Why Should I Do Business with You ?

Start asking yourself or your employees :

What if your company went out of business tomorrow, would anybody really miss it and why ?
Why do you think you are going to win ?
What do you see that others do not see ?
What ideas are you fighting for ?

These are inspiring questions extracted from an article published on Harvard Business Online.

Would you lend money to the poors ?

Mohammad Yunus did when he founded the Grameen Bank. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microcredit, which has helped millions of people out of the poverty cycle.

Read his interview to understand his vision of social business.

Great Leader : Richard Branson

Critic is critical...

"It is not the critic who counts ; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood ; who strives valiantly ; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming ; but who does actually strive to do the deeds ; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions ; who spends himself in a worthy cause ; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat"

Theodore Roosevelt

How to define great leaders / managers ?

Great leaders / managers know how to tap into potential and actualize it into reality. Great business leaders need to deeply understand the motivations of their employees, customers, and investors. You can then define a Hierarchy of Needs pyramid for employees, customers, and investors.



Read more.

We all need a map not to get lost...

This is simply an amazing map of the internet. You probably know some of the destinations, but not all. It is time for a road trip :



You can also go to the clickable version.

Grass is always greener on the other side...

This video is all about the different perceptions someone can have on the same subject/topic.
People tend to be quite negative about their own country, when they should also look at the positive aspects.

Every situation has its goods and bads, the most important is to get the best out of it and learn from it.

Did you notice ?

What was Josh Kopelman, the founder of Half.com, trying to achieve by plastering every stop sign between ebay CEO's house, and the ebay office with Half.com bumperstickers ?

Simply get attention from Meg Whitman, CEO of ebay, who later acquired half.com.

See the connection now ;-)

It is a smart and inexpensive way to promote your company...

Thanks to James Hong for this great story.

Let me tell you something...

One big lesson you can apply to your professional life :

"Never talk when you can nod, never write when you can talk, and never, ever, put anything in an email."

From Eliot Spitzer,
New York state attorney general

How do you get this one more thing ?

One way to think different, and to get this thing that makes the difference is to travel.
Travelling is all about :
- Giving fresh and new perspectives
- Expanding our horizons
- Strengthening our sense of adventure
- Challenging ourselves
- Learning new languages
- Getting an appreciation of our own courage and abilities
- Taking time to examine who we are and what we truly want out of life.

When Amelio was still running...

During the All Things Digital conference, Jobs attributed a saying to Amelio (ex-CEO of Apple) :
“Apple is like a ship with a hole in the bottom leaking water and my job is to get the ship pointed in the right direction.”

That's one way to see the solution ;-)

Is this our future ?

A very interesting video on the possible future of our civilization :

You are too young...

How many times do we hear this ?

A lot of recent companies have been founded by young entrepreneurs (Google, Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, etc...). Ben Casnocha is one of them. He started his company in middle school. He just released a book called "My Start-up Life" explaining what a young CEO learned on his journey through the Silicon Valley.

Check this video from ABC News to know more about Ben :
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3223744

It is time to think different.

Google, the master plan...

This could be an interesting movie on Google's web domination :
http://masterplanthemovie.com/

Move Your Feet !!!

This is quite a fun way to promote alternative medicine :
http://www.kenrico.com/kenrico_reflexology.html

Reverse Thinking...

Start to “Think Different” about your business :
- Instead of asking how much customers would pay for a product, ask them how much the current problems cost them.
- Instead of sitting down during meetings, stand up.
- Instead of calling anything pricing, to a customer position it as an “investment.”

Feel Good Inc.

Searchology : The Universal Google Search

When Google bought Youtube for $1.65 billion, many wondered if the price was really worth it. The main question was how can Google monetize the site ? Well, it seems the "release" of Google Universal Search gives a straight answer. Google is now adding Youtube videos to video search. By expanding its search field, Google is able to give better results than its closest competitors : Microsoft and Yahoo. This is just One More Thing giving Google a competitive advantage in its main activity : SEARCH.

What would you do in 15 seconds ?

Would you be capable to market yourself in 15 seconds ?
This is a difficult, but useful exercise. Nowadays, people have short attention span, it is the reason why we have to explain what we do for a living in 15 seconds or a few words maximum.

Check this website to find some answers to this question :
http://www.15secondpitch.com/

Who said banks are boring ?

After the online banking boom, is the traditional banking back ?

Check out the 3 minutes video to understand how banks could look like in the near future :
http://www.jyskebank.dk/jyskebankinfo/home/home/220771.asp

When Capitalists meet Marxists...

"The Workers should appropriate the means of production", Karl Marx.

Marx was seeing ahead of his time. He was already thinking about the Web 2.0.

What do we call Web 2.0 ?
Web 2.0 refers to user-generated websites such as Ebay, Wikipedia, Youtube, Blogger, Myspace, Second Life, Flickr, etc... The users create the contents, and the websites just bring the technology to make it possible.

Power is shifting :
"To find something comparable, you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media – which, incidentally, is what really destroyed the old world of kings and aristocracies. Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control", Rupert Murdoch