Blogs - Dangletech

Aug 31, 2009

Trina Alexson
The Management Maze

The Gift of Feedback

All feedback is a gift – whether it is positive or negative. Positive feedback feeds the ego and helps reinforce what you are doing right.

But the thing about positive feedback is that it is not really a great tool for personal growth. It supports what you are doing well, but doesn’t help you course correct things that you are learning or identify things you need to learn.

Advisory Boards - An Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon - David J Pasieka

We met with a young Entrepreneur a couple days ago who was making great progress in commercializing his technology. He had locked down his IP, sized his large addressable market, secured some strategic relationships and was well down the path of turning a discussion into a revenue generating pilot…

How to Spot Talent

The CEO of a small firm asked me this week for tips on spotting talent. Here’s a quick take on a very generic question.
First, talent comes in a great many varieties, perhaps even more than the 31 flavors at your local Baskin-Robbins store. And this is fortunate for the organizational palate is individualistic, a function of blended factors such as company size, complexity, ownership, location, industry, financial resources, and challenges it faces. ‘Talent’ is not a generic label of excellence that can move effortlessly between any and all companies.

Bright & Not Blurry Eyed Business Plans - David J Pasieka

I finally broke down over the weekend and attacked the stack of 5 Business Plans that I promised to read and comment on. They ranged in length from 15 to 80 pages and covered multiple industries and segments. My mind was whirling as I completed the last “...in conclusion” section. As I compared and contrasted the individual documents I was inspired to write a couple tips to help those Entrepreneurs with their next versions.

Job Market Update

For the past year, the job market has been in the doldrums. While not unexpected given global economic conditions, at times things were so bad that even some retainer oriented executive search firms, who normally can ride out market slowdowns, were cutting staff.
I should mention though that while the market was slow, it was not dead. There were still many positions open on the market. What changed though were the nature of the roles (many more in the public sector; many more in less senior technical and sales functions; many fewer staff roles), and the nature of their being recruited for (via job posting boards vs. through ads or search mandates).

Dear Customer, we don’t really value you - Lynda Partner

I am a customer service nazi. I admit it. I admire those who deliver great service and I take great offense with those who don’t.
I like nothing more than acknowledging great customer service, and I have been known to make job offers on the spot to those who have given me great service because they are the type of person I want working for my company.

United broke more than a guitar, it also broke Francis’s first law of competitive differentiation

When baggage handlers for U.S. air carrier United Airlines manhandled and broke Dave Carroll’s beloved, custom-made, $3,500 Taylor acoustic guitar while he and his band-mates looked in impotent disbelief from inside the aircraft, and then refused to compensate him for it, the Canadian musician didn’t get mad, he got even. He wrote a song, “United Breaks Guitars,” posted it on YouTube and, nearly five-million viewings later, Carroll has become the lyrical poster-boy for disgruntled airline passengers everywhere and United is learning very difficult and expensive lessons about the power of the individual in the age of social media.

Those Pesky Independent Directors - David J. Pasieka

A young CEO recently asked for some advice. She had just signed off on a third party investment which came with the requirement to add an Independent Board member to the team. The CEO commented that “The dynamics and complexity of the Boardroom has changed in a number of significant ways. I need some help in understanding what is unfolding.

Navigating India: Business Models for Entering the Market - Hari Venkatacharya

When I engage in conversations with Canadian companies about the various models that could be employed to enter the Indian market, the two most prominent ones are to set up a stand alone, self-funded operation in India; or to partner with an established sector-based player in India, who would act more as a joint venture partner.
There are, as always, risks and benefits in both models, especially for early-stage companies; however my experience of doing business in India over the last dozen years has been to find the second model more resource efficient and successful.

And Now For Something A Little Different

For the past year, I’ve blogged on a weekly basis about topics related to “the business of HR”. This week however, I’d like to write about an experience that while related to “people”, can’t be categorized as relating to the business of HR and enduring value creation through human capital. At least not directly.
Rather, this is about customer service; market segmentation; common sense, and respect.
Here’s the story.

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