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Integrity is fragile, critical and expensive.

Problems are opportunities. What will crisis drive you to do?

What does the Singularity invite us to ignore?

Stop bleeding brilliance. Find a pinnacle. Climb together.

Were wicked problems once wicked goods. What flipped?

In what ways will you do which things that change what course to what end?

For impact investment to thrive, the castle needs a foundation.

Drive investment: deliver results, be precise, embrace complexity and create clarity.

What changes when we get more makers?

When life is busy, advice is a third-level need.

Two essential decisions lie between you and greatness.

How to avoid getting scammed by foresight vendors.

Business innovation starts on the inside. And, more often than not, it begins with No instead of Yes.

How pressing, playing the odds, and driving results changes the game.

This category covers issues in business and strategy for entrepreneurs, SMEs and large corporations.

To enjoy consistently superior performance, you need to know where to focus your practice.

Strategic fit, between the character of place and local industries, increases investment success.

For small companies, awkwardness is an oft unappreciated asset.

Which rituals for business would remind us of what matters most?

Seeking innovation in only new places means giving up on the value and principles intrinsic in old technologies.

Timeless principles matter

I’ve been lucky and had good teachers. The best encouraged my natural interests. One of these passions, probably inspired by countless fantasy novels growing up, is the timeless and often ancient principles of art, architecture, literature, philosophy…

Help us choose our logo. List your three favourites and the reason for your choices.

Small businesses, gazelles, and large corporations all face enormous pressure to grow. This pressure exists whether or not growth is a good idea.

Brilliant CEOs look like bullies. Good boards know better.

Goalies only stopped being twitchy when they started getting coached. Who helps quirky CEOs?

What you anticipate in the future is a product of your past and everything you count meaningful right now.

How the character of place influences and shapes everything it makes.

When we build tools for decision-makers, we follow two intentions: Build simple tools and honor complexity.

“We can locate almost anyone for anyone anywhere, and we are ideologically promiscuous.”

- Louis, French informer, from the movie Munich, 2005

This site explores business, foresight, intelligence, metaphors, and, at times, the life of its author –-…

How lessons learnt twenty years ago are changing the business I am a part of today.

The best writers arc their stories to intriguing and unexpected ends. Can we arc businesses too?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, History:

“Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind, and when the same thought occurs to another man, it is the key to that era.”

What is your revolution? When will you…

From Henry David Thoreau’s journal:

“Find out as soon as possible what are the best things in your composition and then shape the rest to fit them. The former will be the midrib and veins of the…

Here’s another question for Chris, Siona, and Dave: What is a facilitator compared to a host? And compared to a coach? And finally, compared to an artist?

I ask because people keep suggesting I’m…

How do we get started on a path to doing things that express our genius?

It was hot. Having Chernobyl just a few hours away didn’t help.

I was lying on my back, slung between two seats in the bottom of the row boat. My self-appointed advisor sat sweating in the bow. His fat white…

I battle an internal suspicion that I’m too naive for business. Maybe I think too big, measure obstacles as too small, and expect too much? But maybe we live too small, ask too few important questions, focus on the middle…

Within my small circle of aquaintences, Blue Ocean Strategy is popular again. Reading it through for the third time (the last time was more than a year ago), the book is so smooth and so rich compared…

Before moving on to a review of John Ruskin’s book, On Art and Life, there’s one more bit to synthesize from the first two (here and here). Trouble is, I’m not sure how to…

After finishing New World, New Mind I was convinced of two things. First, more attention is needed around staging our thinking processes. Second, the authors didn’t had no idea how to do it.

So, while Cuban waves tickled…

Our ability to understand issues is increasing exponentially but our mental hardwiring isn’t being upgraded. We understand more every day but instinctively respond to events like monkeys.

Can a group of eclectic and divergent innovators pick winners in ways “experienced” veterans can’t? Is experience all it’s made out to be when the game is new ventures?

In an offline note a good friend challenges the concept of new, tailor-made companies. Instead he asks, “What about companies that need tailors … companies that need a new dress, ugly companies, those ones that need new shoes…

I keep running into amazing people. Each one stuck in a job that uses a tiny part of what they’re great at. Here’s a plan to use a bit more.

Henry David Thoreau’s taste for life is, for me, unmatched in its perception, power, and vitality. From earnest to silly, most of it sings. His journal … it’s like watching Michelangelo whittle. The rippling strength of a master at play.…

Here’s an unsolved riddle: How do we get the minds of widely dispersed, brilliant people to focus on critical problems/opportunities? How do we synchronize greatness?

Dave Pollard brought this up a few days ago. He writes:

“……

Innovative brilliance is fortuitous. It’s an accident. The challenge is moving beyond serendipity and to intention.

How do we invite brilliant people to try and fail quickly, over and over again, in very small ways?

When do we get to play? Why does brilliance need an excuse?

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations:

“When an object presents itself to your perception, make a mental definition or at least an outline of it, so as to discern its essential character, to pierce beyond its separate attributes to a distinct view of…

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, Roman Emperor from 161-180:

“… the passing minute is every man’s equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours. Our loss, therefore, is limited to that one fleeting instant, since no one…

I’ve been working, since the canoe trip this summer, to refine a few of the most important pieces I’ve written about on this site. These ideas are important to me as I seek to understand both my way forward and…

Life bulges with banality. Quantifiers like unanimous, majority, and average somehow dominate decisions. If it’s at least above middle, then it’s worth doing.

