The Entrepreneur's MentorThe Entrepreneur's MentorHelping you overcome obstacles to business success by David Sorin. Articles
Opportunities: Some See Them, Some Don't
2008-01-02 00:00:00 I was discussing the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" with a colleague this morning. She, like I, marveled at the opportunity the Unit ed States missed when we failed to spend any money re-building Afghanistan after we helped that country defeat the... More About: Opportunities
Mentoring
2008-01-02 00:00:00 The January 2008 Harvard Business review has a wonderful article on mentoring in professional service firms. The authors state that mentoring has been a casualty of hyper-competitiveness and rapid growth. They feel that those firms that fail to mentor all... More About: Mentoring
Vision, Entrepreneurial Spirit and Strategy for 2008
2008-01-02 00:00:00 I wasn't planning on blogging today, but as I sent and received a bunch of e-mails today full of new year's wishes, I decided I should send the same into the blogosphere. It is a good time to check and... More About: Strategy , Spirit , Vision , 2008
The End of the Year-What Does It Mean?
2007-12-27 00:00:00 Because of a decision made hundreds of years ago, we all get a fresh start in another five days - a New Year . We can put our mistakes from 2007 behind us and begin with a clean slate. What a...
Entrepreneurs and Dyslexia
2007-12-20 00:00:00 There is a newly released study which concludes that dyslexia is far more prevalent in small business owners than anyone had previously imagined. The study was done by Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at Cass Business School in London.... More About: Dyslexia , Entrepreneurs , Lexi
Performance Reviews
2007-12-17 00:00:00 It is that time of year. Employees have worked all year and now look forward to their reward in the form of a bonus. There is no uniform way of approaching this issue. Some companies give all employees a set... More About: Reviews , Performance , Perform
Entreprenurial Environment
2007-12-13 00:00:00 Are there some parts of the country that are more conducive to entrepreneurial success than others If so, can we come up with some reasons why that is? We are certainly all aware of Silicon Valley in northern California; Research... More About: Environment , Envi
Decision Making: Intuition or Evidence?
2007-12-13 00:00:00 Many believe that entrepreneurs shoot from the hip all of the time, relying on some extra intuition that regular folks don't have. How many think that is so? If that was the case, wouldn't there be a higher level of... More About: Evidence , Decision , Intuition , Decision-Making , Decision making
Where Do We Get Our Information?
2007-12-04 00:00:00 Entrepreneurs are busy folks. We handle sales, marketing, operations, customer service and accounting. We hire and fire and do product design. But where do we get the information that helps us learn how to be better at these roles? There... More About: Information
Resources for Entrepreneurs
2007-12-02 00:00:00 Entrepreneurs typically have a full gamut of internal resources. These include creativity, innovative thought process, big picture thinking,optimism, perseverance and focus. But internal resources are rarely sufficient to carry the day by themselves. So, what else is needed? The thoughts... More About: Resources , Entrepreneurs , Rene
Doing What Matters
2007-11-24 00:00:00 James M. Kilts is not your typical entrepreneur. His most recent career moves include stints as CEO at Nabisco, Kraft Foods and Gillette. He was successful at all three. And he offers up his formula for this success in his... More About: Matters
Legal Issues
2007-11-23 00:00:00 Entrepreneurs can sometime rush into situations in a somewhat headstrong manner, "going where angels fear to tread". Let me list a few issues that pop up all of the time. If you do not address them correctly, you will get... More About: Issues , Legal , Issue
Entrepreneurial Dashboard
2007-11-21 00:00:00 Over the years, a number of different authors and consultants have come up with a variety of "scorecards", report cards and dashboards for the use of executives. The idea has always been to measure what is deemed important, and then... More About: Dashboard , Rene
E as in Entrepreneur
2007-11-14 17:41:00 Sitting at my desk trying to inspire myself to do some of the less appealing tasks that a small business owner must do, I came to the conclusion that I lacked the necessary ENERGY to do them. They are not arduous, or even difficult, but they are not fun. It takes a certain type of ENERGY to do the mundane tasks, especially when the fun stuff awaits. Being entrepreneurial requires constant ENERGY and undying ENTHUSIASM. After saying that I began to wonder about other "E" words that might be used to describe entrepreneurs. How many can you come up with? I'll throw in a few, but don't want to hog them all. How about EXTROVERTED, ENGAGED and ENCOURAGING? Take it from there. More About: Entrepreneur , Rene
Accountability
2007-11-12 02:45:00 One place where many organizations really fall down is in the area of "accountability." You can have a world class team and a killer strategic plan but if people are not held accountable, you will fail. Accountability starts with accountability to self. I need to do certain things in order to fulfill my own personal goals and to feel good about myself. This should be a good enough reason on its own. But accountability to your boss and to your peers is just as important, and perhaps more so. If everyone needs to fulfill their roles in order for the group to succeed, then the success of all depends on each individual. This should be a very strong force. There must be a culture of accountability for it all to work. If some do not do what they are supposed to and there are no negative consequences, then what is the incentive for anyone else to finish their work? The culture has to instill the need for accountability and for consequen...
