Tag Archives: Culture

Great Business Partners Give You Keys to Success

Business grows through partnerships — sometimes just for a brief transaction and sometimes for life.  Despite the false cliche that “nice guys finish last,” my experience has been that being able to forge good partnerships forges keys to long-term success.  This is because very little… Continue reading

Best Way of Giving Thanks — Make It Personal

Giving thanks — and the power of making it personal — came across clearly in a recent article in Fortune magazine about Yum Brands.  They don’t allow managers just to give plaques or gifts — everything must have a personal note on it, or along… Continue reading

Company Culture Like Fine Wine or Great Coffee

Company culture gets crafted over time by thousands of small decisions, and a few large ones. Yes, the big decisions about the vineyard or varietal takes spectacular time. But I was struck by how many small decisions like the shape of wood barrel, the wood… Continue reading

Competitive Advantage Leads to Persistently Good Performance — Like Top Tier VC Firms

It is good to be the incumbent.  Usually.  They have often built competitive advantages over time.  Except maybe in the ever-changing world of technology, it is usually an advantage for a business to have been around a long time and to have established customers, suppliers,… Continue reading

Phantom Stock, Shadow Stock, or Virtual Stock — Employee Ownership (a series)

An employee who “thinks like an owner” is the Holy Grail — having employees for owners — as we have discussed in other posts.  Therefore, I have been writing a series of posts about tools that owners can use to assist employees to think like… Continue reading

Built to Last or Built to Flip?

Is your business built to last or built to flip?  No question influences your business strategy more than this one.  There is no right answer — either strategy is fine.  However, making sure that you have alignment throughout your organization on this question is very… Continue reading

Unique Businesses Are A Force For Good

The best businesses are not just about making money.  It is necessary to make money to stay in business, but it is not sufficient for the business to be worth your time.  That is why the strongest businesses, in my opinion, are the ones that… Continue reading

Investment Returns of Venture Capital vs Greybull Stewardship

Investment returns in venture capital as an asset class have not been good for a long time.  To me, that result is somewhat predictable.  Great investment returns are not going to come from anything where you have to swing for the fences with every investment… Continue reading

Should CEO’s, Business Owners, Founders Focus Inside or Outside?

Founders, CEO’s, and business owners need to be skilled at knowing how to balance many competing ideas, priorities, initiatives, and more.  We explored this idea in the post the Art of Balance that listed 20 continuums that founders, CEO’s, and business owners must balance constantly. How much to focus… Continue reading

Restricted Stock Good Alternative to Stock Options — Employee Ownership (a series)

Providing employees an opportunity to have ownership in your company can be a great tool to get alignment with the employees.  Restricted stock is one other tool to reach the Holy Grail of having employees who think like owners [December 9, 2012].  As I wrote… Continue reading