"...out-learning the competition"
HEADLINES:
Y-Size Your Business -- subtitled How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business, this book focuses on practical advice for attracting and working with the fastest growing segment in America's workforce - Generation Y or Millennials. Almost 80 million strong, they comprise the entire 18 - 32 demographic. Note's the inside flap of the book "Along with their ever-present cell phones and new definition of 'business casual' they bring tremendous potential to the workplace (just ask, they'll tell you). However, Generation Y's approach to employment can make them a challenge for managers and executives to attract, retain, motivate, and develop."
Millennials Love Videos -- Sam Goodner, founder and CEO of Austin-based Catapult Systems, Microsoft's leading Solution Provider (7 offices around the US), is the one that turned me on to this book after hearing the author, Jason Ryan Dorsey, speak at a local YPO event. "We've been implementing a number of his recommendations over the past six months at Catapult Systems," notes Goodner. "One of his points, for example, is that Gen-Yers love video. In fact, their number one source to find out how to do anything is YouTube. So we created a cool new recruiting video with Gen-Yers in mind (focusing on what matters most to them), and it's been working really well for us: " Take a few minutes to see what Catapult created.
Microsoft WPC -- FYI, for any of you attending Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in LA this summer, I'll be leading both a Sales Seminar and Marketing Seminar on Tuesday, 12th July. Hope to see many of you there.
Bringing Products to Market -- the book The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Gary Blank, continues to gain momentum as the hip book in Silicon Valley. Clearly the book with the strangest cover, Blank pushes companies to involve customers early on in prototyping, alpha testing, and improving product/service offerings. A very tough book to read, Sebastian Ross, CEO of Barcelona-based Careesma, suggests The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany is the more digestible version of Blank's book. All of this aligns with last week's insight about the importance of being demand driven and focused this decade.
How Great Entrepreneurs' Think -- it seems the best entrepreneurs don't do much market research - they just start doing and then stay very close to the customer in garnering feedback (sounds like Blank's approach). Here's an excellent article I missed in Inc (because I'm a Fortune fan!) which summarizes the groundbreaking research by Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, who set out to determine how expert entrepreneurs think. Take 7 minutes and scan this article for more insights.
9th June Complimentary Webcast -- just a reminder about Thursday's Mid-Year Review webcast. Half the year is already over - will you be able to look back with no regrets? Learn the top 3 things you must do NOW to make sure you finish the year strong. Join Patrick Thean, author of Execute without Drama, for a complimentary webcast on Thursday, June 9th at 1:00 EST. He will provide you with a mid-year checklist, help you figure out the critical adjustments you need to make in the next 6 months and show you how to develop the right people plan to finish the year strong. Please note that this is a Private Webcast for companies with revenue at least $10 million annually. REGISTER NOW.