Even vices like poker and tatoos can finally trumpet their triumph at conquering the middle-class. Yet, would…

This summer’s canoe trip was, for the most part, a fairly placid experience. Smooth water, subdued weather, genial wildlife.

But there is a stretch of river where things get pretty inspired. Rounding a corner the river suddenly picks up…

Thoreau’s prose turned to poetry:

it is only when we forget
all our learning
that we begin to know.

to conceive
with total apprehension
approach it as something
totally
strange.

if you…

When you dream of an ideal space to do what you do best, what does it look like, sound like, and feel like?

As written yesterday – Thoreau was tuned to nuances in life that most of us pass without noticing. More than that, he recorded the observations and, by the account of many others, he regularly revisited and rewrote those…

Might seeking a future be short-sighted if it keeps us from seeing where we are?

It’s been surprising how much people have resonated with the canoe trip stories. Not just the “week away” part … actually, not that part at all.

Interest has been in the expression of that trip. The emerging strength of the…

From the Thoreau blog:

“The poet is a man who lives at last by watching his moods. An old poet comes at last to watch his moods as narrowly as a cat does a mouse.

I omit the usual—the…

By becoming present, focusing on moments exerts enormous attention.

My Dad, brother, brother-in-law and I just finished a week-long canoe trip around the Bowron Lakes circuit in B.C.. It was wonderful.

The lakes run along the foot of several mountain ranges. Peaks rise up on either side to tower…

Time away brings introspection.

Long hours in a canoe give lots of room for thought.

While I sort through those ideas – here is a compilation of favourite ideas from the past. It’s a series of posts about purpose,…

As investors we ask a lot of questions. It’s the part of the job I enjoy the most.

I’ve always been attracted to important questions … this work has cemented that interest.

Here’s a question I found a while ago.…

From sites around the net: “brilliant”, “genius”, “inspiring”.

The world is begging for wonderful.

P.S.: If reading this via RSS – Go here.

While doing my MSc, I explored the economic costs of a massive ice storm in Eastern Ontario. One of the women on the project focused on the costs specific to maple syrup producers.

Maple syrup production is lovely – tucked…

What do you think of this? Is it a power worth using on trifling things like brow-beating gas boys or getting a window seat? It feels a bit more special than that.

A friend and I used to…

Retro post #143

So, I’ve been fiddling lately. Toying. Poking and prodding. A bit itchy I guess. I want to play a little. Something related to biomimicry I think.

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the study and imitation of nature. Taking inspiration for…

So, I’ve been fiddling lately. Toying really. Poking and prodding. Dilly-dallying. A bit itchy actually. I’d like to play a little. Something related to biomimicry I think.

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the study and imitation of nature. Taking inspiration…

A good friend and I were chatting about personal branding, it started with the regular hoopla: posture, piercings, language, work ethic, body odour, etc. Gradually we got to talking about how we perceive ourselves and how we each perceive the…

Retro post: No. 99

Philip Pullman in the Guardian:

“It’s when we do this foolish, time-consuming, romantic, quixotic, childlike thing called play that we are most practical, most useful, and most firmly grounded in reality, because the world itself is

…

Retro post #89

There are at least two ways to effect change.

One is to complain liberally and bitterly until noone can stand it
and the move is made. Many bloggers live here.

Another is to criticize by creating…

Answer both of these questions based on intuition alone. Who’s going to win the NFL playoffs this year? What is the future of your company? Bet you’re ready to answer both but only willing to put one answer on the…

Eccentricity comes from the Greek phrase “to prick”. I dream of working with eccentric people that dance within chaos and fragmentation.

To work with people that have embraced their brilliance. To work with people who are brilliant. People who intend to shine.

I want to work on innovation, creativity, and insight. I’m keen on educating for creativity and insight, creating markets…

Retro post #91

Great find by Johnnie Moore, John Kay’s article on Obliquity is excellent. Kay writes that goals are often best achieved when pursued indirectly – this is the idea of obliquity.

Like Johnnie it…

There’s an unobservable line between ambition and growth. Where movement can be too early, just right, or too late. When does growth stop and stagnation take over? When is a switch premature?

I don’t think the answer is outside us.…

David Thoreau Journal – July 13, 1857:

“The price of friendship is the total surrender of yourself; no lesser kindness, no ordinary attentions and offerings will buy it. There is forever that purchase to be made with that wealth which…

Before pitching, or flipping, try pinging.

This talk by Sir Ken Robinson is gorgeous. I’ve listened to it four times and watched the video twice. I’d love to meet him some day.

Even before I had my son I was passionately interested in education. Since he…

Ever looked at your CEO? Ever watched the Prime Minister when he isn’t speaking? I don’t mean: glanced at his shoes or hair style. I mean really looked – actually observed.

Did you see her eyes darting around the room,…

Look across all “great” achievements and imagine what it was like to be on the verge of those things. Imagine the youthful, burning passion from which that accomplishment was borne.

Look across the spectrum of actions and decisions and sacrifices…

Creating art and creating brilliant business can be a long, tedious process. But both require a set of intentions instead of a series of responses.

The difference between success and obscurity is self-knowing.

Intuition drives science and entrepreneurial innovation. Why doesn’t it play harder at the boardroom table?

