“I think the soundest management advice I’ve heard is the old saw; ‘What gets measured gets done.’ My own organization applies this dictum rigorously. Our five-day executive seminars are organized around a series of ‘promises’ which demand of our participants practical action in our areas: customers, innovation, people and leadership. We quantify wherever possible. Although some of the promises may seem wildly ambitious, each is thoroughly grounded in observed business practice, usually in the toughest markets.”

“I got two different business plans from friends today. Both of these guys are big thinkers, entrepreneurs through and through and destined for greatness. And both had precisely the same problem with their plan. It’s a problem that’s becoming very common… for products, for services, online and off. The problem is caused by our networked world, the quest for the Cow and the goal of reaching a Tipping Point.”

“Thirty-six percent of white-collar workers spend 30 minutes or more each week on the phone with their companies’ technical support services, which costs businesses plenty, according to a new study.”

“Each year, the MBA Enterprise Corps sends MBAs to teach management skills to small-business owners in developing nations.”

“A couple of years back, a potential client contacted me about improving her company’s website. It seemed like a good fit: the company was (and is) an established, profitable company; and improving the customer experience would, without a doubt, create significant gains in metrics like revenue and customer acquisition. The site needed help, customers were frustrated, but with a bit of work the business could enjoy enormous returns. The problem came when we talked about fee.”

“With experimental markets, workers are betting on their company’s future ó and moving in on the boss’s domain.”

“Why are some organizations successful year after year while other seemingly extraordinary companies eventually fall by the wayside? I believe it comes down to having leaders who understand how to manage innovation and growth throughout the life cycle stages of an organization.”

“If you believe the hype, start-ups are an innovative breed that go against the grain of conventional business. But are they? A new study says the vast majority are not, leading one to wonder whether innovation is what it takes to start companies, or if they’re really fueled by something else.”

“The search-engine world is changing everything, from how your company markets and advertises to how your employees create and share information.”

“Recently, European employers have begun to demand more work from their workers. The six-week vacation remains sacrosanct, so far, but the powerful IG Metall union agreed to increase the workweek to 40 hours from 35 hours at two Siemens plants in Germany. Siemens had threatened to move 2,000 jobs to Hungary. DaimlerChrysler also is asking some of its German workers to lengthen their hours. In France, union members at a Robert Bosch plant agreed to give up eight holidays after the company threatened to move their jobs to the Czech Republic. France’s finance minister wants to loosen the law requiring a 35-hour work week.”

“As PR Machine’s producer, Robb Hecht, evangelizes the technological integration of blogs and RSS with brand advancement within the public relations practice, we were overjoyed during Global PR Blog Week 1.0 to get the opportunity to interview Seth Godin, former Yahoo! VP of Marketing, named ‘the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age’ by Business Week and author of five best-selling marketing books including Free Prize Inside, Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Ideavirus, Big Red Fez, Survival is Not Enough and Purple Cow.”

“In 1999 the entrepreneurs behind a photo hosting company named Webshots sold their company to Excite@Home for $82.5 million. Not bad. Even better, though, was that a few years later, after Excite@Home went bankrupt, the founders bought Webshots back at an $80 million discount, paying just $2.4 million. That was pretty smart of them… because now, two years later, they’ve flipped the company again, this time to CNET, for $70 million…”

“The Support Economy Ventures Website is an axis for regional Investment Summits concerning the principles of The Support Economy by Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin. The goal to advance investment and identify entrepreneurs building and leading the deep support infrastructure. The intention of Support Economy Ventures is to shape and catalyzes a community of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, deep support professionals and others wanting to† benefit from the next chapter in capitalism.” (Thanks Fact Company Now!)

“I donít know about you, but our business runs on PowerPoint. Last Friday, I led a seminar in Atlanta on publishing strategy with a group of 55 foreign publishers. Today, I made a presentation in Boston to some investors attending a ’small cap’†investor conference. I couldnít do either without PowerPoint. Or, if I could, it would be much more difficult and much less interesting… the Web is full of PowerPoint resources. I contend that in less than two hours of surfing, you can radically improve the effectiveness of your PowerPoint presentations. Here is a list of resources to get you started…”

“John Mackey’s approach to management is equal parts Star Trek and 1970s flashback. It seems like a recipe for disaster, but at Whole Foods it’s a prescription for world-beating growth ó and maybe for a world-changing company.”