Unwritten Business Advice

S, M, or L? – Picking the Right Company Size for Your Career

The Trouble with Optionality Over the past several years, I’ve done quite a few “info interviews” with MBA or undergrad business students who want to chat about career advice. One of the things that has always seemed odd to me about these conversations is how many students say, without any sense of irony, that they

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Why You Should Create an Intern Position this Year

My History with Interns Full disclosure: I have a soft spot for interns. Perhaps it’s because I have had 4 internships that deeply impacted my career. Perhaps it’s because I’m a university professor and see students stressing about getting internships. Perhaps it’s because managing interns led to me eventually managing full time employees. Or perhaps

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How a Simple 2X2 Matrix Saved the World’s Most Valuable Company

“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders”   That was the blunt and bleak answer Michael Dell (legendary founder & CEO of Dell Technologies) gave to a reporter on Oct 6, 1997 when asked what he would do to solve Apple’s then seemingly insurmountable problems. 27

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The Unwritten Guide to Numbers: Why Comparing to Mount Everest is More Interesting than 29,031 Feet

Numbers Matter. Here’s How to Use Them More Effectively. The Stickiness of Comparisons: Peru vs Texas Rapid fire: what is more sticky? A) We lost 25% of our customers this year. B) We are losing 1 in 4 customers; that’s worse than Blockbuster when Netflix came out. A) Peru is 496,000 square miles. B) Peru is almost twice as

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Why Teams Need to Run in Sprints, from a Marathon Runner

Sprints vs Marathons This last year I ran my first ultramarathon. It was 50 kilometers (32 miles) of mostly fun, mixed with some pain and anguish. Here’s my summarized training plan: Marathon Race Training Half a year of progressively longer and harder runs Healthy eating, which included cutting out most sugars Cross-training at the gym,

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