More often than not, we as employees keep to ourselves radical ideas that would be beneficial to organizations. Our bosses ask us to “think outside the of the box,” but when coming up with the ideas after our personal brainstorming, we tone down our ideas, or adopt ideas from someone else, falling victims of groupthink or worse, adopting HIPPO’s (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion).
You may recognize in your life people that have helped you at a difficult time or situation, or you have someone in your life that you admire most because of their achievements. Whether you hired them as coaches or you were just observing them, if you think of it, you can learn something from everyone you meet in life.
What would you think if I told you that company visions, and most importantly, a company’s purpose is discovered, rather than invented? Is it backward if you as a founder or CEO try to force unto the market some presumptions? Of course, you have to test the waters (MVPs are a good tool for this), but always with an open mind that you’ll most likely be proven wrong.
My standpoint on technical certifications is a mixed one, and it mostly depends on several factors. Does your industry require you to have it? Is your company asking you to get certified? Is it the pursuit of knowledge or merely just compliance with a component of peer pressure? Are you sure you’re getting the most value out of it? I’ll do my best to answer these questions in this post today.
There’s a trap most customers fall into and it’s the result of many years of companies using marketinesque language. It’s the Trap of Product Commoditization. What is it about? It’s when you pick a product based on its brochure features, among many other products that are apparently the same. So you might make your choice based on price or any other economical factor (Discounts perhaps? Free professional services the entire year? Free additional licenses?)
COBOL is a coding language older than Weird Al Yankovic. The people who know how to use it are often just as old. It underpins the entire financial system. And it can’t be removed. How a computer language controls the financial life of the world.
What would you tell a prospective customer when he tells you they are looking for the cheapest rate freelancer to develop a relatively complex web application? On top of that, the prospective customer also asks you to recommend a Community Manager to post once or twice a day on the social media accounts of the so-called company (which happens to not even exist yet).
Taken at face value, you might get discouraged to work with this person, but have you ever thought why? Have you thought deeply about what is enraging of this example situation? Let’s discuss a bit more about this topic.
This is one of these entrepreneurial pitfalls that, once you come across to realize you have been doing it wrong all this time, the business perspective of your ideas gets shaken like a 9.0 Richter earthquake. Such an incredible realization could only come from the simplicity of business processes and value-adding approach to work.