The natural timing of life requires trust.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Hugh, you’re doing way more talks right? I think it’s so bizarre to be able to follow you around the world, watching/listening through all these little web portals. I got a question for you: In which conversation (

An adjective describing one who is full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

There’s been a big dust up between Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, and Werner Vogel (CTO Amazon).

The hubbub brings to a point several interesting dynamics:

1. Bloggers are…

Shel Israel and Robert Scoble are bloggers, the increasingly influential authors of the book Naked Conversations, and now speakers rising in popularity. Recently they were invited to join a caravan of…

Stuff I haven’t read that I think I ought to:

Wicked problems: Beyond Innovation: Richard at cph127 on peripheral vision, pattern experience, and solutions as questions when beating down wicked problems.

Technorati faves: I don’t get…

Invest in knowing what perfect is and then spend the time to build it.

Focus on your recipe.

Guidelines for conversations with busy people.

Jason Fried (37 Signals) posted about embracing obscurity.

“The beauty of starting a side business is that you can fail in obscurity. Many people worry that they’ll languish in obscurity. Don’t worry about having a great idea that

…

My good friend, Bob Klager, just got a swanky new job. Details aren’t available but I wanted to celebrate his change.

Congrats Bob. I’m proud of you.

Seth wants less noise.

Citing the mounting tidal wave of blog posts he suggests that “by writing too much, too often, we’re trouncing on the attention of the commons.”

He’s right if the singular value of blogs is communication…

“To-do” versus “To-be”

Learning how to taste a room.

Pursuing definitive answers often erodes principles.

Become less. Be more.

What would the elephants say?

To see further, stand on giants.

You are invited to stop.

Every moment is the last we will ever have.

The first scene in the Matrix shows a woman, Trinity, sitting alone in a dark room. It’s obvious she’s hiding from something, wispering away on the phone.

Her back is to the only door in the room. With…

I’ve hit a snag with the Foundation Series. It reads like crap.

I’m still wobbly on what I ought to say so I default to obfuscation. Orwell said it best, “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.”…

Today my wife and I share our 8th anniversary.  And tomorrow is Valentines.

So … a love song.  Get the tune here.

“If single words like love mean more than ever before:
you’ve brought back life to

…

Eric Schwartzman recently interviewed Doc Searls.  In the chat, Doc talked about the ways he uses RSS.  Listening to that conversation I finally understood the tremendous power of RSS functionality.

Until now I’ve…

Christopher Alexander in an interview with Kenneth Baker:

“If you start something, you must have a vision of the thing which arises from your instinct about preserving and enhancing what is there. … If you’re working correctly,

…

Have you heard of Christopher Alexander? I’ve written about him before (1, 2, 3).

I’m fascinated by his ideas and have yet to read a single book he’s written. But his interests in…

platitudinous — plati·tu’di·nous — a derivative of plat·i·tude (plăt’ĭ-tūd, -tyūd), a noun meaning a trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant. Without freshness or appeal because of overuse: banal, bromidic, clichéd,…

Every new seat at the power table must weather the intense scrutiny of all ordained power holders.

Perched precariously between a growing power holder and the ensconced, legacy power holders – every neophyte endures just one important question: Are…

To some, my thoughts on beauty and on power are contradictory. While juxtaposed, they aren’t opposite.

Most see Sun Tzu’s advice as the “Art of War” but a few see it as the “Art of…

To get inside with a power holder: see where they are vulnerable.

To see where they are vulnerable: stop watching them.

Just as you stopped watching the speaker, now stop watching the obvious power holder. Hiding behind a quiet…

The fledgling power holder is continually distracted by the need to build more.

That’s why they’re so negligent. They are looking way up above them and don’t see what’s happening where they are. This leaves them vulnerable, though they usually…

Debt is easier to generate than equity. This is as true for corporate-types as it is for entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs always max out their lines of credit. Max out yours.

In this case your credit is bandwidth. The time and resources…

The first job of every entrepreneur or corporate dilettante is to know your banker.

The mistake made by entrepreneurs is assuming their key resource is ideas. And corporate-types always mistakenly assume it’s knowledge.

For entrepreneurs the key resource is…

I’d like to start working through some parallels between entrepreneurs and corporate/bureaucratic types.

Before extending the role of any aspiring corporate player, there’s something to be said about the foundation that it’s built on — a common paradigm needs to…

Are you allowed to want to be a CEO?

I’m not sure if I do. And no one has ever asked me — except one lunatic headhunter. But isn’t CEOing something that requires an invitation?

Where else … name any…

What’s with the wheelbarrow? This is a placeholder where I want to begin to use and understand the humanity of tags.

More here.

Metatags: first derivative of thought.

Metatags are key to meta-knowledge…

I’ve been thinking about the things corporate salary-type folks could learn from entrepreneurs. It’s actually an old idea of mine … not really an idea I guess … more of a recognition — entrepreneurs have lots to teach innovators within…

From Paul Graham on How to Do What You Love:

“It might be a good rule simply to avoid any prestigious task. If it didn’t suck, they wouldn’t have had to make it prestigious.

Similarly, if you admire

…

randy — ran·dy (răn’dē) — an adjective meaning lascivious, lecherous, or if you’re a Scot, ill-mannered. Likewise, it has meant obstreperous, unruly, rampant (The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose).

Spotted at 43Folders, by…

Web 1.0 … 2.0 … 3.0 … is well ahead of me. I still muck around with tables, html, and color schemes. And my friends think that’s impressive — both of them.

