Did you know that 97.8% of the value of innovations goes to imitators? (“Imitation is More Valuable Than Innovation,” Harvard Business Review, April 2010.) White Castle led to McDonald’s; Diners Club lead to Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Walmart’s founder admitted to borrowing most of its practices from others and improving on them. In the financial services … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2010
Women and Networking
The Times Online from the UK, published an article in March called Why Women are Such Bad Networkers. It’s no good thinking that hard work will get you anywhere. If you want to make it to the top, you’re going to have to overcome your fear of socializing and start schmoozing like men. Of course, this caught my attention! Is this really true? Is it valid that women have a … [Read more...]
Greet Like a Ginsu – Part One
Post by Frances Cole Jones, contributing Women On Business writer Did you know it took over 600 hours to think up, agree upon, and refine the first ten seconds of the original Ginsu infomercial? (“In Japan, the hand can be used like a knife…”) The image – a hand karate chopping a tomato - was so arresting—weird enough to make the person with the remote stop flipping channels … [Read more...]
Bold Leadership
There are so many words to describe leadership and almost all point to action; leaders, the best leaders, act. This sounds so right, so intuitively right; yet, my question is about what is the right action? How do we know, how do we ever know if what we do when we act is going to be of benefit, going to move our lives, personally and professionally in the direction of … [Read more...]
Are You Homophonebic?
Are you afraid of using the correct part of speech or the correct spelling or usage of a word? Even more frightening, does it make you shiver when intelligent people (like your superiors) misuse common words that were differentiated at least in the 8th grade? With the advent of social networking, texting and IM'ing we commonly use acronym's like LOL and TTYL; and take … [Read more...]
How Far Will You Go for Networking?
Post by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer We will probably all agree that networking is highly beneficial to our careers for many reasons. We can gain valuable information, become known, develop relationships, acquire business leads and find opportunities for personal and professional growth. So, getting to know people both inside and outside your … [Read more...]
Do What You Love, Love What You Do
Post by Veronica Eyenga, contributing Women On Business writer Money is, oftentimes, the driving force in any decision we make in regards to our careers. But, what do you do when the career making you plenty of money isn’t exactly a career that you love? As entrepreneurs, we’ve all stared this decision in the face and chosen one path over the other. Love over money. Or … [Read more...]
The Importance of Telling your Story
We are far, far more interested in stories then we are interested in your sales talk. We're excited to hear the story of how you got into business. We're inspiried by the obstacles you face and how you overcome them. What is your story? Share your story and personalize your company's mission, vision, and values. Why do your customers support you? What does it mean to join … [Read more...]
Learned Anything Recently?
Are you one of those people who “knows” you should keep up with reading a certain periodical but has a tall pile of unread copies on your bedside table or office floor? The benefit continuous learning brings is summed up in one old-fashioned phrase “You don’t know what you don’t know.” What we do know takes us only so far. New information opens up new methods, strategies, … [Read more...]
Planners vs. Actors – How to find a profitable balance between over-thinking and jumping the gun
Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing Are you doing without planning or planning without doing? My own first reaction is to take quick action without taking the time to plan – a “Let’s Do it Now” mentality. I constantly have to stop myself from acting without planning, and allow some time to think through the strategy first. Others spend so much time … [Read more...]