3 Lessons Green Day Can Teach You About Loving Your Customers
Some bands put on live shows that are fun in the moment, but quickly forgettable. Green Day is not one of those bands…
Read MoreWhat a 17th Century Swedish Warship Can Teach Us About Marketing
What did marketing in the 17th century look like in Sweden? An infamous Swedish ship – the Vasa – is actually a great example…
Read More“Play Gloria!” 10 Life Lessons from the 2019 Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues
Earlier this month, my hometown St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup in their 52-year franchise history. In true St. Louis sports fashion, their road to the Cup was nothing short of magical. On January 2, 2019 – halfway through the season – the Blues were dead last in the league. Their head coach had been fired in November. The team lacked a cohesive identity and looked more competitive when they were fighting each other at practice than when facing their opponents on the ice. The idea of the Blues even making the playoffs was simply laughable.
Then on January 7, a rookie goaltender named Jordan Binnington stepped in front of the net for his first NHL start and recorded a shutout…
Read MoreWhy I Started "Manufacturing Happy Hour"
It was a random Saturday afternoon in October 2016. I was sitting in my home office in San Francisco, on my computer catching up on a recent company video newsletter. Yeah, I know…that’s a pretty lame way to spend a Saturday, but I promise you that’s not the norm. Regardless, it was the start of a new fiscal year, and as an Account Executive in the manufacturing technology space, that’s always when I’m thinking most creatively about how to grow my business, and better serve my customers.
I’d been toying with the idea of starting a video series for a while. I knew I needed a more frequent, personal way of reaching my clients, and that a standard HTML newsletter would likely get lost in the mix of my customers’ inboxes. Thanks to that internal video newsletter, the idea finally synergized that afternoon: Why not start a video series for the manufacturing sector that also made this “old school” industry more fun an approachable?
Read MoreWhat an IoT Hackathon Taught Me about the Internet of Things
It’s Friday night. Typically, I’d be gearing up to play a show, throwing back a few craft beers at a dive bar, or cozying up to a glass of Chilean wine paired with whatever self-help book is the flavor of the month. Not this weekend! I’m rolling up to 1446 Market Street – a warehouse-like event space in San Francisco – ready to make some tech!
Last month, I attended my first hackathon – an IoT hackathon to be specific – because I needed a reset. I’ve been watching the “Internet of Things” evolve through the lens of the manufacturing industry for the past few years now. It was time I took a look at it through a different lens: the lens of the Bay Area tech community.
Read More6 Ways Long-Term International Travel Makes You a Better Businessperson
In just over a month, I’ll be hitting the road again for my first international excursion of 2016: Brasil. Not only will I be checking the Olympics off of my bucket list, but I’ll get a chance to explore the Amazon while saving some time for spontaneity around the Rio de Janeiro state.
A lot of people in a corporate job will look at their time off of work as a “vacation” – an escape from the daily grind – but I look at my time abroad as one of my most important development experiences of the year. While the word “vacation” brings to mind thoughts of temporary escapism, the word “travel” makes me think of something completely different: leaving what’s familiar to you to approach daily life with a heightened sense of your surroundings and a thirst to explore.
Read MoreThe End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom without the 9-to-5 (Book Review)
Are you enjoying that "job" of yours? Are you where you want to be? Or would you rather be hanging out with a bunch of globe-trotting entrepreneurs at an Irish bar in Bangkok, that are running their 6- and 7-figure web-based businesses from wherever they want?
Taylor Pearson's 21st-century entrepreneurship manifesto The End of Jobs takes a look at the how the rapidly-changing face of technology and globalization have created a significant paradigm shift in wealth creation, and will undoubtedly have you asking yourself some of these questions.
Stan Kroenke is a Businessman, but not a Business Leader
Great. Another St. Louis Rams relocation article. Seriously, this happened a week ago! It’s like beating a dead ram at this point.
Rest assured, this article is different…
Last week, the NFL finalized the approval of the St. Louis Rams to relocate the franchise back to Los Angeles, capitalizing on a lucrative L.A. market, and stripping St. Louis of its professional football franchise for the financial gains of a small handful of billionaires. Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke led the effort, with help from his rich but lower-relative-net-worth cronies in the NFL league offices, bringing to an end a long, deceptive, and corrupt relocation process. Now we’re dealing with the media aftermath, characterized by a barrage of articles from news outlets across the country, sharing the news, sorting through the emotions, and debating the ethics (or lack thereof) exercised by Kroenke and the NFL.
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