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Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Quotable Executive

"I've been able to create an environment where people work very hard, but we also play hard and celebrate our successes."
- Christy Shaffer, CEO of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, as quoted in the News and Observer Aug 1, 2009 article announcing her stepping down from the CEO position at Inspire

and from the same article...

"She makes sure people feel appreciated. She realizes that people are the most important part of an organization. It's marked her style all along."
- Joan Siefert Rose, President of the NC Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)

Friday, August 21, 2009

Entrepreneurial Execution (not in the literal sense...)

I gave a talk at the NC Chinese Business Association tonight and shared some of my experiences in starting our company, BioResource International, as well as giving some "take home messages" for the audience gathered. Here are some "nuggets" from my talk...

- "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together" - David Gergen, quoting a former director of the Gates Foundation
- E-myth qualities are Entrepreneur, Manager, Technician (not one person has all these qualities/strengths - you need to build a team of individuals who each has strengths in different areas)
- Turn focus from "me" to "we"
- Communication and trust are critical in a team (focus on the problems at hand and work toward consensus, but know that not everyone will agree all the time; it has been said that if two people always agree on something, then one of them is redundant)
- Create an environment of openness and optimism
- Celebrate wins and admit losses as soon as possible, as often as possible (paraphrasing Jack Welch in his book, Straight from the Gut)
- Beware of fundamental attribution error (wrongly attributing success to a characteristic or skill that a successful leader demonstrates); sometimes it's just about being persistent so that you end up in the right place at the right time...

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Quotable Executive
"We're a personal- and career-develpment company...it turns out the by-product is engineered rubber, metal, plastic and foam."
Robert Aliota, Owner of Carolina Seal (Charlotte, NC), as quoted in Businessweek SmallBiz (Feb/Mar 2009)