How Do We Get People to Change?
2007-11-08 00:00:00 Change is tough. We all know that. We have all been part of failed change initiatives? Why did they fail? What can we do to ensure the changes we desire in our organizations? What has worked for you? Some experts... More About: People , Change , Chang , Chan
What is Your Legacy?
2007-11-06 00:00:00 A friend died last week. His memorial service was beautiful. The speakers spoke about all phases of his life-as a child, as a businessman, as a friend, as a sibling, as a father and as a husband. He left a... More About: Legacy
The Three Inescapables
2007-10-30 00:00:00 For years I have heard that businesses have only three areas to use as selling points: Quality Service Price It has been said that it is impossible to offer the best service and the best quality and still have the... More About: Esca , Capa
Some Clients Don't Fit
2007-10-28 01:00:00 So, why fire a client? I can think of a few good reasons. 1, Personalities clash, so working together will not be fun. 2. The client does not clearly understand what he/she wants, and therefore won't be happy with anything... More About: Clients , Client , Some
Ridding Yourself of Wrong Clients
2007-10-24 00:00:00 Well, I fired a client this week. I guess turnabout is fair play. How many of you have done that? What were the reasons? Looking back, are you glad you did? I have some regrets because I like the people... More About: Clients , Wrong , Client
Employee Engagement
2007-10-22 00:00:00 I just read an article in The Gallup Management Journal which floored me!! It says that only 26% of employees are engaged. "Engage d" workers are those who work with passion and feel a deep connection to their company. The article... More About: Employee , Engagement
Defining Success
2007-10-15 00:00:00 In our culture, the concept of success is very important. We are measured by whether we are successful or not. In many cases, our reputations are built on others' perceptions of our success. Yet, it is conceivable that one individual's... More About: Success
Exit Strategy
2007-10-09 00:00:00 One of the first questions I like to ask entrepreneurs when I meet them is, What is your exit strategy?". Many, especially those that are in the early stages of their companies, don't understand why I would ask such a... More About: Strategy , Exit Strategy
When it Rains, it Pours
2007-10-06 00:00:00 Those of us in service businesses would love to be able to space our clients/customers into our schedule to work to our best advantage. We could then keep ourselves busy but not crazed, and we could avoid those awful droughts...
Why Do You Want Your Business to Grow?
2007-10-05 00:00:00 It is interesting to me that virtually every business owner lists growth as a goal and having a large company as part of his or her vision. Be careful what you wish for!! Grow th as an end is meaningless. Growth... More About: Business , Sine
Should Our President Be Entrepreneurial?
2007-10-05 00:00:00 I watched the Democratic President ial Debate last night, and found it alternately interesting and frustrating. The format of these discussions does not really allow for true debate on the issues, and the responses of the candidates are canned positions rather... More About: Resident , Rene
Columbia, Ahmadinejad, Free Speech and Leadership
2007-10-05 00:00:00 So, what a day it was at Columbia University. Not since 1968 and the student riots has Columbia been the center of such controversy. The decision to have Ahmadinejad speak on campus was totally polarizing and got everyone's attention. Was... More About: Free , Leadership , Free Speech
Entrepreneurial Networking
2007-10-05 00:00:00 In the last two weeks, I have had the pleasure of meeting four new people that I know are going to be an important part of my business life going forward. They are all very different from each other, but... More About: Networking , Rene , Workin
Good Hiring and Good Firing
2007-10-05 00:00:00 Take a minute to create a matrix. Using the letters KASH, arrange them in a four box matrix, to look like this. KA SH K is for knowledge, A for Attitude, S for Skills and H for Habits.This can be... More About: Hiring , Good
Intrapreneurs
More articles from this author:2007-10-05 00:00:00 The term "intrapreneur" was coined a number of years ago to put a label on those who exhibit entrepreneurial spirit from within someone else's business. There are plenty of people who have many of the traits of the bold, swashbuckling... More About: Rene 1, 2, 3 |
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