Archive for the 'Entrepreneurship' Category

Dec 29th 2008 Would we bet on it?

Gordon Bell, a prominent investor who funds start-ups, is very blunt with executives of firms in his portfolio. For instance, when someone makes predictions for company performance, Bell will zero in on one number and ask the CEO, “Wanna bet? A side bet, you and me, for $1,000.” If the CEO gulps, Bell knows he or she has doubts. At least once, when an underperforming CEO didn’t take the bet, Bell had him fired. You can take this notion up a notch to engage in prediction markets, set up like a stock market, where people can buy and sell shares reflecting their honest assessment of how a particular plan will play out.

Source: Seven Ways to Fail Big by Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui | Harvard Business Review, September 2008

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Nov 30th 2005 Conflict between discovery and colonization

A classic example of the conflict [between the skills, mindsets and structures needed for discovery and colonization] is the story of Lotus 1-2-3 in the 1980s. Before Lotus was acquired by IBM it was an independent company that created the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software – a huge success in the market that brought this hitherto little-known company a considerable profit and profile. However, five years on, top management became concerned that the company’s success and growth was leading to a loss of entrepreneurial spirit. To put this concern to the test, they took the CVs of the first 50 people hired by Lotus back in the early 1980s, changed their names and put them in the application pool. Not one was invited for interview. This tells you that these entrepreneurs, pioneers, revolutionaries even, no longer ‘fitted’ into the new culture.

source: Emerald Now Spotlight on Constantinos Markides

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