The Venture Edge

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I participated in a very interesting seminar here in San Diego: The Art of Science Learning: Shaping the 21st-Century Workforce. As many of you may be aware, the United States faces an innovation gap that is growing wider with each passing year. According to John Lechleiter, chairman, president, and CEO of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company, "A recent study ranked the U.S. sixth among the top 40 industrialized nations in innovative competitiveness, but 40th out of 40 in 'the rate of change in innovation capacity' over the past decade. The ranking, published last year by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, measured what countries are doing -- in higher education, investment in research and development, corporate tax rates, and more -- to become more innovative in the future. The U.S. ranked dead last." The bottom line is that our nation is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to innovation, and this problem is getting worse, not better. 

Patricia Sigmon is a successful entrepreneur, a sought-after speaker, and one of today's leading experts in the field of profit management. She is founder and president of David Advisory Group (www.DavidAdvisoryGroup.com), a boutique firm that specializes in helping CEOs and small and midsized businesses reengineer their business practices to generate more profit, cut inefficiency, and optimize their earning potential. Long story short, Patricia knows what she's talking about when it comes to how to squeeze profit out of a business. Here are six ways to boost your bottom line, adapted from Patricia's new book Six Steps to Creating Profit published by John Wiley & Sons. 

Kathy and I were recently given the opportunity to review a copy of the Social Media Survival Guide : Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business Exponentially with Social Media  by Sherrie Madia and Paul Borgese (Full Court Press, 2010). It's no secret that social media has taken the online world by storm, but according to the authors, many top companies are dropping the ball. They site statistics that 73 of the Fortune 100 have registered a total of 540 different Twitter accounts, but that more than half of these accounts (52%) are rarely used, and fully 15% are inactive.

My friend and coauthor Harvey Seifter -- former executive director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and expert on business and the arts -- served as guest editor (along with Ted Buswick of BCG) for a special issue of The Journal of Business Strategy. This issue -- titled: Creatively intelligent companies and leaders: Arts-based learning for business -- was just released online. Downloads of individual articles are available free of charge for the moment. Simply click on the article title, then download the document.

Most people realize that success as an entrepreneur is at least to some degree linked directly to one's competence. If you possess the skills you need to run and grow your business, then your chances of success are much greater than if you do not possess those skills. There's just one little problem: few people recognize their own incompetence.

Yesterday my wife and I threw a party for my son's "graduation" from fifth grade. Next year he and the rest of his class -- most of whom showed up, with parents and siblings in tow -- will fragment as their paths take them to a variety of different middle schools in the area.After completing my duties on the grill, it was time for me to socialize with the guests. I was talking with one of the moms of one of my son's classmates about just how tough it is getting new business in a crowded field. I told her that I am absolutely convinced (and I am), that if you're really good at what you do -- and if you do what you promise, on time and on budget -- then you'll have more business than you'll know what to do with. And much of this business will come from referrals from happy customers and clients.

Recently Peter posted an interesting piece on Mark Cuban's solution to stimulating the economy.  While I agree in principle that entrepreneurship is the way to make things happen, one could question Cuban's motives in his approach.  Actually last night one of USC's great grad students did question those motives, so I'm sharing his thoughts in my post.