Entrepreneurs are puzzle-solvers. We take what’s visible and invisible and ponder, plan and experiment. Sometimes the plans work out fabulously..other times, not so much. Here’s a classic example of one of them. Riding up the elevator to the management office of the John Hancock Center, they had agreed to meet with me over an idea [...]

I have lots of conversations with entrepreneurs and realize the way we frame questions to ourselves determines the direction we’re heading in. If, for example, you are asking yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen? Can I possibly end up in a double-wide?” This is the wrong direction. It’s not IF you will succeed that [...]

…yesterday along with the other gazillion people he wrote to. The letter began Dear Lennie, “I messed up. I owe you an explanation.” Thank You Reed but you didn’t do anything to me. Even though I’m going to keep reading in hopes of finding a gift certificate in your letter. “It is clear from the [...]

In his address to graduates of Stanford University,  Steve Jobs said you can’t connect the dots of your life in the future. You can only know their meaning once they’ve played out. There is no fast forward to see how things turn out. The only way to know if you’re going to fulfill your destiny [...]

In Sunday’s Tribune there was a full page ad asking Chicago, do we want the Pump Room back or the new Gold Coast Kitchen? It’s a little like asking do we want the Action film or the Opera? It puts the responsibility on the consumer and we already have plenty of that. In this instance [...]

It’s easy to get swept away with what is changing. But what isn’t changing also deserves attention. Great companies are built on values that were as important to them yesterday as they will be tomorrow. How fairly we treat each other doesn’t change with the times. It only deepens. A commitment to excellence doesn’t waver. [...]

I have grappled with investing in myself and my business. The underpinnings of this decision-making process go down to the bone of self-worth. The self-help book I should be reading is,  My Business, Myself , which I haven’t written. It’s set in what Faith Popcorn coined as the “atomsFear” where grown-uppery is the two sided [...]

If you want to think outside the box, don’t use a box as your reference.  To be original you need to break convention. To break convention you need to break your routine and get inspired. To get inspired you may need to go inside (like meditation) or to The Far Side with Gary Larson to Pago Pago.  What you don’t need is to [...]

Have you heard of Ballet Parking? The World’s Largest Thong? Or celebrated Have a Bad Day Day?  Maybe you’ve read Harry Potter, taken a Zip Car or tried the new Fare Share taxi app in NYC. Those are all figments of some one’s imagination gone terribly real.  I have had enough experience to believe that imagination rocks.  For many of us, we also [...]

I couldn’t get the word Ooga out of my head. It sounded so Google, so Yahoo, but with a honk.  Instead of foolishly following my instinct, I conducted market research and asked professional women, business women’s groups, businessmen, entrepreneurs, friends and everyone I knew what they thought of the name Big Ooga. Here were my findings.   90% of people had a strong reaction to [...]