But I could understand Jeffrey Zeldman and that’s…

[posted January 16, 2006]

Below is the purpose I had for sift when I started this experiment.

I’m still all in on those ideas but I think the purpose is quickly evolving away from purely entrepreneurs and purely business. Just…

Here’s a chore: Define what you’re worth for a day.

Don’t turtle and say it’s your wage; or if you’re an entrepreneur, what you pull down — you’ll miss too much.

Include your thought time, all the stuff you decide…

I love conferences.

There’s no better example of how dedicated we are to ignoring everyone else. Conferences are even better than meetings because we actually pay to be there. We pay for speakers to come just so we can…

Blogs are like flashers; books are like strippers.

Blogs give only a glimpse of substance where a good book builds to full revelation. Blogs present a snapshot of an idea’s evolution; a book constructs the idea from its creation

…

The Edge Annual Question — 2006

WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?

“The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What

…

 
These may grease success but they can’t ensure it.  Crappy looking, high quality still succeeds when high finish, low quality falls flat.  Even Seth’s site isn’t super…

In case I forget, in all the hubub of tomorrow: Merry Christmas.

Hope you have a rich time with people you love.

One late, introspective night in early 2003, I closed my eyes and typed till done. Dave Pollard’s recent post reminded me of this note to self:

If I dream about what would make me happy or content. Satisfied.

…

Whilst lolling despondently on the sofa: “When will I start doing the things I am great at? I keep doing things that help me be greater.”

Good friend in from old places: “Maybe guys like you just keep growing and…

In a Google-world, owning anything text based is a stretch. But somehow, Warren Buffet (renown investor, maker/breaker of fortunes, and deity of the stock exchange) has cornered the market on the phrase “circle of competence”.

“The most important thing in

…

A few months ago I was talking to a guy I grew up with. We were chatting about work. Me flashing over to Paris for international meetings and him driving truck. We had started out in the same place but…

Most play the game they’re given. Only a few create the games they play.

The company I work with invests in three areas: financial capital (of course), intellectual capital, and managerial capital.

Financial capital is really the grease that gets everything else moving. Without it there’s mostly friction, lots of heat, but little else.…

What’s with the wheelbarrow? This is a placeholder where I want to begin to use and understand the humanity of tags.

Metatags: first derivative of thought.

Metatags are key to meta-knowledge

Clay Shirky: “Taggers are…

While I haven’t been posting at all, I have kept up on my reading. This post by Dave Pollard is worth noting.

Dave has an incredible capacity for synthesis and generating copious insights across a wide range of…

Back to perfect, one million one-dollar products vs. one million dollar products, and all these entail:

- the kind of client

- the kind of product

- the kind of work

- the kind of peers

- etc.

In…

Not every opportunity is hidden.

I just spent a few hours hob-knobbing with Fed/Prov Ministers, Ambassadors, CEOs, and Commissioners. These events are always a frenzied fury of networking but fortunately I’m an accidental deviant and happened upon a glaringly obvious…

Holidays, long absences (or large abscesses), and in my case a gynormous move, threaten the very foundation of something like a blog. In reality a blog is incredibly fragile. Mostly carried by the resolve of a single author, a blog…

Johnie Moore on Hugh on marketing:

1. The tone of invitation. No hard sell, just the presentation of an interesting idea to take or leave as you please. No grandiose posturing.

2. The sprit of experiment. Selling isn’t

…

Hugh MacLeod from Jeff Jarvis on Dell:

“The thing is, when you start turning your products into commodities, you start treating your customers like commodities.”

Wondering: Is this what it takes to make a million $1…

The cool part of Albert’s story is its utility. There’s no riddle to solve. Just choices to make.

You can choose high design, narrowly defined clients, exceptional service, concierge-level attentiveness — and the lifestyle that goes with it.…

To me this is incredibly interesting. And maybe it’s obvious to the rest of you and you wish I’d clam up. But the gorgeous climax of these dynamics is the lifestyle and ether it affords Albert.

Ever been…

Thought I’d try an experiment: Pass protected posts.

My posts are sometimes a bit mysterious. Leave the punchline out. Let you think a bit.

I’m trying harder to see what sings for people. But I…

Compiling a list of lessons, this post presents a series of parables on entrepreneurism, perfect-for-purpose, and peerless innovation.

How being exclusive creates wide-ranging success.

Ideas are worth nothing unless executed.

The consequence of absolute understanding? Perfect expression. Graceful execution.

In the theme of all things gamble — Steve Pavlina on blackjack:

Novices miss golden opportunities.

“Novice blackjack players will almost invariably play their hands too conservatively. They’ll stand too often when they should hit, and

…

Stuck in a rut? Maybe these ideas will shake you loose.

(via Business Opportunities Blog)

Constraints define innovation rather than prevent it.

These guys just asked me to sign up.

“We deploy the world’s most developed expert network: the Councils of Advisors.”

Cool model, eh? And cool name. Who doesn’t want to be part of the swank Council of Advisors?

How could…

Rich…! on free:

“Think about it, cheap is probably one of the worst marketing strategies around, surely then it stands to reason that free, which is pretty much the deep-end of cheap, ain’t going to be much better,

…

Seth Godin on two kinds of writing:

“If you’re writing for strangers, make it shorter.

Use images and tone and design and interface to make your point. Teach people gradually.

