The Pragmatic Populist

Not Being Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

I love startups. I love the chaos. I love the insane hours. I love the energy. I love the types of people who are attracted to work on high-risk ideas with long odds. I love the culture that evolves around them. I love it all. I have spent [...]

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Why Customer Service Matters

Many people don’t think about it specifically, but know it intuitively: if you want good customer service, skip the big guys and go to a small company. In Small Business’ Competitive Advantage, I discuss that Customer Service is the magical pixie dust for small business. Think about your normal daily experience: if you need to [...]

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We Never Called it "Cyber Monday"

I’ve been feeling nostalgic this week. After so many years in ecommerce, supporting catalogers and retailers whose year entirely revolved around the Christmas season, I am almost at a loss for what to do if I’m not running around putting out fires from Thanksgiving weekend up until the week before Christmas. Strange as it seems to [...]

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Tis the Season to be Independent

In Deck the Halls with Pink Slips I discuss the November round of layoffs at several big companies. Of course, part of what brought these to my attention is that a dear friend of mine got caught in the pre-holidays cut-backs at Adobe. Even worse, however, was the fact that my friend loved working at [...]

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Trick Questions

Some questions are just a trick. The interview process is full of these: there really is no right or wrong answer. The point is just to read something into which option you pick. My favorite of these is the famous one: “Which is more important to you: being liked or being respected?” As a [...]

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Opportunities in Chaos

As the old joke says, “There are two kinds of people in the world…” In my corner of the universe, there are those who love working in/with startups and those who don’t. Those to love it never question why someone else likes it. Those who have either never done it or who [...]

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StrengthsFinder2.0 – Command

Definition of “Command” from StrengthsFinder2.0: Instinctively, you earnestly apply yourself to seeing things as they really are. You bring a practical, matter-of-fact, and unsentimental outlook to various discussions, projects, or planning meetings. It’s very likely that you seem willing to take chances. You frequently venture into unknown territory when that can make the difference between capturing [...]

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StrengthsFinder2.0 – Focus

Definition of “Focus” from StrengthsFinder2.0: Instinctively, you are industrious, diligent, and persistent. You naturally set difficult-to-reach goals. These normally demand a great amount of your time. While your work ethic is evident, you question whether the promotions, titles, opportunities, or status symbols you desire could exact too high a price. Driven by your talents, you typically [...]

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StrengthsFinder2.0 – Significance

Definition of “Significance” from StrengthsFinder2.0: Driven by your talents, you are determined to be in charge of your own destiny. This is your life. You intend to be the ultimate decision maker regarding personal and professional matters. Instinctively, you yearn to get ahead. You strive to acquire many of the status symbols and special privileges that [...]

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StrengthsFinder2.0 – Strategic

Definition of “Strategic” from StrengthsFinder2.0: Chances are good that you can reconfigure factual information or data in ways that reveal trends, raise issues, identify opportunities, or offer solutions. You bring an added dimension to discussions. You make sense out of seemingly unrelated information. You are likely to generate multiple action plans before you choose the best [...]

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