Category Archives: Business

Apple’s Watch – Offense or Defense?

Posted on March 30, 2018 by

Apple’s watch is the future of the company.  The watch will shrink in size, radio quality will improve, capabilities will grow and eventually watch revenues will pass the iPhone. No, no, no. Apple’s watch is a defensive play. Look for … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Business Books, Disruption, Invention, Theory | Tagged , , , , , ,

Five criteria for picking winning industrial / manufacturing technologies

Posted on January 17, 2018 by

5 criteria for picking winning industrial technologies Continue reading →

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Trust: “We’re not following rules, but expect you to.”

Posted on January 2, 2018 by

There are many great political and social points in Catton’s histories of the American Civil War.  In his 1961 book The Coming Fury, he discusses how Southern plantation authors were going to Union generals and asking to have their slaves returned. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Disruption, History, Industry, Methods, Policy, Trust | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

“What does it take to be CEO?” Reflections a year after leaving.

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

The question caught me off guard. My interviews after resigning in October ‘16 were split between pure startups (IoT, Industrial, Fiber and Filtration related mostly), where having had the CEO title was enough, and bigger companies / past customers (mostly … Continue reading →

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“What does [did] it take to be[come] CEO?” Answer: Goals / Failure / Reality

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

StrengthsFinder is a great way to talk about personal motivations (Learner, Activator, Strategic, Context and Input). DiSC profiles (Persuader / Inspirational) are also helpful – but this tool still feels more tailored to corporate HR. StrengthsFinder is an amazing framework … Continue reading →

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“What does it take to be (a good) CEO?” Answer: People

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

All of the successes were from bringing in good people, helping them frame problems and getting them the tools they needed to be successful. The failures? They were mine – mostly due to not properly resourcing a problem with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Disruption, Filtration, Innovation, Invention, Marketing, Materials Science, Methods, Textile, Theory, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Biology vs the Over-Simplification of Economics

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

A changing US tax code and shifting geopolitical activity puts more focus on the opinions of economists. Bloomberg economist and Michigan economics PhD, Noah Smith (his blog is Noahpinion) highlighted many of the issues in modern economic analysis in a … Continue reading →

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