If you’re writing for colleagues, make it more

…

I had a great conversation with Albert. Instantly piqued, I pummelled him with loads of questions:

How much advertising? None. Just word of mouth.

How long in business? 26 years.

How long just buying one piece of each

…

I just bought a pair of $750 eye glasses.

They’re made by a group of 25 year-old German “creators” (which is important … read on) and there is only one other pair in the entire city of Ottawa — Albert,…

Loved this mix between science and web-links.

Mike Grehan’s dad in Filthy Linking Rich:

“… in my experience I’ve discovered that looking for the million dollar deal is very difficult. Getting a million dollars from one person is

…

Found this on Asterisk.

Keith thinks it’s a great read for consultants — I think it’s a great read for entrepreneurs.

With exploding personal networks, niche-marketing, and tribal companies entrepreneurs need to starting acting…

I’ve been given several great career options recently. Two were particularly fetching:

1. Stay in government but raise the game to another level — Start helping the highest level bureaucrats identify, learn about, and build strategies on long-range issues facing…

I talked to Doug Hall last week — I’ve been trying to make a few important career choices and wanted his advice. He asked two questions: “where will you grow more” and “what adds more diversity”.

Growth and…

43 Folders has an excerpt of an interview with Brian Eno.

“Brian Eno … on the creation of “The Microsoft Sound” (the gentle little tune that plays when you boot your Windows PC):

…

I don’t deal in issues as weighty as racism or as complex as a Nasa space shuttle — but I do work on thorny and complicated problems. But I still see, as Patti just experienced, a deep desire…

If you are an entrepreneur, you need to pay attention to this post.

There is open source business like the business experiment and then there is open door business like Google, Red Hat, and Flickr —…

Not too long ago I wrote a series of posts on pitching. It was mostly for my own sake that I put those pieces together — I wanted to better understand what pitching actually meant and where it…

Yesterday, Hugh posted on trust and blogging. He said that he’s increasingly reluctant to do business with non-bloggers — that cog in the trust wheel needs to be there.

—

Seth Godin recently wrote…

More on viral marketing:

The rules: Create a new site and launch it on May 19, and build the most traffic or get the most Technorati links by June 9 — with no paid advertising.

The lessons:

- the idea…

Starting to see lots of open-source apps for business:

Open-source — Information Week
The Business Experiment
Blowfly

What would open-source mean for your business? How many decisions could you give to a crowd?

Good list of things to do this summer for your company — like a pre-winter check-up for your car.

Gambling. It’s on my TV, in my online ads, fills my email, and spams my blog. So popular, so suddenly — why?

Back in 3,500 B.C. young Egyptions were already gambling. Now, 6,000 years later, you’d think the hubbub would…

Science has posted 125 big questions that remain to be answered. 25 of them are described in some detail.

“It is not a survey of the big societal challenges that science can help solve, nor is it a

…

I could talk about “perfection” versus “getting it done”. Or I could show you.

Nosepilot versus LEVEL 10 DESIGN.

Who you going to hire?

John Moore got me reading the Business Week blurb on creativity.

In particular I like Jeneanne Rae’s business model for Peer Insight … might have to pirate that.

I was a bit surprised to read IDEO’s…

I love used bookstores; the messier the better. The owner can’t possibly know the value of all the books when they’re piled willy-nilly around the joint. I feel like a thief, pawing through the dark corners, earnestly listening for the…

I got one clients who’s going to hate this (if he follows this link, he’ll blow his cerebellum). But he’s well ahead of the pack now … he knows he’s doing it. But for the rest…

Rob’s asking some good questions about perfect. A few things to note:

- He’s talking about a small company.
- The pie shop is in a local, niche market.
- This story is about you.

Be huge in a small place. Be excellent in a big way. Look outside for innovation and inside for delivery.

I just spent three weeks in Alberta with my wife’s family. While we were there her grandmother passed away. At and after the funeral we spent a lot of time marveling at the impact of that little lady’s life. …

Defining a dream team board of directors can help you see where you have gaps that need to be addressed.

I used to plant trees in the summer to put myself through university. It’s tough work but it pays well.

Tree planting is one of those few jobs that are so hard, so miserable, and so deeply testing that…

This is fun stuff. Olivier Toubia, a Ph.D. candidate at the Marketing Group (MIT) has an article on Idea Generation, Creativity, and Incentives.

He writes:

“Idea generation is critical … However, there has been relatively little formal research

…

This article is a really tight overview of the principles of design.

I just keep saying this over and over but: designers have lots to teach entrepreneurs.

Design works because it’s a natural interface with the ways we…

Another believer in the advantages of innovating on someone else’s (or your own) creativity.

This is stunning.

I’m sure it will gum up in a matter of weeks, silly people will pile on the crap and Fred will abandon the feed but what a cool innovation. It’s such a great way to reach into…

ln the end I hope my clients don’t need me. Well, hope is a strong word — maybe it would be more honest to say that “should” be the case. I believe that my business will be more whole if…

A friend just handed me a chapter from Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline. In it Peter writes:

“At one of our recent programs, I talked to a manger who has worked in both U.S. and

…

I know I’ve been giving Dave Pollard props; but the guy does good work.

Today he has another piece I like. Today he’s describing four types of innovation and overlays it with the methodology from…

Turns out no one could comment for who knows how long. Sheesh.

Still not sure what the problem was but at least you can now comment. Though you may have to wait until I approve (again for reasons I don’t…

Just found an article at HBS that compliments the things I said earlier today.

