Steve Jobs - First Day at Home

Hilarious screen shot of Steve's activities - wonder how they hacked that? I particularly like the person being used as a dartboard. Very subtle!
Read the diary...

Bernanke vs Jobs - Who created more jobs?

With Steve Jobs announcing his withdrawal from Apple, a rush of Apple nostalgia took over Twitter and the blogsphere. Looking back over the past 40 years, it is dazzling to review how much Jobs contributed to the big dream of business with products, marketing and sheer design, never mind the unique style of his turtle neck and jeans. For those who never knew the IBM suit, they do not get the extreme irony and ballsy marketing genius of how Jobs signalled that Apple was not a faceless, uncaring corporation. 

Jobs is the epitome of Capitalism, the Ford of our day.

Steve Jobs managed to achieve irony with his retirement coming a few days before Ben Bernanke’s speech on US jobs, which many supporters of big government continue to believe creates the wealth of a nation. 

Here is a superb column by Peter Foster talking about this very contrast – Jobs, the Capitalist and Bernanke, the Government.

U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke invited a fundamental question: where do jobs come from: Macworld or Macro management? Are both necessary, or does the latter in fact hinder the former?

Mr. Jobs retires having created a company that vies with ExxonMobil for the position of most valuable corporation in American history, with a market value of more than US$300-billion and 50,000 employees. It is indirectly responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs elsewhere, from Korean computer chip manufacturers through high-street retailers to app developers. It also supports many unproductive — if arguably necessary — jobs in the public sector, from regulators through revenue collectors to, well, the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The great French economist Jean-Baptiste Say coined “Say’s Law,” which points out that what brings forth production can only be the production of other items. It was the wages Mr. Jobs paid directly and indirectly as part of his productive activity that created — and continues to create — demand. However, if you believe the claims of Keynesian policymakers, although Mr. Jobs and his ilk might be useful “animal spirits,” when times are rough, jobs have to be created from above. Apple will then thrive, or at least continue to exist, not because of Mr. Jobs and his sensational products, but because the government will send people down to the Apple store “with money in their pockets.” The implications of the fact that this money must be either taxed, borrowed or printed tends to be ignored or glossed over. After all, in the long run, we are all dead.

In fact, Mr. Jobs’ amazing concrete achievements contrast markedly with Mr. Bernanke’s vague hopespeak at Jackson Hole on Friday. The one genuinely bright note in the Fed chairman’s speech was that price stability remained a top priority. That is likely why North American markets responded positively. Then again, the fact that gold also rose suggested that gold bugs were concentrating on his suggestion that he still had inflationary “tools” at his disposal, although these had to be boxed for the moment.

Mr. Bernanke’s claim that “long-run prospects for the U.S. are undiminished” made little sense, because those prospects depend entirely on the outcome of the political battles now taking place in Washington, which will culminate in next year’s presidential election.

Mr. Bernanke invoked the vague notion of “putting people back to work,” as if work was some undifferentiated lump of stuff that arose out of employment statistics rather than the result of specific jobs created by entrepreneurs in pursuit of profit. He suggested that policymakers shouldn’t leave productive resources “fallow,” as if those resources were, again, macroeconomic blobs that merely needed the application of government electrodes to jump to useful life. Housing? What was needed was “good, proactive” policies. He also projected adjectival success for European policymakers, who would take the “necessary and appropriate steps.” 

This is all wishful thinking and macromancy. 

If you want to know where jobs come from, look at the record of Mr. Jobs. Apple’s success is based on his relentless drive to produce new and/or superior products, from the first Apple computer, which he developed in the proverbial garage with his partner Steve Wozniak, through the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad and offshoots such as iTunes and Apple stores. During a period away from Apple, Mr. Jobs built animation wunderkind Pixar and sold it to Disney, of which he is now the largest shareholder.

I particularly appreciated Peter Foster's ability to try and show people why there are business leaders - they just keep trying. Jobs got fired from his first company, Apple, in a public manner. He was like the Phoenix rising from the ashes and he succeeded in returning to his first company and taking it far beyond anything its finest engineers' dreams. 

I do believe being a business founder and operator draws a great deal from health and long term survival of leading business people. So many of the best people seem to go early.

10 Ways to get Hired by Private Equity and Family Business

Surprising to some, Private Equity is in all areas of business, big and small, public and private. The public market is doing what Sony and the big kingpins of music did – dying. More companies are partnered with Private Equity and the hiring practices are different.

