The most successful innovators are consistently portrayed as possessing a passion that borders on dogmatism. They work tirelessly to bend reality to achieve their vision, with Steve Jobs and his “reality distortion field” serving as the prototypical example.

There’s no doubt that passion is a critical component of innovation. After all, innovation is awfully hard work, with plenty of false starts. Rosabeth Moss Kanter teaches that everything can look like a failure in the middle. Mike Tyson puts it another way: “Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face.” Passion is necessary to keep pushing when the punch inevitably lands.

And without passion it’s hard to do something that’s meaningfully different from what has been done before. It’s next to impossible to prove that a new idea will work. Passion and intuition are necessary ingredients for disruptive success.

Read Full Article in Harvard Business Review.com

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

I’ve been Starting My Start for some time now with Upstart, Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals , and I found out what not to do more than what is effective, which was humbling, but educational. There are some elements worth discussing, which should help any person considering building a business on their own.

Here’s what I learned:

Who are You – Are you up for this? The work, the hours, the failure, the rejection – because to Start Your Start, you will get overwhelmed and depressed with how much there is to do, with how much has not been done yet – with how far you are away from your ultimate goal, yet you will need to fight through to the next moment and the next, until you “breakthrough.” Are you willing to do this for your dream?

Don’t sit there thinking you’re the only person doing what you’re doing or thinking about doing it; there are many people thinking the same thing, at exactly the same time – it’s only the person, who dares to stop dreaming and start doing – he/she is the person that has enough naiveté, enough folly – enough disruption to what makes them comfortable – enough belief to “Make it Happen.” Is that you?

Vision – See where you are going and clarify your motivation for wanting to get there. It’s rare when one entrepreneur can do all things alone, so it will be necessary to connect your vision to those you want to employ, those with financial resources and your potential partners. The vision should be incredibly ambitious, yet still have pragmatic means for achieving.

Believe – It’s your dream, don’t expect others to see your dream as you do. If you can’t create excitement within yourself – you won’t be able to persuade others to support your initiatives.

Talent – Find talent that feels what you feel about your proposition; don’t just get famous or cheap partners or employees — seek value – find the people, who want the business to happen almost as much as you do. Find those people, who are relentless in their pursuit of milestones and overall goals. Also, look for diversity in talent – if all your talent is creative-leaning, you will have a blind spot within operations. Also, diversity in thought and talent will look at ideation and process development through eclectic frames, which should help your enterprise find the best path forward.

Operations – Strategize; create a roadmap of how to achieve your goals. Execute; find the tactics to complement and complete the roadmap. Identify core and peripheral audiences, the risks and the costs. Create a real-time SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and metric platform. Connect your employees to the goals, the mission and the vision – personalize performance.

Performance – Identify the milestones you want to reach, when you want to reach them – the resources necessary, and how you measure up to your own objectives and to your competitors – where are you making inroads, where do you need to adjust – what does your performance tell you about the next 15-30 days – what does it tell you about the year ahead?

Differentiate – Create a Unique Selling Proposition; what will be different about your offering from the rest of those already within market – how will your communications and customer service be different – what will be customers/users testimony, which separates your products or services  — how will you deliver this differentiation consistently?

Know the Numbers – If you are like me, creative and somewhat capricious – then you hate financials, but there is no business without the business side of the business. If you are not clear and present about your financials, you have no business – whoever knows the numbers and how it relates to costs, revenues, margins, taxes and net issues – that’s the person who owns the business. Don’t “create” yourself out of owning your own business! (Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs, by Karen Berman and Joe Knight) good numbers book to start out.

Repurpose – If you think it, it’s already been done. Stop wasting time creating something that already exists – your job is to personalize that thing you are offering to fit your audience. Yes, we have already been to the moon – your job is to get a social media site for regular people who want to go to the moon. Don’t invent – repurpose and make something already invented – original again.

Look Around the Corner – See the future before it arrives; the first to the opportunity, to the IPO, to the information is always the winner – the one slow to evolve is always dead on arrival. Engage in futurity (sound principles, ethics and performance), not in foolishness (pets.com) – enough said.

