One of my favorite books is Sun Tzu’s Art of War. I have read it several times and is one of my top 5 favorite books. Although the teachings are very old (6th century BC), there is much that can be applied to the modern day hyper-competitive business environment. Here are some of the lessons I have learned…
Best practices in lean business operations, technology, and other areas pertinent to success of startups, small, and mid-market businesses.
Category Archives: Leadership
Lessons from Sun Tzu’s Art of War for startup leadership
Should we glorify the failure of entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurship is what keeps this country afloat even in these bad economic times. It is a known fact that small businesses create more jobs than the big boys. Entrepreneurship has also jump-started the economies of countries that escaped the oppression of murderous regimes. People striking out on their own create value, jobs, and wealth for everyone around them and this is an absolutely applaudable achievement. But, why do we glorify the entrepreneur way of life and less than 5% success ratio, rather than looking at what mistakes those 95%+ who failed made, publicizing them, and making sure the new crop never repeats again?
Move your company forward by being wrong… often!
One of the things I have learned early in my career (and marriage) is that acknowledging your mistakes and working to not repeat them is what helps one move forward and evolve. In my professional life I have seen some spectacular failures. Some of the most memorable ones were committed by business professionals who apparently were never taught that there is nothing wrong with making mistakes, but it is absolutely malicious to not admit your faults and attempt to cover up your mistakes.
What I have learned about business leadership from competing in auto sports
As some of you may already know, I am an avid “car guy” and starting my third season of autocross competitions (an auto sport, for those not familiar I have included a video below of what it is like). I did well in the races when I lived in Chicago, but encountered much more skilled competition when I moved to Boston, and it’s taken me awhile to move up the competitive ladder here. As I was recently pondering my strategy and goals for the season, I realized that some of the rules of racing are also very useful analogies for the world of leading companies (especially startups). Here is a sampling of several things I learned in racing that directly apply to business:
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Apolinaras is a business operations leader with 12-year track record of building scalable and capital-efficient operations for technology and professional services companies.Read More About Us »