The Air Force’s Rules of Engagement for Blogging [Updated] Insights You Can Use » annual reviews. How to Accomplish More by Doing Less - Tony Schwartz. By Tony Schwartz | 7:40 AM December 13, 2011 Two people of equal skill work in the same office. For the sake of comparison, let’s say both arrive at work at 9 am each day, and leave at 7 pm. Bill works essentially without stopping, juggling tasks at his desk and running between meetings all day long. He even eats lunch at his desk. Sound familiar? Nick, by contrast, works intensely for approximately 90 minutes at a stretch, and then takes a 15 minute break before resuming work.
Bill spends 10 hours on the job. By 1 pm, Bill is feeling some fatigue. It’s called the law of diminishing returns. Nick puts in the same 10 hours. Nick takes off a total of two hours during his 10 at work, so he only puts in 8 hours. Because Nick is more focused and alert than Bill, he also makes fewer mistakes, and when he returns home at night, he has more energy left for his family. It’s not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. A List Of Startups Goldman Sachs Thinks Will Most Likely IPO. Very very quietly (there is almost no Google footprint), investment bank and securities firm Goldman Sachs held its “Private Internet Company Conference” this week in Las Vegas. During the two-day conference, which lasted from November 29-30th, a gaggle of companies presented their business models to an elite audience composed of bankers, investors and peers.
Attendees listened to talks given by A16Z‘s Marc Andreessen and Square’s Keith Rabois (who gave the keynote on Tuesday night). SV Angel’s Ron Conway was also there, being himself. All in all the experience was very, very fun I heard. So why hold a conference for early stage companies if you’re an IPO underwriter? So who are these white-hot startups then? In alphabetical order: Each startup presented for 30 min to an audience of about 60-80, except for the four or so smaller ones like Gogobot, who presented to all 500 people for 15 minutes. But that’s just me. Update: Screencaps of the full agenda, below. Top image via: Greekshares. 9 Ways to Improve Customer Communication on Your Website. Daniel Alves is the design director for the small business web design division at the digital marketing and web design company, 352 Media Group. If you’re like most business owners, getting leads online is the main reason you created a website in the first place. Sure, you may have a stellar SEO campaign, a beautiful design and an über low bounce rate, but without a well-planned contact strategy, you can’t turn those pageviews into conversions.
Online conversions aren’t just for ecommerce websites. In fact, most businesses use their websites to initiate one-on-one conversations. By personally engaging a contact, you are more likely to turn that contact into a customer. So, what’s the trick? First, you need to understand that most people don’t want to give their phone numbers or email addresses to yet another website — the thought of spam is horrifying. Follow these nine tips to make your website design and customer service more approachable, and thus, gain the trust of more customers. 10 Proven Strategies of High-Performance Teams [INFOGRAPHIC] Ronald Brown is a successful startup CEO with an extensive background in technology and consumer marketing.
His new book, Anticipate. The Architecture of Small Team Innovation and Product Success is available via iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Who drives product innovation? The answer is small, entrepreneurial development teams — better known as "agile teams" in the high-tech industry. These types of teams are obviously essential for startups, but many large companies approach team-building in the same way, especially those that lead the industry in terms of product revenue. What are the essential elements — the genetic structure, if you will — of a high-performance team? Image courtesy of iStockphoto, francisblack. How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule. It's easy to get into social media for the wrong reasons and to post too much or too little. Here's how to balance out your social media efforts. Why have you joined the social media world? Some social networkers are there for purely egotistical reasons.
They don't want to engage in the conversation. They simply collect followers and friends in order to have bragging rights every time they collect another thousand. But connecting, following or befriending just anyone dilutes your influence and standing among those in your audience. Others join because they feel they must. The real motivation for any business social networker is connection: You should want to connect with like-minded people who can help your business and whose businesses you can assist. But making such strong, real connections takes time, effort and thoughtfulness. Some social networkers are the worst of both worlds: They don’t post to their blog or text their friends or colleagues for weeks at a time.
Through the Week. The Hipsterfication Of America. Hide captionConcertgoers move in a spray of cooling mist as they dance amid the heat of the desert at the hipster Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., in April. Mike Blake/Reuters /Landov Concertgoers move in a spray of cooling mist as they dance amid the heat of the desert at the hipster Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., in April. The hotel lobby in Franklin, Tenn., has an ultra-urban loft-esque feel — exposed air ducts, austere furniture and fixtures, music videos projected onto a flat panel. Everywhere there is lava-lampish aqua and amber lighting. Sale racks near the front desk display chargers for iPods and BlackBerrys and a variety of snacks, including Cocoa Puffs and Red Bulls. Welcome to Aloft, a hipster hotel on the outskirts of Nashville. Nearby are Plato's Closet, a recycled-clothing store where hipsters shop, and Which Wich, a sandwich shop — touting its "edgy, magnetic environment" — where hipsters eat.
The Ironic Hipster Seth Wenig/AP. 8 Strategies To Fight Ordinary. I’m writing from the air, descending into the heart of The Great Tech War of 2012: San Francisco. During my last trip here, a few weeks ago, I got a taste of what this battle is all about. My client was a once high-flying tech pioneer now struggling with the erosive power of commoditization. It used to take generations for your core business to devolve from the high-margin cutting edge to a low-price commodity. Now it can take just a few years. My recent post about Netflix sparked a heated debate on various newsgroup message boards, and illustrates the dilemma well.
So how can you fight the commoditization? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Economists may tell you that every industry will eventually mature into a low-margin, commodity environment. [image: flickr user csi_ice]
Five big problems with mobile travel applications (and a bonus one for Android users) The World Wide Wait was a common term used in the late 1990s to vent the frustration of being unable to access the huge potential of the internet. The “Wait” was due to slow dial-up lines, clogged service provider servers, and let-it-all-out heavy graphic/flash websites. In 2011, the same label could be refreshed for mobile apps, in particular travel mobile apps. In part because of similar network speed reasons, but also because of wrong decisions in app design. Here’s a summary of the most common problems with mobile travel apps today: 1.
It’s not always on. Because it’s mobile, users constantly lose coverage: metro/tube stations, inner buildings, car parkings, cathedrals (yes), rural areas. And obviously, when it comes to traveling abroad, roaming forces data networks off for most users. The fact is that as soon as coverage is lost, some apps stop working. Case in point with the Eurostar or the AirFrance apps. The return mobile boarding pass so efficiently downloaded before departure? 2.