Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Doppler Effect: What Do You Measure, Why, and How?

Talking to a client last week, I had to ask that rather than sit and measure performance, the supervisor participate in the workshop. I explained that the Doppler Effect would almost guarantee a lower score for her employees than they would get if everyone in the room were involved.

David Gurteen started following me on Twitter at which point I discovered his wonderful blog. Here's a post about measurement of performance in business.

David breaks everything down into the smallest pieces before commenting on the whole. It's articulate, generous and eliminates assumptions. Don't you love someone for defining his terms? Why is this so unusual when we use business jargon?

It's worth seeing the related posts on incentivizing performance as well.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Entrepreneurship: Start Young

Is business sense in the air or in the DNA? Probably both. In a recession, there is obviously more of a tendency to begin your own business when you've lost your job and there's nowhere to go but up.

However, check out this very young entrepreneur whose work has nothing to do with this economy per se. Eighth-grader Jason O'Neill has done an amazing job with his Teddy Bear project. Check it out.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Dragons Again: Everywhere

Westerners are familiar with Dragons' Den, both in the US and UK, but perhaps they have not yet seen an Eastern cousin. Have you visited the lair of the Money Tiger from Japan?

Take a look. Check it out, even if your Japanese isn't what it was. Amazing what you can get even if you don't speak the language.