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Conventional wisdom said, "Start-ups shouldn't take on Goliaths in their back yards. The Goliaths have the resources to squash start-ups. Start-ups should play where the giants ain't."
Nouveau wisdom says, "Yeah, gramps, those were the old days!" Witness San Francisco start-up, Method, a maker of green cleaning products. A year ago, founders Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, decided to pit their company directly against Procter & Gamble's blockbuster Swifter mop. Method's Omop incorporates sleek design with 100% biodegradable sweeping cloths. This was after, the year before, carving out a piece of the dryer sheet market for themselves, at the expense of Unilevel and P&G. Result? In 2005, the company had $15 million in sales. In 2007, it rang up nearly $100 million. |
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| I want to thank Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, for sticking to his guns and hosting Iranian President Ahmadinejad today. It goes almost without saying that much of what Ahmadinejad stands for (e.g., denial of the Holocaust, advocating the elimination of Israel, developing nuclear weapons, supporting terrorist cells, denying human rights to Iranian citizens) is reprehensible, but I am astounded at how harshly Bollinger was criticized for providing him a platform. On television this morning, I saw national news personalities visibly fuming over the fact that Ahmadinejad would be allowed to speak. This is America! Free speech lies at the heart of this nation! How can anyone who really understands American history and the essence of the American experience say we should suppress one’s voice, even a reprehensible foreign leader? I applaud Bollinger for his display of self-definition and courage in defending a basic American right. |
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According to the New York Times, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders yesterday abruptly reversed his public opposition to marriage for same-sex partners and revealed that his adult daughter is a lesbian. He signed a city council resolution supporting a challenge to California's gay marriage ban. He previously promised to veto it. In a press conference, he fought back tears as he said he wanted his adult daughter, Lisa, and other gay people he knows to have their relationships protected equally under state laws. "In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships -- their very lives -- were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife Rana," Sanders said.
Up for re-election next year, Sanders faces an electorate in which 62% endorsed a statewide measure in 2000 to restrict marriage to a union between a man and woman. I don’t know a lot about Mayor Sanders, but I like this display of courage! |
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So here’s a quote from Lee Iacocca’s new book, Where Have All the Leader’s Gone?
"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy
(thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?"
Forget about your interest in leadership. If you have any interest in the conditions affecting your life, you have to read this book. |
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| Now George Tenet, former CIA directory at the time President Bush decided to invade Iraq, says Dick Cheney pushed the U.S. into war without ever conducting a serious debate about the actual threat, if any, posed by Saddam Hussein. A couple things about this come to mind. First, there's nothing new about this. Anyone with a brain who read a modest amount knew there were no weapons of mass destruction and a minimal threat posed by Hussein. Second, it's just another in a seeming endless string of Bush administration officials, supposed lifelong leaders, who leave the administration and then criticize Bush and Cheney. If they were really leaders, they would have stood up and stated their opinions when it really took courage. When it went against what their peers and colleagues were saying and feeling. When it could have had a positive effect. It would be a joke but for the tens of thousands, and more likely hundreds of thousands of people who have died thus far in this conflict. |
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| I've never been a huge fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California, and I'm not one yet. But I have to say, I admire what he is doing as a leader these days. In 2006, he backed the California Global Warming Solutions Act, which goes further than any legislation anywhere in the U.S. to mandate the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. He backs stem-cell research and is working aggresively toward making California the nation's leader in that arena. He recently proposed a universal health care plan for the state. He pisses off the left and the right, depending on the issue, but just keeps marching ahead with what he believes. I like a self-defined leader with courage. I may not always agree with him, but he has earned my respect. |
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| One cannot effectively lead without a tremendous amount of courage. Sounds obvious, and yet I am continually amazed at the number of people who call themselves leaders who simply cannot do two things every leader must do. First, they can't make a decision while there is still risk in it. Get me more facts. Get me more support from my board. Get me enough so that I can't NOT make this decision. Give me slam dunks...I just don't like to fire from outside. Second, they can't make the tough interpersonal call. They can't fire someone that ought to be fired. They can't call a long-time partner and cancel a partnership that ought to be canceled. They can't tell their board members bad news that they deserve to hear. I have worked with many leaders of billion dollar companies who could have had 50 billion dollar companies but for their inability to take risks and have the tough conversation. If their inability to do these things is just because they are soft-hearted, then we might debate whether they should be in leadership positions. Generally, though, their inability stems from fear. Fear of failing. Fear of not being liked. And what is fear? Merely a fiction created by the mind. There is not one shred of anything real in it. If we are present, if we are emotionally clear, fear doesn't exist. We take risks and we make the tough calls. |
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