Still Believe – As the business moves forward, you will get your ass kicked up and down and all around, even as things start to get better; you will lose money, lose great people and deals will fall through, hang in there, dust yourself off, refocus and keep fighting. Stay focused – there will be people and circumstances that you think should support you, who will not offer that very support, and others not aligned with your vision, who will surprisingly become accoutrements to your success. Calm is your armor – stay focused, resolute and WIN.

Evaluation – What have you learned and why did that happen. How did this information help your company and what adjustments do you need to make to do whatever you’re doing more effectively, with less cost? Should you measure every day, once a week, once a month etc ; whatever you do, your performance, the financials and the evaluation should tell an immediate and comprehensive story – if not – change your evaluation formula.

Fun – You’re on your way. It’s great to be your own man (or woman), and to be autonomous. Remember that if you make it, it will be yours. Lofts and Maserati’s are not had by 9-to-5ers. Remember to have parties and events, recognize employees and get out in the community you serve – you are the most direct reflection of your firm  — if you look like you’re having fun – you become attractive to potential customers, financiers and partners.

Repeat – When you complete my list, repeat them again, and this time “Breakthrough.”

See you soon –best to you and your endeavor.

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Sydney Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, published “Why Smart Executives Fail” 8 years ago.

In it, he shared some of his research on what over 50 former high-flying companies – like Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Rubbermaid, and Schwinn – did to become complete failures.  It turns out that the senior executives at the companies all had 7 Habits in common.  Finkelstein calls them the Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives.

These traits can be found in the leaders of current failures like Research In Motion (RIMM), but they should be early-warning signs (cautionary tales) to currently unbeatable firms like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), and Amazon.com (AMZN).  Here are the habits, as Finkelstein described in a 2004 article:

Habit # 1:  They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environment

This first habit may be the most insidious, since it appears to be highly desirable.  Shouldn’t a company try to dominate its business environment, shape thefuture of its markets and set the pace within them?  Yes,but there’s a catch.  Unlike successful leaders, failed leaders who never question their dominance fail torealize they are at the mercy of changing circumstances.They vastly overestimate the extent to which they actually control events and vastly underestimate the role of chance and circumstance in their success.

Read Full Article in Forbes.com

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

The final installment of Fail-Up by Tavis Smiley. We learned that failure is temporary and can be turned into an asset, in terms of how you perceive it and respond. We will experience failure, and the eventual identification of the causes and the pathway to reconciliation is the difference between incredible success and abject failure.

From Smiley:

1. I will never, ever be out-worked.
2. Rejection is redirection.
3. Preparation, preparation and preparation.
4. Courage is available to each of us: your best interest must always remain in absolute alignment with your principles.
5. Truth needs no defense.
6. Love wins.
7. Even when you can’t hear his voice, you can trust his plan.

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Tavis Smiley: Fail-Up

Continuing our examination of Fail-Up by commentator and author, Tavis Smiley – we look at the essential measures one needs to repurpose him or her self after experiencing setbacks, and how to initially see trouble spots. Smiley states:

1. Mind your own business and leave other folks’ business alone.
2. Stay in your lane, but own it.
3. Falling is a part of the process: no failure – no success.
4. The challenge is to mute the noise and hone in with laser-like precision on who you really are.
5. If you can’t passionately sell it to yourself, nobody else is going to buy it.
6. Start where you are.

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Read a great book by commentator and author, Tavis Smiley: Fail-Up, delivers strong and insightful messages about the character and tactical realignments we might consider when going through adversity.  Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals members should understand and embrace that adversity is not only a set of challenges, it usually becomes opportunity as well.  Lessons from Fail-Up:

1. How good is your failure?
2. If arrogance is the disease: then humility is the cure.
3. Muhammad Ali: A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
4. Sometimes you have to be pushed, or you’ll never leave.
5. Embrace the unknown: the universe is nudging you in the direction of your true destination.
6. Success becomes failure when you lose your civility and your dignity.
7. Double check –it and back it up or back off.

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Facing harsh reaction from financial markets and a frustrated public, the congressional “super committee” negotiating a possible deficit reduction agreement announced Monday it has failed to reach a deal.

A statement from the panel’s co-chairs said that “after months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline.”

