side while you keep your day job can provide all the cash flow you need. You don’t even need an office. Today you can work from home or collaborate with people you’ve never met who live thousands of miles away. It’s time to rework work. Let’s get started.

From “Rework” by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash

American business centers around the ability of the truly talented inventors or entrepreneurs to have the freedom to build their own happiness.

This happiness is about letting them develop on their own, which, for the truly talented, will lead to a greater happiness of the society. This is the case for “going it alone.” Collective organizations are threatened by the truly talented since, in reality, those people do not require the team. The team requires them.

From “Teamwork vs. Going It Alone” by Walter Johnson

Photo by x ) on Unsplash