If we want more entrepreneurs, stop worrying about jumpstarting innovation. Focus on "minnovation."
In reality, the vast majority of real-life entrepreneurs around the world aren't innovators. They're minnovators — mixing small parts of novelty and creativity with huge helpings of flexibility scrappiness and a generous portion of hard-driving execution.
Public officials from Colombia to New Zealand are hoping to create the next Silicon Valley by building modern "innovation centers" for entrepreneurs. But that tactic may unwittingly backfire: overemphasis on innovation as the pillar of entrepreneurship could actually stunt entrepreneurial growth. Some potential entrepreneurs, who think entrepreneurship is only about innovation, don't even bother trying because they know their chances of being the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs are nil.
11.23.2009
11.18.2009
review of time management techniques
Are things you need to get done falling between the cracks? Does taking an entire day off seem impossible?
Maybe you need a time-management system.
Many readers seem to think they do, based on the email response to my recent column on the importance of taking time off. Dozens asked me to recommend a time-management method that would help them get on top of their work and home duties. In response, I asked a half-dozen executive coaches to help me pick the most widely used time-management systems—not just software tools or high-tech to-do lists, but behavioral-change techniques that help people get organized, clarify thinking and increase output. Then, I tried out for a week each of the three methods they mentioned most often—including one that involved a ticking plastic tomato.
Maybe you need a time-management system.
Many readers seem to think they do, based on the email response to my recent column on the importance of taking time off. Dozens asked me to recommend a time-management method that would help them get on top of their work and home duties. In response, I asked a half-dozen executive coaches to help me pick the most widely used time-management systems—not just software tools or high-tech to-do lists, but behavioral-change techniques that help people get organized, clarify thinking and increase output. Then, I tried out for a week each of the three methods they mentioned most often—including one that involved a ticking plastic tomato.
11.13.2009
'Staying with No' by Holly Weeks
From Harvard Business:
No one likes hearing "No," and few can resist pushing back — sometimes quite persistently. Roger Fisher, negotiation expert and coauthor of the widely influential book Getting to Yes, used to tell his law students that sometimes he wished he had written a book about getting to no and staying there. When disappointed family members or colleagues pushed back at his no, he would sometimes give up and give in.
Like Fisher, most of us find ourselves torn between our wish to stay with no and our desire to accommodate the person asking us for something. This tension is particularly acute when that person is a valued client or a senior colleague.
No one likes hearing "No," and few can resist pushing back — sometimes quite persistently. Roger Fisher, negotiation expert and coauthor of the widely influential book Getting to Yes, used to tell his law students that sometimes he wished he had written a book about getting to no and staying there. When disappointed family members or colleagues pushed back at his no, he would sometimes give up and give in.
Like Fisher, most of us find ourselves torn between our wish to stay with no and our desire to accommodate the person asking us for something. This tension is particularly acute when that person is a valued client or a senior colleague.
11.09.2009
When Should You Let an Employee Make a Mistake? by Peter Bregman
Seen on HarvardBusiness.org:
"Put my training wheels back on," Sophia said in a stern tone, "Or I'm not going to ride my bike!" She had just turned four that day and wanted to learn to ride a bike like her older sister. Now she wasn't so sure.
After a lot of encouraging and a little stubbornness of my own, she was willing to try. We agreed to practice 15 minutes a day until she got it.
A couple of days later we weren't getting anywhere. It's not that she wasn't trying, it's just that she didn't seem to be able to get her balance on her own.
Then it dawned on me: I was getting in the way. I didn't want my baby girl to get hurt. And I was afraid if she fell she would give up trying completely. So as soon as she tipped to one side — even a little — I caught her.
"Put my training wheels back on," Sophia said in a stern tone, "Or I'm not going to ride my bike!" She had just turned four that day and wanted to learn to ride a bike like her older sister. Now she wasn't so sure.
After a lot of encouraging and a little stubbornness of my own, she was willing to try. We agreed to practice 15 minutes a day until she got it.
A couple of days later we weren't getting anywhere. It's not that she wasn't trying, it's just that she didn't seem to be able to get her balance on her own.
Then it dawned on me: I was getting in the way. I didn't want my baby girl to get hurt. And I was afraid if she fell she would give up trying completely. So as soon as she tipped to one side — even a little — I caught her.
11.04.2009
11.03.2009
Six Social Media Trends for 2010
by David Armano
In 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order:
In 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order:
11.01.2009
Policymakers are turning their minds to the tricky subject of promoting entrepreneurship
UNEMPLOYMENT is creeping ever higher. In the United States it will soon exceed 10%. In parts of Europe it is closer to 20%. Around the world young people are finding it all but impossible to get a job.
So far policymakers have focused on rescuing the economy from free fall, boosting demand, however indiscriminately, and rescuing failing companies, however expensively (AIG received $180 billion-worth of government support). But policymakers are beginning to turn their minds to the potentially more rewarding question of creating tomorrow’s jobs, rather than trying to save yesterday’s. The buzzwords in government circles are entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital.
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