Spanish Proverb

People have a huge impact on your life. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,” says American entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn.

You should think about the people you are associating with the same way you think about what you eat and how you’re exercising. Here are a few examples on just how poignant this one reality can be.

The “PayPal Mafia” is a group of former PayPal employees and founders who have since founded and developed additional successful technology companies such as Tesla, Inc., LinkedIn, Palantir Technologies, SpaceX, Affirm, Slide, Kiva, YouTube, Yelp, and Yammer. Most of these so-called members attended Stanford University or University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at some point in their studies.

Why do we denigrate a smoothly run southern Mediterranean conglomerate with tight hierarchical...

Sunk Cost Fallacy Theory and Knowing When to Leave the Casino.

Anyone miss the blackened fingers from reading your daily newspaper to get your news in the morning?

Any urbanites out there reminiscing about folding the paper into columns so you could read the newspaper while strap hanging on a roller-coaster-like subway ride?

When did we stop getting our daily dose of news from tree pulp?

Excite was launched in 1995, think of it as another Yahoo. A person could get news, weather, a search engine, email address, instant messaging, stock quotes and a customizable user homepage. Excite was the 4th most visited website in the world. Excite even negotiated a deal with AOL, where AOL agreed to make Excite its exclusive search and directory service. DOJ Antitrust Unit is still preparing the briefs on that one. If you remember AOL and how big it was at the time, this deal was a massive win for Excite. In ’99 Excite was acquired by @Home network. This merger of two internet tech...

Franchising is a form of business by which the owner (franchisor) of a product, service or method obtains distribution through affiliated dealers (franchisees). This type of license grants a franchisee access to a franchisor's proprietary business knowledge, processes, and trademarks, thus allowing the franchisee to sell a product or service under the franchisor's business name. In exchange for acquiring a franchise, the franchisee pays the franchisor an initial start-up fee, management and/or annual licensing fees.

The franchise business model has an interesting history in the United States. The concept dates to the mid-19th century, when two companies - the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company (we were an agrarian economy in those days) and the I.M. Singer Company - developed organizational, marketing and distribution systems recognized as the forerunners to franchising. These then novel business structures allowed McCormick...

Michael Buffer, Emcee Extraordinaire Introduces The Retail Rumble.

Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare of Business Strategy

In this corner weighing in at an imposing, muscular 240 pounds is the heavyweight HM/LV. In the opposing corner weighing in at meagerly bantam weight of 118 pounds is the lightning quick HV/LM. Now keep it clean and no punching below the profit margins.

Today’s business environment offers us rapid technological evolution, an ever-changing retail landscape as well as amorphous customer trends. Some companies have become infamous for their fast sale-cycles and large customer attrition. Back in the day when I was still wet behind the ears, we were taught high consumer attrition equated to weak business models. However, some of these aggressive folks generate positive cash flow. Closing high volume transactions at incredibly low rates; perhaps with supplementary accords like one-time set-up fees, or a term contract, these fishermen cast wide nets.

Leonardo’s Mona Lisa and The Joys of Compounding

This portrait below of a noble woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day, and seated at the foreground of a mountainous landscape, is an instance of Leonardo’s sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling. The Mona Lisa ‘s enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal fame. Guys love it when girls play hard to get.

Also, of legendary fame, albeit in a much less sensual manner, are Warren Buffett’s annual letters to his partners within the financial industry. This letter is anxiously anticipated by his loyal Omahans. I refer to one going back to 1964.

Buffett loquaciously espouses:

“ Since the whole subject of compounding has such a crass ring to it, I will attempt to introduce a little class into this discussion by turning to the art world. Francis I of France paid 4,000 ecus in 1540 for Leonardo da...

Now Wishing You’d Taken That Speech Class in Middle School…

For those of you with a sweet tooth, you will relate. To treat a cavity, a dentist removes the decayed portion of the tooth and then “fills” the void created. Fillings are used to repair cracked or broken teeth and those worn down from nail-biting or grinding. First, the dentist will use a local anesthetic to numb the area to be filled, followed by a drill, air abrasion instrument or laser will be used to remove the decayed area.

We can all agree this is not a pleasant act.

“Filler Words” have the same effect on conversations — as well as my ears. These words; or more precisely: utterings, are such a part of the common vernacular I am going to resist the urge to list any of them.

Often, these ticks of speech serve as crutches when we find ourselves unnerved. Whether distracted or at a loss for what comes next, it is easy to lean on filler words. Friends, this...

Not since that fateful historic crossing of the Delaware River have so many suits left Trenton for Dover.

That heroic image of General George Washington crossing the half frozen Delaware River on Christmas during the Revolutionary War was etched in our minds in childhood. For me it was the Muppets version that left an indelible image on my moist, youthful intellect. With 5,400 troops, Big George ( Martha ‘s nickname) hoped to surprise the Hessian mercenary forces celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. Unsteady from the prior evening’s revelries, Washington’s men quickly overwhelmed the Germans’ defenses, and by porridge time the town was surrounded. While the strategic advantages of this skirmish were not substantial, the positive psychological affects were astronomical, as the Patriots had recently suffered the loss of New York City and other strategic points in the region.

 

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Distinguishing your Brand and Products is No Fairy Tale.

True originality is difficult to achieve. When it comes to products, logos and branding that are entirely unprecedented, they are few and far between. Your company can outsource to a white shoe Madison Avenue PR firm, source bespoke fabrics, create unique designs but that does not assure relevance to a persnickety public.

Iconic brands are a cultural phenomenon that inspire unbreakable loyalty in their following. Greater than its products or services, an iconic brand identity has such a strong influence and reputation within an industry that it needs no introduction. Nike Swoosh. Golden Arches. Prancing Horse.

Iconic brands, whether subliminal or overt, are experts in psychological marketing. These are businesses that have spent years developing a unique identity that advocates ideas and concepts that resonate with the people they want to sell to. As iconic brand identities play an important role in their...

Where Is This Renewed Interest In Outer Space Coming From?

Our fascination is no longer limited to interesting scientific endeavors relying on the radio transmissions of go-kart sized satellites. Every corporate bigwig is bringing his toy rocket to the Board Room sandbox. Elon Musk’s Space X has established the commercial viability of its Falcon 9 Rocket, the first orbital class rocket capable or reflight. Jeff Bezos has undertaken some lofty goals with his Blue Origin. He believes “that in order to preserve Earth, our home, for our grandchildren’s grandchildren, we must go to space to tap its unlimited resources and energy. Like the Industrial Revolution gave way to trade, economic abundance, new communities and high-speed transportation — our road to space opens to the door to the infinite and yet unimaginable future generations might enjoy”. Overnight moon rocks, anyone? Do not forget the O.G. of modern space spin...