Part of the strategy for small niche businesses: leverage the capabilities of other players in your niche.

Last Fall I bought a copy of Seed magazine to read their piece on Revolutionary Minds: 18 icons and iconoclasts who are redefining science. The story on mathematician, Erik Demaine, tattooed itself on my mind and…

I’ve got a rule. If I read and highlight more than 40% of an article, I don’t summarize it. I just send the whole thing.

In today’s mad rush for productivity, a paper worthy of being nearly half covered in…

There are two aspects of business that are immeasurably important but poorly understood. These are meekness and love.

Two of the companies I work with pay me to “think on their behalf – about the company’s strategic direction.” Know what…

So, I’ve got a baby right? And like nearly every other adult on the planet I’m always putting my face about one inch from his cute little nose.

When I’m with him, I’m always right up close and when…

Provocative post at Worthwhile.

Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind sees three forces that are shaping work roles: Abundance, Asia, and Automation.

“Abundance leads us to move from valuing “utility” to “significance” in the…

Below is a review of a new book by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne: Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant.

I’ve got a question, when sharks come to your blue…

Just finished reading Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

I enjoyed the book. One of the entrepreneurs I work with, the career coach,…

The good part of Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

The best part of the book is their Strategy Canvas. That paradigm alone…

Reviewing Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

Here’s the bad:

The authors forget (or ignore) something fundamental to business — all great innovations…

Ok, I’m back.

During the break — in between changing diapers, burping babies and battling a wicked cold, I’ve been thinking about this blog. What’s it for? Who cares? What now?

I asked a few months ago who was reading…

We used a labour coach. Maybe your company needs one too?

Decided life wasn’t full enough and tacked another start-up on the portfolio. A baby boy.

Huge initial investment but the pay-back is immediate. Fortunately it’s a growth industry with lots of potential. And it’s something my wife and I can…

… I just recently did a self-constructed readings course on design and creativity. For help on reading suggestions I talked to Galen Cranz at Berkley and Sara Beckman, same place.

If you’re interested I could send…

I love design, even if my vanilla background and black text don’t prove it. In grade five I discovered that Ms. Faulkner gave A’s for illustrated stories and B’s for the plain text version. By 13 I knew that ladies…

Having caught their attention with the 60-second pitch, you immediately followed with the 5-minute version and now you’re invited to do a full-blast presentation. How to?

Again, Bill Joss and Fast Company nail down next steps.…

The five-minute rundown, big brother of the 60-second pitch.

This is the last of three street-level bits of advice on pitch giving. Previously covered are 10 points for outlining your pitch and the first 10 seconds of the 60 second pitch. The three mistakes discussed…

Yesterday was the first of three pieces on creating a tangible 60-second pitch. Today is the second. For this I’ve used two points made by Mel Perchesky (don’t know who this guy is but his advice is good).…

Forsaking the metaphysical (1,2,3), today we get into the tangibles of a 60-second pitch. For this I leaned heavily on the advice of Bill Joss and an article in Fast Company called Perfecting Your…

Yesterday I laid out Brad Feld’s/Chris Wand’s 13 questions for entrepreneurs and said they would lay the groundwork for a ripping good pitch. Trouble is, once you do that work, all you really get is a ripping big…

While I’m busy fooling around with book lists, Dave Pollard’s dropping gems. He’s not only framed-up my initial idea but already started putting on the drywall. I guess that’s what you get for sharing ideas with bright guys.…

An aggregated, curated list of business books.

I’m on the hunt for guidance on the all important, little exercised art of 60-second pitching. Yesterday’s initial landscape got me started but I still need to put the pitch together.

In June of last year

One of my friends is a teacher. He’s told me many times that the best way to learn something is to explain it to someone else. Well I want to learn to do a 60-second pitch, so here goes.

Over…

Update: Dr. Ronald S. Burt from the University of Chicago backs up everything written here and adds his idea about “structural holes” — the notion that people can find opportunities for creative thinking where there is…

What’s with the wheelbarrow?

Related to metatags are memes.

Definition

From Wikipedia:

“Meme, (rhymes with “cream” and comes from Greek root with the meaning of memory and its derivative “mimeme”), is the

…

On the heels of my heartfelt yop – Frickin’ amazing vs. the long tail – as if guided by benevolent deities, I found “What really works.” With bemused resignation I note the publication date of July 2003 –…

Philip Pullman, Common sense has much to learn from moonshine in the Guardian:

“It’s when we do this foolish, time-consuming, romantic, quixotic, childlike thing called play that we are most practical, most useful, and most firmly grounded in reality, because

…

I keep a ongoing list of sift technologies: Little apps that are miraculous, instantaneous information sorters.

Andrew Grumet has made several that enjoy eminence in this category.

The one with the most quiescent potential is “Similar…

Maybe this is an old idea. Maybe I’m the last kid on the block to get it, but it seems to me that “frickin’ amazing” is the new normal and it’s not getting us much.

Read the marketing gurus. They…

Oh hey, this looks pretty good! Aggregation a la PEI.

Robert Paterson and Jevon MacDonald have started Marketing Filter and it has the promise of being an helpful sift technology.

Some interesting points are raised in…

In Presence: Human purpose and the field of the future, Peter Senge and others asked leading scientists and business and social entrepreneurs, “What question lies at the heart of your work?”

Jumps out out at you eh?