Peter Ploughs from Phoenix Executive Network asked me to present to a group of top C-Suite people about how to get hired to work with Private Equity. Here is a list of the top ten ways to get hired by Private Equity, specifically when they are partnered with a family business:

1. Know how Private Equity works.

I recommend calling companies, not Private Equity, as the owner-operator tends to originate the jobs. Private Equity people are busy and are less likely to see you. The chart shows the wide range of companies working with Private Equity and they have degrees of bureaucracy and risk depending on the type of business. 

Match yourself to your preferred style. If you are a corporate “intrapreneur”, you will hate working for a family business with fewer systems, even if it is $500M in revenues. Know yourself and be honest.

2. Be Likeable

Unlike a corporate position, Private Equity jobs in family businesses will require 5 to 10 years of commitment. If the owner is meeting you, it is critical you make a connection and the owner can see themselves spending time with you and even your family. How you “feel” to the family business team will be the most important criteria for hiring. If the family business owner likes fishing and you do too, good news. Family business hiring is quirky.  If the owner does not like golf players as he believes they waste time, and you have golf listed as an interest, it could prevent a second interview.

3. Be Trustworthy

It comes back in spades. When hiring, family business owners and their private equity partners will call wide and far to find out details on character as well as competencies One story of questionable behaviour and they will turn down the candidate. On the resume, they will want to see you have not bounced around companies and have been promoted. Talk about why you switched jobs.

4. Engage

From the start of a conversation, the owner and CEO is imagining working with you. How will it feel and how are you with problems? Behave as if you are working with them already, rather than pitching for the job. Give ideas and email 100 day plans or strategy. One COO was offered a salary and he chose to send the “no” reply by email on a Friday afternoon. What a difference if he had just got on the phone. The owner and Private Equity asked “Is this how you will deal misunderstandings with our clients?”

5. List business details

The size of past company revenues and growth rates are of great interest to Private Equity and business owners as growth is their goal. They are looking to match the size of business where you have worked with their company. If you were in a $30M revenue company and helped grow it to $100M, this is what they want to hear. What did you do personally to add to the growth?

6. Be “Game On”

This has always been a tenet of good business, but when getting hired by a business partnered with private equity it will be critical. Pay attention to every “Moment of Truth” - how you present yourself to anyone involved with the position. One CFO was approved by the owner and needed the final nod from Private Equity. Thinking that it was fine to be casually dressed as if visiting the plant, this CFO attended a Bay Street lunch in a golf shirt. His insensitivity to social context meant he lost the job offer.

7. Develop Your Mantra

Give a quick verbal one liner to snapshot what you love to do. Think about an accountant. Would it be easier to get an idea if she says, “Empowering clients to reduce their business and family tax over the life of the business”. Position yourself as early in the conversation as possible to not waste anyone’s time.

8. Share stories

People love stories—about how you contributed to your last company, or about an interesting product or a business development program you did that brought in a surprising client. Keep the stories short and simple. A picture is really worth a thousand words too.

9. Remove the road bumps

Have your LinkedIn profile with a good photo (not with your baby) and recommendations. You will show your organization skills if you email your resume labelled with your last name, first name, date and if you mention you have references. Offer to buy a coffee. Make it attractive.

10. Family Business really means Family

For family owned businesses, the rules are very different. They may invite you for dinner. Your wife will be seated next to the owner. The CEO and Private Equity will be paying excruciating attention. Your wife could sink the deal – better to leave her at home if she is ticked off with you. Advise her not to share that “Joe is messy or lazy” or to flirt with the owner. Pay attention to the spouse because often, they own half of the business and are crtical to the hiring decision.

If you’d like to learn more about private equity and how it works, be sure to read Jacoline’s book, Money Magnet: How to Attract Private Equity to your Business. (Publisher: Wiley)

 Social Media: http://twitter.com/#!/jacolineloewen

Should PowerPoint Be Banned from Private Equity Pitches?

How worthwhile is to fire up a PowerPoint presentation when meeting with Private Equity for the first time? Is it better to focus on the human connection, after all, all Private Equity investors will say that the people are the most important part of making the decision to do the deal.

What business owners who succeed in raising capital say is that the people test means that you are competent and at an advanced level of competing in your market place. Then, PowerPoint is a very useful tool. You take control of the meeting and get to demonstrate your sophistication and level of business knowledge.
If you do use a PowerPoint, make sure it is short and well rehearsed. Have a range of people view it and make sure it is equal to the level of marketing you do for your business, no less.

