MAPping Company Success

Entrepreneurs: Alexey Semeney’s AtContent Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess As many of you know, Nick Mikhailovsky, my long-term Russian business partner, is a successful entrepreneur and active in the Russian startup community. He introduced me to his circle and working with these Russian entrepreneurs is an ongoing pleasure. I worked with Alex and besides loving the idea of AtContent I found his story of how to get hired as an expert team when you have neither expertise nor a team creative...

Ducks in a Row: Rudeness Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess I have little tolerance for what I perceive as rudeness. However, a jam-packed, always-on, socially-enabled lifestyle combined to varying degrees with a me-centric view of the world appears to be driving a rising tide of rudeness in people of all ages. Is there anything else going on beyond the obvious? Perhaps part of what comes across as rudeness is merely misunderstanding. Perhaps the difference between such actions as...

Entrepreneurs: It Takes a Village Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess Branson says, “Do well by doing good.” Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The women of Water Valley, Mississippi have embraced both attitudes. But why limit your entrepreneurial energy to just a business when you can save a town at the same time? What does it take to change the world or at least your little corner of it? Desire and belief. A passionate desire to push the change and a deep belief that...

Surprise Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess I know this sounds like a joke, but it really happened. The comments below were part of a larger discussion regarding role, responsibilities and expectations. The discussion was at the request of a boss as a final effort to turn a new hire around before the end of his probationary period. It takes a lot to get to me, but 40 minutes into the conversation the words I uttered were pure sarcasm. I said, “The world does not revolve around you.” His...

If the Shoe Fits: Startup Passion vs. Specific Passion Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here Who do you want to hire? The person who passionately wants to work for a startup or the person who passionately wants to work for your startup? Think about it. Who will contribute more? The person who always wanted to work in a startup; whose passion is engaged by the mere thought of working in the...

Expand Your Mind: Who Pays Taxes? Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess Tomorrow is T day (if you aren’t prepared I hope you have filed your extension), so it seemed like a good time to look at who pays what. No new books meant President Obama’s income is down nearly a million, but he still paid 20%. President Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported adjusted gross income of $789,674 in 2011 and paid just over 20 percent of it to the federal government in taxes. Whereas Mitt Romney is paying 6% less...

Quotable Quotes: Taxes Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess April 15; day of dread—or not, depending on whether you’re due a refund or not. And believe it or not, I even managed to avoid blah blah tax quotes from politicians. Are you impressed? Taxes go way back as does the difference between who pays; as Plato said, “Where there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.” Ben Franklin’s words are probably the most famous and repeated tax...

More than Money Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess I’ve often cited Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers regarding right time/right place luck—often an accident of birth. For example Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy and Scott McNealy were all born between 1953 and 1955 Another example of right time/right place is found in Harvard’s MBA class of 1974 as chronicled by Laurence Shames in The Big Time: The Harvard Business School’s Most Successful Class & How It Shaped America, originally...

Ducks in a Row: Culture I/O Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess Culture is today’s focus; it is considered the reason that companies succeed or fail and whether innovation will flourish or wither. Culture is researched, dissected, written about and discussed; is culture a set of specific rules or a moving target, amorphous and difficult to pin down? Perhaps it’s more like a computer, with core hardware and constantly changing software. In computing, the term I/O refers to input, whatever is...

Ducks in a Row: Spread the Wealth Pro and Con Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess I’m not really a sports fan, but I read the NYT and occasionally an article that focuses on the human side as opposed to the play intrigues me. That’s how I ended up reading about Jeremy Lin and using him as an example of how easily bosses miss their real star talent. In mid-March another Knicks story caught my eye. [Coach] Mike D’Antoni and the Knicks parted ways Wednesday — an event that seemed fated once the...

April Leadership Development Carnival Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess Seems like only yesterday, but here we are again; the first Monday of the month and the newest Leadership Development Carnival hosted this month at by Tanmay Vora at QAspire. Tanmay has dedicated this month’s Carnival to Earth Day on April 22. Dan McCarthy guides us on How to Discuss a Problem with Your Manager. Dan was recently reminded by a younger employee how intimidating it can be for an employee to bring up an issue...

Quotable Quotes: April Fools Day Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess Can you believe? Q1 is over, done, gone and all we have to show for it is a day especially for fools. So on this day dedicated to fools and foolishness I offer you up some foolish words of wisdom. Way back in 1894 Mark Twain wrote a book in which the main character, Pudd’nhead Wilson, says, “This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.” A home truth if there ever was one....

If the Shoe Fits: Pivot to Feel Good Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here Pivots are the name of the game, but why would someone go from founding a commodities company in Dubai (that died when the economy crashed) to creating an e-commerce site offering merchandise from socially conscious startups supporting a wide variety of causes? “What I was doing before was incredibly unfulfilling.” So...

Expand Your Mind: the Talent Force, AKA, People Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess Today we look at some interesting commentary on the state of the talent force (I positively detest the term ‘human capital’); some new and some seriously old. Companies frequently hire from the outside based on the idea that new blood is good for the organization, but is it? According to Wharton management professor Matthew Bidwell, “external hires” get significantly lower performance evaluations for their first...

Entrepreneurs: Answers to Your Questions Post from: MAPpingCompanySuccess I ended Tuesday’s post about micro cultures by saying, “That’s why cultural fit or, at the very least, cultural synergy, is the most important trait to look for when hiring at every level.” The result was several phone calls and a few emails asking for specifics. I’ve offered specifics multiple times over the years, so just click the links for the answers. How to check cultural fit ; and how to avoid bad hires and wrong...