Tag Archives: Stanford eCorner

Video: Scott Cook: Savor Surprises in Business

True Stories, Videos,

Nice short video of Scott Cook giving a great example of how surprises come up in business. My Friday video for this week, from Stanford eCorner. He talks about discovering the value of doing simple bookkeeping for people who aren’t accountants and don’t care about debits and credits.

As he tells how Intuit discovered the market for people who don’t know or like or want to know accounting – way back in 1984 – I can’t help recommending to all business owners that we should know our numbers. Getting the basics of accounting is not nearly as hard as you fear. And there is no substitute for the peace of mind of knowing our own numbers.

So, rather than accept the idea that we can’t or don’t want to, how about knowing your numbers?

My suggestion starts with this 13-minute video on debits and credits. And from there, three essential projections and six key terms. You’ll be glad you did.

Video: Don’t Just Ask for Feedback – Listen

Advice, Management, Videos,

My Friday video today, from Stanford ECorner, Mike Rothenberg talks about inviting honest feedback. How to ask for it, how to listen, and how people will go slowly at first. You have to reassure them that you really want the feedback.

I’ll add that in my decades in business, I’ve come to treasure the people who give me real feedback. And I’ve noticed that relatively few of us really ask for feedback and then listen to it, and use it. We all say we want it, but most of us want praise more than real opinions, much less constructive criticism. This is a short video, which I post as a reminder.

Or you can click here for the YouTube source video.

Entrepreneurship and Leadership with Mark Maples

Business Ethics, Business Ideas, Leadership, Starting a Business, Work Life Balance, ,

My Friday video for this week is on entrepreneurship and leadership from the Stanford Ecorner. If you haven’t been there for a while, check it out. There is a new interface, and it’s a great collection of speakers on entrepreneurship, startups, business, and investment.

Here’s the intro from the site:

Silicon Valley veteran Mike Maples Jr. shares heartfelt advice urging aspiring entrepreneurs to “only do things that you think have a chance to be legendary.” By committing to always doing exceptional work and being around inspiring people, Maples says you will reap the cumulative benefits of a lifetime of excellence, and be able to enjoy it again whenever you look back.

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/embeddedPlayer.html?mid=3749&width=500

This is a two-minute excerpt from a longer talk.

True Story: Don’t Compromise Your Ethics in a Software Startup

Business Ethics, ,

This is Heidi Roizen talking about the old days of  Silicon Valley software startup (T/Maker), with a true story about an ethical choice she and her co-founder brother Peter made. It’s less than three minutes and it’s a perfect example of the kind of thing that happens all the time; and the choices you as business owner and/or entrepreneur need to make.

My thanks to Stanford Business School’s Ecorner for making this available.

(If for any reason you don’t see it on this page, here’s the link to the source in YouTube.

Drill Down into What You Do Best

Advice, Leadership, Starting a Business, ,

I put this here today because I love this quote:

“I wanted to fundamentally feel like I was the best person in the world to solve that problem.”

This is Tristan Walker, of Walker and Company Brands, speaking at Stanford, courtesy of Stanford eCorner. If you don’t see the video here, please click here for the source.
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/embeddedPlayer.html?mid=3308&width=500

When is the Right Time to Start a Company

Starting a Business,

I really like this 2-minute explanation Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner: Steve Teig, Tabula – Right Time to Start a Company. He’s clearly focusing on tech companies and the web, but the principals apply elsewhere if you use your imagination.

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/embeddedPlayer.html?mid=3210&width=500

If for any reason you don’t see the video here, you can click this link to go to the original on Stanford’s scorner.