Build a great company on a powerful foundation!
T
he mission of your business is part of an amazing story.
That story starts with a cast of characters who encounter what seems to be an insurmountable barrier. The tension mounts and the music swells.
Coming in to save the day is … your company! The hero of the story, with your amazing product, an awesome culture, and a message which change these people’s lives.
It’s absolutely thrilling.
THERE ARE TIMES when it’s good to step back outside my business.
A great example is the discussion I had with someone this week, where we were talking about the larger picture around our country.
Despite all the anxiety this last year has produced, I find that we still have an amazing and unique form of government. It’s not perfect by any means, but I have deep respect for something which has lasted well over 200 years.
PROGRESS COMES FROM BEING CLEAR. But of course it’s real easy to say that, right?
The problem is that it’s real easy to let the urgent overtake the important. Constantly.
Here’s a simple example. It seems like in between my meetings today, that I’ve been beating my email inbox back. Right now it has 29 messages in it, but every time a new one comes in I have to pay attention.
Just in case it’s something urgent.
WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, building solid technical skills is much easier.
This is the philosophy of Canidium, a rapidly growing consulting business which focuses on sales and service performance improvement via strategic guidance and systems integration and support for their clients..
It’s a pretty technical set of services, but I was intrigued by the notion that this company puts people first: Both its customers and its employees. Read the rest of this entry »
TO BE HONEST, I’m not a huge fan of industry conferences. I’ve done a lot of them over the years, and often they give me negligible value.
There’s some that are different.
For instance, last year I went to the Small Giants Summit in Denver, and it was inspiring and intensely valuable.
What was different?
THE PARLOUR is a Colorado chain of salons stretching between Fort Collins, Boulder and Denver.
Led by Gene Cahill, it was started in Fort Collins in 1998 to fill a perceived gap in excellent, personal salon services.
That’s what you’ll see from the outside. Read the rest of this entry »
AMERICANS ARE DISSATISFIED with the direction of morals and values in our country.
Thus proclaimed a recent study that I heard mentioned on the radio.
Here’s the problem, though: This has been a common complaint, pretty much for the entirety of human history. It has to do with the innate sense of striving that we have as humans, and frustration that things rarely go as we desire.
HRISTUS RESURREXIT! Christ is risen!
We need new life in everything: our careers, our health, our families, our businesses.
So it’s good to recognize that this is healthy, necessary, even essential. But for new life to spring forth, the old has to die off.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. — John 12:24
So let’s take this day to recognize what new life God has given us. A new chance. A new way of looking at things.
And our own role in the world.
I wish you all a wonderful and sacred Easter season, today and over the coming weeks!
DO YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY running the same old job postings that everyone else in your industry is doing?
Stop it! As a mission-driven, values-based organization, you can take an entirely different approach.
Check out this article that I published on the Conscious Company Media site:
Values are king at social impact jobs
In my decades as a business consultant, I’ve learned that many of the technical skills — most of the stuff in the job description — are trainable. What really makes someone suitable for a job at your mission-driven enterprise is how well they align with your mission and values.
MESH FORT COLLINS
is a great new community for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in the region. You might know that it took over the space formerly occupied by Galvanize at 242 Linden Street.
Mesh is an expansion of an idea that’s seen success in Japan as Future Venture Capital Ltd. FVC Americas was established last year to become the hub in northern Colorado for startups with great potential.
I’ve been following the local startup scene for several years, so it’s exciting to hear that Mesh is not just serving the high tech market. They’re helping businesses in all industries, even those who aren’t getting all the press these days.
After all, there are great new companies in all corners of the economy.
