I heard an old saying many years ago from a friend of mine and executive coach Steve Graves, "walk toward th barking dog." 

What the metaphore means is that in every organization and situation of change there is this barking dog that is meant to initimdate you and scare you off from making the passage to change. These loud, angry, barking dogs live in the junkyards and  their sole mission is intimidation.  What Steve told me, and I firmly believe, is that these dogs feed off of our fears. They smell fear. The react to fear.  And yet, they are just boisterous barking machines.

In his experience over many years of consulting, if you walk toward the barking dog with confidence, the dog shuts up and wimpers off. 

There are far too many barking dog issues that guard our path of going from good to great. Way too often we prefer to avoid conflict or choose the path of least resistance. 

The truth of the situation, once we dial up our courage, is that if you walk towards the barking dog, unafriad, confident, and secure, it will back down and retreat. 

That sounds easiear said than done but I have found throughout my career that insight to hold true.  Once you have mastered the skill of walking toward the barking dog that is challenging you via fear and intimidation, you can accomplish anything! 

Go for it. Walk toward the very thing that scares you the most that you have been avoiding.  It is only in confronting these fears and nonsense will you ever see the full potential of what you can become. 

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

        

- Let your business model be your best IP; meaning, create such a uniqe and powerful business model that it becomes your competitive edge. 

- Don't rush a new market idea; be scrappy, stretch out your money, and let the idea find its place as the market evolves.  Don't just pile cash behind an idea. 

- Idealab structure very innovative. 

Tons of practical advice for entrepreneurs building a company. 

 

PencilHead from qwaqa on Vimeo.

Press Pause Play is an amazing project that everyone in the digital, media, creative space will want to watch.  

Because of technology advances, the barrier to entry for production and distribution for a creative product has smashed through the floor. 

This opens the door for Small Business and Entrepreneurs to explode new ideas creatively and reach broader audiences than we've ever seen before. 

This film is the most interesting and exciting film I've seen in a long time!

 

I'm shocked to find so many people "bewildered" by HP's decision to bring back the TouchPad at $99/per.  Why? Because the response to the device at this price point has been outstanding!  I was deluged by people in my company inventing all kinds of reasons to get one of these devices at this price point to support ideas like field research, dedicated social media devices, and more because of the value they presented at $99/per.

Make no mistake, general Q public is very aware of value and the right market price. At $99, HP has hit the true market value "wow" factor that they probably needed to hit at the introduciton. 

While many are curiously in a quandry about how HP will make money on a $99/per TouchPad when the analyst predict their cost to be $207/per unit, I'm not perpexed at all.  

I believe:

- the costs of manufacture and distribue of HP of  $207/per unit  is grossly inflated compared to the new market volume metrics of $99 at scale. 

- that HP is keenly aware of the demand spke at this $99 price point.

- and the brillliant thing on HP's part is to bring this device back at a market-leading $99/per unit price point!

 

We'll see what happens in  the fuure but the market has spokena and I, for one, believe HP is diong the wise thing in keeping this product on the market!

 

 

 

 

When things get tight and corporate execs get put to the test, the most natural act is to put the prioirty on "getting on top of your business!!!"   Apologetic corporate emails start flowing about how tough times are coming and we need to buckle down.  Everyone is clear the real message is "forget about raises, promotions, and bonuses."  An era of micro-management is ushered in as "the most responsible thing to do" when under a crisis. 

That's what it means to "get on top of your business." 

That's the style of professional managers and operators under crisis. Especially those who have never commanded a team through a crisis. 

But there is another way to face a tough challenge.  

It's called - getting in front of your business!  

Getting in front of your business is what great leaders do in times of crisis and history is chock full of examples where being in front as the leader was more effective than being on top.   General Patton, lead from the front lines in the most intense periods of fighing.   While being pressed he outmanuevered Rommel to take the advantage where less aggresive leaders would be trying to preserve diesel and run out the clock. 

It is crazy watch the bunker and scrimp mentality take hold when leaders are faced with a great opportunity to lead. 

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase is a lead-from-the-front kind of CEO.  While the markets were tanking he was out in front, on the road, making a difference!  Check out his video from a few weeks ago Jamie Dimon. 

What does it mean to be in front as the leader?

-  You, personally, bring value-add to the table for strategic vision.

-  You, personally, inspire and encourage those on the front lines vs asking your managers to do it. 

-  You, personally, communicate the big picture, where things are headed, and how you will navigate the changes.

-  You, personnly, set the example by calling clients and customers and secureing new sales and relationships.

It is not about "doing it all" but it is about showing the way and being "in the game" with the organization. 

You can't cost-cut your way to growth.  Cost cutting never set a new strategy or created new opportunties.  It is not enough to be satisfied cutting cost and sitting on the organziation.  Cost cutting is table stakes, everyone has to do it to survive.  But when markets get tough it creates enormous opportunity for the swift and agile to acclerate growth opportunties as others retreat.  Tough markets can be the juicy markets to grab footholds left open by retreating competitiors. 

While your competitors are focused on cost-cutting and "more bricks/less straw" a leader who is at the front will get more external knowledge acquisition faster than one who is preoccupied with internal knowledge acquisiition. 

As we potentially enter a second recession, the leaders who can pivot from top-level organizational leaderhsip to front-forward leadership through crisis will be rewarded with a more loyal and committed staff and perhaps breakthrough performance.