In a recent article over at Fortune, I explore what Transferwise, a fast-growing new startup has rediscovered: an enduring customer need that is currently featuring in the migrant crisis, Hawala. The practice of Hawala originated centuries… Read more »
Thought Sparks
Hacking your budget
I was recently asked by a reporter from U. S. News and World Report to offer some advice for people who are trying to start the New Year on a good note by getting their… Read more »
Secrets of the Superbosses – catch up on Syd Finkelstein’s latest book
Lorne Michaels. Ralph Lauren. Alice Waters. George Lucas. Larry Ellison. Miles Davis. And a dozen others. Business leaders and creative icons with tremendous track records who all have something else in common: they helped develop… Read more »
More on the “tightrope” effect
In a previous post, I’ve mentioned the “tightrope” that professional women are often forced to deal with. Too friendly and approachable? You’re “nice” but not taken seriously. Too aggressive and insistent? You’re … well, we… Read more »
Learning to navigate the teaching tightrope as a women
An interesting column by Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg made me think of some of the ups and downs of learning to teach in an environment where most of the people around you are men…. Read more »
Networking parasites – this one struck a chord
Margaret Morford published an excellent piece in the New York Times about how people can avoid becoming what she calls “networking parasites“. She picks up on a number of things that would-be networkers should be… Read more »
New Women’s Leadership Course to be Launched in June
Anyone who has been following the coverage of women in the workplace, for example, this series in the Wall Street Journal, knows the general story line. Professional women enter workplaces in numbers roughly equal to men,… Read more »
Now in development: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship On-Line
What if you could take teams of people or individual contributors with an innovation mandate and have them go through a state of the art, hands-on and very applied journey through the essence of innovation… Read more »
Implications of the Unicorn Economy
In my most recent newsletter, I suggested that businesses would do well to anticipate the consequences of a valuation bubble bursting in Silicon Valley with so many private companies valued at more than a billion… Read more »
Ideas for a new business model for F. A. O. Schwarz
Well, no sooner had the digital ink dried on my piece about F. A. O. Schwarz closing their famous Fifth Avenue shop, when I received a communication from the company saying that I had it… Read more »
Looking forward to the mach49 Mothership Blitz on Friday
As someone who has spent much of my life watching organizations fall victim to what I call the ‘transient advantage‘ economy, I’ve always been puzzled that despite its obvious importance, large organizations do a lot more… Read more »
Corporate entrepreneurship’s latest incarnation-the virtual startup
In this insightful blog post, Steve Sokol runs through the pluses and minuses of being part of a startup within a large corporation, what he calls a “virtual startup.” The pluses are many – a… Read more »