Category Archives: Leadership

Rising Stars

I attended and spoke at a technology entrepreneur conference in California this week — aside from the group witnessing the unique event of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning an away game (I admit they played well), i also had the … Continue reading

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Virtualization – Does Anyone Really Know how to Do It Well?

I found myself reading a report on-line today that was showing how poorly companies are implementing virtualization — in particular, how they are essentially falling backwards in achieving greater efficiencies in their infrastructure compared to the wastage they had before … Continue reading

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By Vision or Consensus

One of the things I find most compelling about the entrepreneurial world is how it divides into those who are vision led and those who lead through consensus (market study, everyone’s opinion). On first glance, this might seem like an odd way … Continue reading

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Customer Advisory Councils to Affirm Product Strategy (“don’t let the tail wag the dog”)

Many companies attempt to set up customer councils or advisory boards to help direct product strategy. One of the many challenges is to find customers (or other potential partners or users) who both have the time to participate, but more … Continue reading

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Need Skin in the Game for the Advisor Role to Work

As I develop some time-dependent experience being an Advisor, one thing is clear — if there is no skin in the game for the CEO or management team, very little value is obtained.  Only one of the companies i work … Continue reading

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Keeping You Head Down

One of the traps I find many leaders face relates to their approach to decision making in light of upcoming changes to their business, changes that are often out of their control. One common example can be drawn from the … Continue reading

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Run Your Own SAS Model

I have increasingly fallen in favor of companies exploring entering the SAS market — i don’t mean just selling their solutions to ISPs/SAS, etc but becoming a SAS vendor themselves. Many products in the systems management arena lend themselves well … Continue reading

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Two People or Three

I find critical meetings always need more than two people participating to get the result — the role of the 3rd person is several fold: 1. Observe whether communication is occurring. How many times have you been in a meeting … Continue reading

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Focusing on year end

I often see teams focusing diligently on year end with such zeal it makes me wonder why they do not have that same zeal throughout the year.  Funny thing about time, it marches at the same pace throughout the year, … Continue reading

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Leadership, Communication and the Entrepreneur

It’s easy to be drawn into wanting to do everything as a startup CEO. You are front and center in the hot seat with investors, working 7 days a week to make some progress and the people around you seem … Continue reading

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