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"We're smack in the middle of 'perfect storm' conditions for young entrepreneurs, which means that if you haven't already noticed that the CEO down the road may look more comfortable at the local skate park than in a board room, you will soon. And if you have noticed the trend, you may be asking yourself who these young people are, why they seem to be starting companies at an accelerated rate, what kinds of companies they're starting, and if they're really so different from the young entrepreneurs of the past couple of decades. As it turns out, the entrepreneurs of Generation Y (those born between 1977 and the mid-nineties) are really quite extraordinary. So if you are tempted to dismiss business owners in their twenties as self-centered, arrogant dilettantes who approach the start-up process like a teen with a new video game, better think again. Humor me for a few minutes, and consider that you may even have a thing or two to learn from them."
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"How you apologize is your humanity litmus test. Let's face it, at some point; your business will suffer a failure that disappoints customers. How your company reacts, explains, removes the pain, and takes accountability for actions signals how you think about customers, and the collective heart of your organization. Grace and wisdom guide decisions of beloved companies toward accepting responsibility and resolving the situation when the chips are down—not accusations and skirting accountability. Repairing the emotional connections well is a hallmark of companies we love. It makes us love them even more."
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"Most of us would agree that the principal difference between children and real adults is that the latter look ahead, consider consequences, act responsibly and sustainably. Sustainability is not, however, just the essence of maturity. It is also the essence of morality.[...]Whether one looks at our ailing planet, our ever less affordable healthcare, or our failing economy, we see the same underlying problem: a rejection of maturity in favor of a childish refusal to look ahead. What we need instead is a more complete and all-encompassing concept of sustainability."
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"... As I go out into the world and teach people about creative thought, I'm often asked by managers 'how to' apply this in an organization. They want me to talk about 'corporate creativity' and 'innovation management' and at first blush, to me, 'corporate creativity' seems like a [George] Carlinesque oxymoron. It seems like two words that contradict each other, like 'jumbo shrimp,' 'military
intelligence' and 'borrowing brilliance.' Corporations are typically highly structured and highly political, and typically NOT very creative. But they don't have to be this way. In fact, once you understand the basic mechanics of creative thinking, the basic block and tackling skills of the thinker, you can turn your organization into a creative factory that churns out innovative concepts through
intelligent collaboration and the development of a corporate culture that fosters 'corporate creativity.'
Let me explain."
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Only by refocusing incentives, rewards, and taxes on sustainable performance will we have an impact on the cultural impetuses which harvested the flawed leadership that ushered in the economic collapse.
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