Infuse start up teams with females to strengthen the business

Mark Zuckerburg told Sheryl Sandburg, his COO, that he does not check off boxes to get the right people. Mark will not hire to fill a gender quota but he did make Sheryl the most important person on his team and within a short period, the bleeding Facebook was making revenues thanks to Sheryl's new policy on advertising streams.
I also do not like gender and diversity for companies because it is good business sense to have a wide range of people in your business. Ruth Bastedo supports women in business strongly but without the preachiness, just the good business sense. Here is Ruth:

So, what is stopping women from taking major leadership roles in the technology startups of today? Through my work in the field of women entrepreneurs, I have identified five recommendations to increase the number of women in startup teams:

1. Encourage startup teams to consciously analyze the diversity in their leadership teams. What diversity of thought could be missing as part of the growth strategy? Ask founders what might be missing in the mix, from product development to sales strategy to growth strategy? For example, with consumer-oriented products, how is the team addressing the needs of a female user base? Groupon’s subscription base is over 75% female. This is not the type of number to dismiss lightly. At times, the female viewpoint needs to be represented at senior levels in the organization, even if that female viewpoint is that of the end consumer.
2. Tap into a base of experienced, older women leaders. Women business leaders in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are excellent sources of experienced management talent for startups. Tapping into this group and engaging them in technology startups as investors or members of a management team or advisory board can be an excellent way to tap into the experience and expertise of these women. This is the view of private equity expert Jacoline Loewen, Director at Loewen and Partners in Toronto and panelist on the Business News Network television show The Pitch. She says, “Startups are like an intense marriage and choosing a woman 50+ to be a founding member, particularly if you are all males under 30, could be a savvy choice… these guys have to get over the stereotype of mum with the cookie tray nagging about a messy room. At age 53, Arianna Huffington did a startup bloggers’ forum website called The Huffington Post which went on to get sold 6 years later to AOL for US$315 million.”
3. Acknowledge that women may have different needs than their male counterparts. In their early 20s, women can compete more or less head to head with men. Unfortunately, many women soon find that their careers are impacted by the decision to have a family. What they need during this period is as much flexibility as possible. They also need to earn enough money to have good quality childcare so that they can present to that potential investor in New York on the spur of the moment. This need for cash flow during this critical period is important to understand.
4. Support and nurture organizations that in turn support women entrepreneurs. There are several organizations and initiatives in Canada, and increasingly internationally, that support women who want to engage and be successful in high-growth startups. The support for these organizations needs to come from multiple sectors: government, professional services, technology, financial services, and academia. In order to increase the likelihood of success, women need the contacts, networks, mentorship, and access to information that these initiatives can provide. Compelling examples of these types of initiative in Canada include:
   • Canadian Women in Technology
   • Rotman’s Next Steps
   • WEConnect
   • Women’s President’s Organization
   Further examples from the United States include:
   • National Association of Women Business Owners
   • Astia
   • National Centre for Women & Information Technology’sEntrepreneurial Alliance program, designed to integrate women into startup teams of under 100 employees
5. Expose technology and computer science to girls in a more compelling way. Girls and young women love using technology, as any parent with any exposure to girls and their Webkinz can attest to, but how can this early enthusiasm and interest be translated into an interest in product and software design? How can we teach girls to engage in programming in a more appealing way? There are those that are trying, but the representation of women in computer science departments continues to decline. From 2002 through 2009, the proportion of female graduates from computer science bachelor degree programs declined from 19.4% to 11.3% in Canada and the United States (Zweben, 2009).
   Initiatives such as Alice, educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment at Carnegie Mellon, show a model of how to engage girls in middle school. Alice allows students to learn fundamental concepts of programming and programming logic without a background in mathematics and programming. The software introduces a storytelling model, which allows girls to create software that is personally relevant to them. (For further details on the promise of the Alice approach for influencing later success in computer science education, see the paper by the National Center for Women & Information Technology) Going through the process of learning how to program is very important in the technology industry, not only as a potential pathway to becoming a programmer, but also as important background to enable more effective interactions with technical teams. This early engagement in technology is a critical step in getting women to the point where, in their 20s, they might find themselves in an environment conducive to creating the next “killer app”.

From my vantage point, following these recommendations would help infuse our existing startup teams with female talent and nurture the younger generation of women that is interested in using technology to create products and services that are consumer friendly. Encouraging more women to be a part of high-growth technology startup teams, as entrepreneurs or otherwise, will result in well-balanced technology companies that can compete effectively in today’s diverse world.

Read this article...