| November 30, 2012 |
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- Company makes it easier to buy, sell growing children's wardrobes
A startup called Spruceling is making it easier for parents to create wardrobes for their children by allowing them to buy and sell clothing on the site. Spruceling provides a recommendation about how much clothing is worth, but parents decide on the final price they want to charge for their goods. After sales are completed, buyers rate sellers on the transaction. TechCrunch
(11/28)      
- Is slamming the table a smart leadership strategy?
Debbie Brown received a mixed reaction from her colleagues and surprised herself when she slammed a table during a meeting to get their attention to move the conversation forward. Her peers' reactions might have been influenced by cultural factors; her colleagues from the West viewed it as a positive action, but one from the East disagreed. "I wondered if it were a man hitting the table whether the feedback would have been the same," Brown writes. WomenOfHR.com
(11/29)
- How to build an indestructible brand
The Twinkies brand has weathered plenty of storms over the years and may even survive the shutdown of Hostess Brands, write JW Dicks and Nick Nanton. To create a similarly indestructible brand, companies should seek to forge an emotional connection with consumers, Dicks and Nanton argue. "We should all aim to build a brand with the lasting value of America’s favorite snack," they write. Fast Company online
(11/27)
- Venture debt: Another financing alternative
If you want to grow your company without giving away equity, venture debt might be an option worth considering, Karl Stark and Bill Stewart of Avondale write. However, such a strategy is mainly for "growing, established companies with solid revenue and profitability," they write. "It doesn't work for early-stage companies or ventures with no clear path to pay back a loan." Also, it might be a better idea to use bank loans if you are able to get them, they write. Inc. online/Herding Gazelles blog (free registration)
(11/29)
- 8 steps to acing a new skill
Learning new skills is important for advancing in the business world, but you should make sure you have chosen an attainable goal and you are willing to put in the work necessary to achieve it, experts say. "Many people implicitly believe that if you have to work hard at something, it means you lack ability. This is rubbish," Joseph Weintraub of Babson College said. You can determine how best to learn a new ability by examining the techniques that have worked for you in the past, according to motivational psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson. Harvard Business Review online/HBR Blog Network
(11/29)
- Short + sweet = presentation perfection
It's a good idea to restrict your presentations to being about 18 to 20 minutes long, Carmine Gallo writes. Using this as a constraint might allow you to hold your audience's attention and lead to a better overall presentation, he notes. "As a communications specialist, I've learned that a 'constrained' presentation is often more inspiring, creative, and engaging than longer, unbridled presentations that are boring, confusing, and convoluted," he writes. Forbes
(11/29)
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- Innovation lessons from Chinese tea and monkeys
A myth involving an expensive tea plant found in China can provide lessons for the modern pursuit of innovation, Scott Bowden of IBM Global Services writes. According to the myth, locals discovered they could get monkeys to pick the tea plants for them by throwing rocks at the monkeys. One lesson that can be derived from this example is that "we should consider dynamic solutions in which we consider responses from actors within the process (throw rock, anger monkey, monkey returns fire)," he writes. InnovationExcellence.com
(11/29)
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- Slow down and start learning from your failures
Failures should be part of a learning process, writes Henna Inam, CEO of Transformational Leadership. Rushing to avoid or cover up failures means missing an opportunity to grow wiser and stronger, Inam argues. "[W]e need to think about failure as a process we go through rather than an event to avoid at all costs," she writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership
(11/28)
 | If you’re not honest enough to confront your brand’s weaknesses and find ways to continually improve your delivery, you’re not giving folks the motivation to keep buying from you."
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