I don’t think a true company – one that builds sustainable value – can ever only exist online or remotely.
Everyone I know feels harassed by email which has invaded their waking and sleeping hours.
Every organization has issues and concerns which are known about by many people who choose to remain silent.
Customers who have to come back and spend, or customers who just don’t want the hassle of leaving – those are the ones who are most worth attracting.
Britain is famous for being great at inventing and poor at commercializing.
Those in powerless positions aren’t about to complain about bullying bosses, abusive supervisors or corrupt co-workers. There is no safe way to do so and no process that promises redress.
I regularly take my entrepreneurship students out walking because I want to get them in the habit of noticing and thinking about what they notice. They have to leave their phones behind to learn the basic lesson: Be where you are.
It is nobody’s right to be waited on and nobody’s fate to do the waiting.
British innovation in design, in the creative arts, in engineering and manufacturing is world class.
As a mother, I work hard every day and I expect that work to be recognized and appreciated. Because I work for and with human beings, sometimes they’re grateful and sometimes they aren’t.
In business, staying focused requires that you turn most opportunities down.
Making a company fit to sell may be the only way to ensure you never need a buyer.
Most executives I know are so action-oriented, or action-addicted, that time for reflection is the first casualty of their success.
If the company depends entirely on you – your creativity, ingenuity, inspiration, salesmanship or charisma – nobody will want to buy it. The risk and the dependency are too great.
I hate people walking down the street listening to the soundtrack of their lives which responds to them but not their setting. I hate the overspill of sound which metro and subway riders are oblivious to because they notice no one and nothing around them.
Words are how people think. When you misuse words, you diminish your ability to think clearly and truthfully.
What do you want your business to do? Make money, of course. To pay for people and supplies, to be able to grow.
The best remote companies I’ve seen do almost everything online, via email and telephone. But they also get together face to face on a regular basis.
Once you have power, you are inevitably surrounded by people who have their own agendas and will tell you whatever advances them.
Noise is a buffer, more effective than cubicles or booth walls.