Makes…

When I started sift I was working with two entrepreneurs that seemed to be working about 12 hours daily.

Being so busy, these guys weren’t able to keep up with the massive amount of information available to them. My…

About 100 people (give or take 50) read this blog everyday. And I don’t have a clue what you’re coming here to see.

Outside of John Husband, Kevin, Alan, Evelyn Rodriguez, John Jantsch (only because I poked fun of him),…

Negotiation is the art of making someone offer as a gift that which is your chief design to secure and for many bootstrapping entrepreneurs it’s a core competency.

James K. Sebenius in “Six Habits of Merely Effective Negotiators” (HBR,…

I’m a bit late putting this up but Chuck Frey at the Innovation Weblog posted a helpful review of, you guessed it, innovation in 2004.

From the book, Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices, by Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria:

Lawrence and Nohria spin together lessons from biology and social sciences to describe a theory of human nature. The lessons they highlight apply to…

Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

“The wonderful thing about France is how all her perfections harmonize so fully together. She has possessed all the skills, from cooking to logic and theology, from bridge-building to contemplation, from vine-growing to sculpture,

…

Gary Hamel, Leading the Revolution

“Today you can buy knowledge by the pound — from consultants hawking best practice, from the staff you’ve just hired from your competitor, and from all those companies that hope you will outsource everything. Yet

…

…

Brad, at Feld Thoughts, writes about the importance of business measures. I’m glad he did because it confirms some recent suspicions I’ve been having.

Let’s compare three of my favourite entrepreneurs. The first is a lawyer…

1) Don’t work with bad clients.

2) Don’t work with bad people.

The great temptation for every entrepreneur is to take every dollar you can get and hire any cheap brain you can find.

Seth Godin covers this…

Scott Kisner, a contributing editor at Fast Company, has an interesting piece on what he calls “pure entrepreneurship.”

He says pure entrepreneurship “is often driven by a belief that a major shift is coming — and thus it’s…

“Why are you choosing this?”

That’s such a gorgeous question.

It’s complete answer either reveals:

- all the information included in decision making,
- the criteria by which choices are being made,
- the rank of alternative paths…

In the comments for Optimists die, I wrote something about hiring “sift bandwidth”. That got me thinking of advertising and in particular billboards.

There’s a billboard not far from my place that seems to be one of…

Sharp post by John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing (by the way don’t go to his main page with Firefox, that pop-up he has is super annoying – bad marketing John! Update: John fixed his pop-up!).…

When I was in graduate school I read an article describing the innovation methods of a successful entrepreneur. He keeps a hate list. It’s a list of everything he and his friends hate with all the violence of a bang-your-knuckles-when-your-wrench-slips…

Two days ago I sat down for lunch with a new friend. He recently gave up a secure job for a chance to do something new and more challenging.

He’s has a lot more experience than me in almost every…

Be amazing and make up for it – hire people that fill in your gaps.

Found on Bnoopy: a discussion of the Scotsdale Paradox.

Scotsdale was a high ranking US officer captured and imprisoned during the Vietnam War.

He said the first to die in the prison were the optimists. They…

Intellectual entrepreneurship is hard to understand – the key is hiding it inside practical entrepreneurship.

In the comments Evelyn Rodriguez writes of her decision “to write more stories and read more stories and put most biz books on the back-burner.” She’s been writing about this theme often lately, see

Poor writing is traditionally the plague of academia. So glory is due Gal Zauberman (University of North Carolina) and John Lynch Jr. (Duke University) for a great problem statement: When “Yes” is eventually followed by “Damn!”

Zauberman and…

Cluetrain Manifesto, David Weinburger:

“We don’t need more information. We don’t need better information. We don’t need automatically filtered and summarized information. We need understanding. We desperately want to understand what’s going on in our business, in our

…

Great find by Johnnie Moore, John Kay’s article on Obliquity is excellent. Kay writes that goals are often best achieved when pursued indirectly – this is the idea of obliquity.

Like Johnnie it reminds me of…

Mistakes teach more than success.

Counterintuitive? Experimentation means being willing to make mistakes. When I am willing to be wrong, I am free to explore unlikely alternatives. Alternatives are key to solving difficult problems.

Imagine a scientist afraid…

Andrew Phelps has a great idea. B-Side games. The idea is to package experimental games in the same boxes as the already popular. It’s an effort to drive innovation and fringe seeking. While I like that idea, I’m…

A man of science doesn’t discover in order to know, he wants to know in order to discover.
- Alfred North Whitehead

I spend a large part of each day getting information for other people. The requests come in…

So, this sells.

It sells not just because TED is cool but getting to see that guy and see TED and see the people raving is way more persuasive than reading about it. How expensive could it be…

I’ve worked with several entrepreneurs. It surprised me to realize how few of them write well.

Writing well would come in handy on a blog – of course. But writing emails, presentations, proposals, and business plans each require a steady…

I followed the crowd of slavering Hugh fans to Creating Passionate Users cause, you know, I want to be cool too.

Blind enthusiasm is being replaced by a healthy criticism of Hugh’s, and now Kathy’s, arguments. Headlines like…

There are at least two ways to effect change.

One is to complain liberally and bitterly until the rest of us can’t stand it and the move is made. Many bloggers live here.