Despite their failure, the committee’s co-chairs said “we remain hopeful that Congress can build on this committee’s work and can find a way to tackle this issue in a way that works for the American people and our economy.”

President Barack Obama scheduled a 5:45 p.m. statement. Other reaction arrived swiftly.

Markets dropped as news spread of the panel’s expected failure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 248 points Monday, with a minor recovery after being down more than 300 points earlier in the afternoon.

Initial reaction had Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for the inability of the bipartisan committee to negotiate at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction measures.

Read Full Article in CNN/Politics.com

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Upstart: Management

When you place a colleague or a new hire into a management position, you’d better not abandon the poor soul.

It’ll be the toughest conversation you’ll ever have. A year earlier, you introduced the new manager to the team, rattling off her credentials and virtues. You even joked that you’d report to her one day. Now, sitting across the table, you can barely look at her. You have so much to say, but all you can squeeze out is: “It’s not working out.”

You came ready for a brawl, expecting unflattering accusations to be flung back at you. Instead, it ended with awkward small talk and a flaccid hand shake. But you won’t be able to shake the guilt. There was always some issue that took precedence over your manager. You tolerated too much and turned up the heat too late. Deep inside you know the truth: She never had a chance.

You failed her.

When you elevate someone to management, you’re subtly telling your employees: This is the person you should aspire to be. Your employees regard this person as your voice, a direct reflection on you as a leader. Too often, leaders forget that management entails a major transition, requiring a new mentality and skill set. It proves particularly trying for stars, who frequently distinguish themselves through production and quality. Instead, they must step back and coax others to do the work, becoming advocates—if not referees and buffers—for their reports.

Twelve Slippery Steps to Failure

Yes, managers are blamed for what they cannot control. There’s always someone looking to test them. Under these conditions, you must ask this question: Have I put my managers (particularly new ones) in a position to succeed? Here are 12 ways you probably failed the last manager you let go.

1. Provided lax onboarding. You had to learn on the fly when you started. Your manager didn’t have time to coddle you and it made you resourceful and resilient. So you leave your new hires to sink or swim, figuring they’ll come through just as you did—when that’s not the case.

2. Set a poor example. Your employees take their cues from you. You set the tone and serve as the role model. The question is: What are they adopting from you? Attitudes and behaviors are contagious. Your conduct sets the boundaries for what’s appropriate. Take a look at your flaws. Ask yourself if you would accept those defects from your direct or indirect reports.

3. Lacked accountability. Your managers can’t read your mind. Look at the expectations you’ve set. What are your priorities? What larger purpose do you ultimately want to achieve? What is your timeline for reaching it? What metrics should they hit? What will happen if they miss these marks? And how often do you review all this with them? Whatever gets measured gets done, or so the cliché goes.

Read More:

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/apr2011/ca2011044_047640.htm

Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals

Upstart: Gamechangers

Five years ago Julian Day showed up at RadioShack, a rock star CEO ready to perform his turnaround magic on the struggling electronics retailer that was quickly becoming irrelevant. Known as a cost cutter, the former investment banker had helped revive Safeway while chief financial officer of the company. He had taken over as chief executive of Kmart Holdings when the discount retailer was in bankruptcy court in 2003 and presided over a stunning reemergence.

But after five years in Fort Worth, Tex., Day is leaving behind a mess. RadioShack posted a 30% drop in first quarter earnings and its partnership with T-Mobile has been a disaster, leaving the company with uncompetitive product offerings and a contract dispute. The company also lowered the top end of its earnings per share guidance for the year. Day’s five-year contract with RadioShack expires this year and his last day with the company will be May 16.

Day has done things his way at RadioShack. He presided over the firing of hundreds of employees who were told about their job losses via email. He also mostly ditched quarterly earnings conference calls, analyst meetings and press interviews. But he could not find a way to offset competition from big retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, which offered one-stop shopping and deep discounts.

Still, Day has done pretty well for himself. He has received $21.4 million in cash and exercisable options for his five years at RadioShack.

Read More:

http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanvardi/2011/04/25/julian-days-radioshack-turnaround-has-been-a-failure/

Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals