Strategy that matters
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Strong Opinions @marksbirch: What Is A Startup Recently, the question of what makes a business a startup versus a small business came up. I generally play fast and loose with definitions. I switch up accelerators with incubators and refer to growth hackers as marketers. But when it comes to the small business versus startup divide, I think…
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USA TODAY: The story behind the defining photo of the NCAA tournament 
From USA TODAY Sports’ Adam Himmelsbach:
When Louisville forward Luke Hancock saw Kevin Ware lying near the sideline with a shattered right leg, he initially recoiled like his teammates. Some Cardinals were vomiting, others were crying and inconsolable.
But then Hancock thought back to last summer, when he suffered a gruesome shoulder injury in a pickup game. He remembered how others were aghast. He remembered how former Louisville guard Andre McGee was the only one to rush to his side, to rush him to the hospital. He remembered how much that had meant.
So as Ware lay there in the first half of the Cardinals’ NCAA tournament victory over Duke on Sunday, scared and alone and stunned, Hancock ran to him. He held Ware’s hand and told him they would get through this together. He told Ware he would say a prayer for him.
Ware didn’t respond at first, because he was in shock. Hancock took a deep breath, closed his eyes, clenched Ware’s hand and started the prayer.
“Lord, watch over us and let Kevin be OK during this tough time,” he began. “The Lord does everything for a reason, and He will get us through this.”
More: http://usat.ly/13UqFD0
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“The problem with graphic design and graphic designers is that they aren’t willing to say “You don’t need this.” And this is more than just making design simple, it’s about questioning whether we actually need to do this project in the first place.” -
“We’re probably in the time of Galileo in biology,” said Christof Koch, of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. “Darwin, Crick and Watson have given us the equivalent of Galileo and Newton, but there isn’t any equivalent to Einstein’s theory of relativity.” -
“You could double the number of synaptic connections in a very simple neurocircuit as a result of experience and learning. The reason for that was that long-term memory alters the expression of genes in nerve cells, which is the cause of the growth of new synaptic connections. When you see that at the cellular level, you realize that the brain can change because of experience. It gives you a different feeling about how nature and nurture interact. They are not separate processes.” —Eric R. Kandel, Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist.
A Quest to Understand How Memory Works.
(via scipsy)(via wildcat2030)
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Forget The Mission Statement. What’s Your Mission Question?
WARREN BERGER TAPS SOME OF THE MOST POWERFUL CEOS IN THE COUNTRY TO REVEAL THE QUESTIONS THAT WILL KEEP ANY COMPANY ON TRACK.
Most companies, of course, articulate their missions by way of formal “statements.” But often they’re banal pronouncements (We save people money so they can live better. —WalMart) or debatable assertions (Yahoo! is the premier digital media company) that don’t offer much help in trying to gauge whether a company is actually living up to a larger goal or purpose.
Questions, on the other hand, can provide a reality check on whether or not a business is staying true to what it stands for and aims to achieve. So herewith, derived from interviews for my forthcoming book, A More Beautiful Question, are thoughts from a couple of top CEOs (Panera Bread’s Ron Shaich and Patagonia’s Casey Sheahan) and a trio of leading business thinkers/consultants (the Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen, Peer Insight’s Tim Ogilvie, and SY Partners’ Keith Yamashita). The following five “mission questions” are designed to keep a business focused on what matters most.
1. WHY ARE WE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
2. WHAT DOES THE WORLD NEED MOST…THAT WE ARE UNIQUELY ABLE TO PROVIDE?
3. WHAT ARE WE WILLING TO SACRIFICE?
4. WHAT MATTERS MORE THAN MONEY?
5. ARE WE ALL ON THIS MISSION TOGETHER?
(via fastcompany)
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The Poor and The Fundamental Attribution Error I bring up the fundamental attribution error to make an observation about how people talk about the poor in capitalistic economies. Specifically, the poor are often blamed for their lot. They are lazy, undisciplined, and lacking in work ethic. “Work ethic” here is a dispositional and characterological trait. A thing intrinsic to the person.
But if social psychology is to be believed things like work ethic, thrift, self-control and motivation might be better viewed as environmentally driven. And if that is so then attending to environments, rather than blaming people, is critical in effecting change in the world.
It’s too easy to blame individuals. In fact, it’s a mistake that psychologists have a name for: the fundamental attribution error.
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Yum coffee…
Starbucks just spent $35 million dollars teaching its employees about coffee at its “Leadership Lab.” Fast Company asked some of Starbucks’s head people why…
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“What you do for money you do badly.” — Jules Verne, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (via fuckyeahwritersquotesandwisdom) -
“The business model is the new unit of design.” — Tom Hulme (via stoweboyd)