Another is to criticize by creating (Michelangelo).…

The Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. One of this year’s winners:

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of

…

Hugh has a good post on the “ignorance premium.” He’s arguing that the fat bank of ignorance marketing is shrinking as other economies come online. I’d say he’s bang-on. This ticket is losing value – but I doubt…

Christopher Alexander just finished publishing a galloping 2,000 plus page treatise on design and living structures. There’s a small interview with him here.

Take away message: Uniqueness balances repetition.

Alexander talks about a tree full of leaves…

Make the pool bigger. Look out, not in. Look in the dark, not the light.

The principles of successful diets applied to successful business.

I’m re-reading Edward O. Wilson’s book, Consilience. He describes the biological conception of scale that I tried to illustrate below. He breaks up the magnitude of action by space and time. So, for example, brain synapses…

Hugh McLeod writes a hopeful piece about the future of corporate blogging:

We want the corporate tipping point to arrive for two main reasons:

1. It validates those of us who got in there early … in the

…

Robert Patterson highlighted a young company in PEI: silverorange . Amongst other things these guys are part of Mozilla/Firefox’s image team.

Their CEO Dan James published a letter to his team that expresses a…

I’ve been pondering the relationship between entrepreneurs/young companies and the ideas presented in James Surowiecki’s, The Wisdom of Crowds, and Malcolm Gladwell’s, Blink. Without further synthesis, I’d argue there isn’t one.

Sir Francis…

I haven’t been blogging long, but throughout these novice days I’ve picked some of the fads of the craft. One is: Blog it once and never revise it.

I understand why you wouldn’t want liberal revision. Changing the blog threatens…

I’ve been reading a fabricated debate at Slate between James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds, and Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink. I’ll be revising this post, I wanted to get it up…

sift leverages knowledge and thinks on behalf of entrepreneurs.

Knowledge is only valuable when it’s useful. And most entrepreneurs soon discover the paradox of newly emerging opportunities: you know more about your industry than anyone else and you don’t know…

Dear entrepreneur,

If you’re someone I want to work with, you don’t have time to read this. I’ll keep it short: If you want to keep innovating, you need my help.

My guess is around three years ago you had…

At least two things are true of me. One, I love coffee. Two, I’m a fiddler. Not the musical kind, the annoying kind. Always jigging around, tapping, rattling, bouncing, swaying – annoying.

Being a big fan of experiments, I started…

	Update: The author I had quoted asked that I not refer to his work. To accomodate his request, I have rewritten this post. January 6th, 2005 I recently read

…

A billion-dollar IPO for Johns Hopkins!?! William R. Brody, President of the Johns Hopkins University, is looking for money – or at least for some value. I think he’s found it.

Mr. Brody makes an interesting comparison: Google’s…

Do we blog because we want a voice or because we want to act like children?

I live in Ottawa. Today President Bush came to visit.

H-O-L-Y C-O-W! Cops: everywhere. Helicopters and airplanes all over the place. Super cool snipers sneaking around rooftops. Dogs, barricades, security checks, blinders, tents to get in and out of cars,…

One of my clients helps people make career decisions and he’s great at it. He’s also a great entrepreneur. A few years ago he was a top 40 under 40 entrepreneur.

Two nights ago we were draining glasses in…

Research says people of average intelligence benefit from help when solving problems requiring insight. Unless entrepreneurs are bright across the board, this suggests sift is verifiably relevant.

I’ve written before on the cross-over from science into business and cited with gushing enthusiasm the insights of Edward O. Wilson. I’ve just finished reading Veran Allee’s book the Future of Knowledge. Her book…

Seth Godin says blogs work when they’re based on candor, urgency, timeliness, pithiness and controversy. That tastes funny to me.

In the Cluetrain Manifesto, David Weinberger writes that our understanding of knowledge is bound up with things that contain knowledge, not things that point out of themselves.

A.H. Maslow called for revolution in the ways we edify our children. He sought alternatives to redeem the many ways in which creativity is daily pounded from us. And of all he suggested, I can see none that we’ve adopted.

In 1963

When I was in university I used to love swinging by this guy’s site: Analog Cereal. He was on this quest to “party like a rock star”. I’ve never wanted to be a rock star – but the…

Am still reading Jared Diamond’s, “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” Am still intrigued by the idea of tribal business.

Diamond runs through an ambitious description of social evolution. He works up from roving bands of nomads all the way…

I’m in a strange pinch. I’ve got two opposing writing opportunities.

On one hand a regular newspaper article in the National Post that is supposed to be “punchy, witty and 100 words”.

One the other hand,…

My name is Jeremy Heigh. I am a husband, father, son, brother, friend, reader, thinker, economist, investor, gamer, artist, writer, and young man.

I liked school and have three degrees. The last is an M.Sc. in environmental economics. I enjoy…

Nicholas Negroponte is founder of MediaLab and one of the founders of Wired. In a recent interview he described the evolving direction of MediaLab:

“The biggest criticism I hear is, ‘Nicholas, you’re not crazy

…

In the 2 September 2004 issue of Nature , Sarah Tomlin describes her recent cross-walk between physics and music. The opportunity came when she was invited to hear the product of Piers Coleman, a theoretical physicist at Rutgers…

I’ve used Google for a long time but never really looked behind the interface. Now that I have, I see a whole world back there that I need to understand. My first clue came when I read their mission statement…

Karen Rader just published Making Mice (Princeton University Press, 2004). In the book Karen chronicles three themes – mice, genetic engineer and mice breeder Clarence Cook Little, and Little’s laboratory. Little repeatedly characterised his work as research but…