What If I Have Nothing to Offer?

Posted on by Michael Roderick
empty shelf

In almost every class I’ve ever taught in the relationship-building space, there is a question that comes up more than any other when I talk about reaching out to people at higher levels for things like mentorship, advice, etc. What If I have nothing to offer that person because I’m just a ______________?  Before I get into the weeds with this, let me first say that everyone deals with this on some level. We all have people who we see as doing such great things we imagine anything we could suggest or offer them would pale in comparison to what […]

My Top 5 Books of 2019

Posted on by Michael Roderick
top 5 books

As we start to head into the last few months of the year (where did the time go?!) I decided to go back through the ol’ archives and see what I haven’t written about in a while and I realized it’s been a minute since I posted a book list. I love sharing books that have been helpful to me, books that have made me think, and books that are simply fascinating, and since we’ll all be hopefully getting a little reading time in now that the holidays are upon us, I thought I’d share with you all some books […]

5 Key Thoughts on Exits

Posted on by Steve August
exit strategy

Exit. The Entrepreneurial Holy Grail For many entrepreneurs, a successful exit that delivers financial independence and an incredible sense of achievement is the ultimate dream. In my entrepreneurial career, I’ve had the good fortune to be part of two successful exits. One with the company I founded and the one with the company that acquired my firm, which was subsequently acquired. I’ve also been able to see a number of exits from the other side of the table as part of the management team of an acquiring company. Along the way I’ve spoken to many entrepreneurs who have had both […]

Performative Reciprocity

Posted on by Michael Roderick
performative reciprocity

I have a friend who really loves to do calls where we get into the weeds of relationship-building methodologies. He enjoys digging deeper into the frameworks I’ve developed and in all our calls he gets me to go even deeper into the work that I do. And before I get into the topic he brought up, I’ll also add that having someone like this in your circle can be incredibly valuable to the rigor of your work. There are those who will take your ideas at face value and then there are those who will challenge your ideas with questions. […]

Five Reasons Entrepreneurs Need A Digital Detox 

Posted on by Steve August
forest digital detox

  Entrepreneur. Visionary. Founder. It all sounds glamorous. You wouldn’t trade it for anything. But you also know it’s a hero’s journey filled with ups and downs and stress. And sometimes loneliness.  One of the most challenging aspects of the entrepreneurial journey is getting space from the constant day-to-day demands and stress of the job to think about the longer term, big picture issues of your business.  The never-ending onslaught of emails, calls crowds out the space to think more strategically and get the perspective to make critical business and life decisions.  One way to escape the noise and regain […]

The Courage to Interrupt

Posted on by Michael Roderick
Pregame Group Action 7-13-39

In many of the interviews I do, I like to discuss the idea of turning points in people’s lives and the moment that things really changed for them. And of course, in my own life, I have many of those stories, but the one that came to mind recently was how I ended up getting started in producing and in a room with Broadway producers. Back when I was teaching, I was producing small shows at the Off-Off-Broadway level and used certain venues often. There was one venue that housed multiple theatres and I got to know the manager of […]

Don’t Let Your Business Run You

Posted on by Amy Green
business tips

The biggest mistake I made when starting my own business was letting the business run me rather than running my business. I hope to help others avoid that mistake by sharing some of my experience and what I learned starting my company, amy green design, which is now just over two years old. At the start of my business, I was doing everything, and I mean everything, on my own. From designing brochures to my website to taking all cold calls to drafting every drawing myself, it was all me. That meant the business wasn’t scalable, that I didn’t have the bandwidth […]

Remember: Business is About People, Not Numbers

Posted on by Greg Hoyos
business is about people

  The popular saying “If it can’t be measured it can’t be managed” is a dangerous premise. Seems to me I’ve only ever heard it uttered by invariably smug managers who wanted to reject some piece of qualitative research they didn’t like. Though that may simply illustrate the murky areas I’ve worked in. (In truth, there used to be a defensible mantra that the best predictor of coming consumer behaviour was past behaviour, but that was before the widespread disruption taking place in almost every category.) The problem with the “measure-to-manage” idea is that it reduces everything and everyone to […]