I don’t think that there is an entrepreneur on the face of the planet that doesn’t understand the challenges of starting-up a new company. Most startups are faced with a myriad of issues, not to mention one of the biggest issues of finding capital to drive the new venture forward.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Hap Klopp the founder of North Face, about his new book entitled “Almost-12 Electric Months Chasing A Silicon Valley Dream“. Our interview is a must listen too for those who are in business, and especially if you might be seeking funding for your new venture. His book tells the story about the issues that a company by the name of “Ardica” in the Silicon Valley had in finding funds, and the dynamics of the personalities working in the business. Hap, was the marketing director and was on the board of directors of Ardica. It is a wonderfully told story about a group of very bright engineers attempting to revolutionize the energy business, and in the process finding obstacles at almost every intersection partially due to the disfunction of the organization and the other as a result of a cash burn rate that was exceeding income.

I hope you will take the time to listen to this great interview with Hap Klopp about his new book “Almost-12 Electric Months Chasing A Silicon Valley Dream.” If you want more information about Hap please click here to be linked to a great article from the Stanford Business School.  You can also learn more about Ardica by clicking here to visit their website.

 

How many of you have ever experimented with mind mapping?  If you haven’t explored mind mapping, then you are in for a real treat in listening to this interview with Chris Griffiths the author of “GRASP the Solution“.

Chris is a thought leader and the person who alongside  Tony Buzan has accelerated the use of mind mapping into the business world, and continues to be a pioneer.  OpenGenius his organization based in England are the software developers of two amazing pieces of software called iMindMap 9 and Drop Task along with numerous training courses.

In my interview with Chris about his book “GRASP the Solution” we discuss what gets in the way of people tapping their creative genius.  Chris states that creativity can be learned, and it is not something that is foster in the business world, even though businesses always say they are looking for more creative and innovative people.  As a matter of fact it’s the people that are putting out the fires and jumping from one task to another that get the most attention, while the people that are thinkers, and are tapping their creative genius are frequently overlooked.

The acronym GRASP stand for the four types of thinking that are the foundation to how one approaches a particular task.  “Generative Thinking-is how we generate thoughts and ideas, Reactive Thinking-is how we react to existing influences and ideas, Analytical Thinking-is how we analyze ideas to reach a solution, Selective Thinking-is how we validate and implement a potential solution, Proactive Thinking-is the strategy of thinking that utilizes all of the previous types of thinking.

Mind Mapping is the technique invented by Tony Buzan for optimizing how we use our brains.  It is a visual format that is not linear that supports the creative problem solving skills, making is more intuitive and easy to capture our thoughts while mapping them visually.  This process can be completed on a big sheet of paper, or can be captured through software such as iMindMap 9 and or Drop Task.  Below is an image showing you an example of the iMind Map 9 and Drop Task screenshots.

imindmap_computer_screens

 

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with author and thought leader Chris Griffiths.  If you want to find more about OpenGenius and the software and trainings that are offered please click here to be directed to the website.  If you want to join the Facebook group for OpenGenius please click here.

 

Collaboration is something that is the buzzword in today’s business world.  Everyone is looking to collaborate and develop stronger strategic alliances that will result being greater innovation, profits and synergy.  Most executives would like to find out the magic ingredients on how collaboration and strategic alliances are developed, nurtured and successfully implemented.

Author Martin Echavarria has studied how collaboration and strategic alliances are successfully developed and result in a positive synergy for all parties involved.  In our interview together about his new book entitled ” Enabling Collaboration-Achieving Success Through Strategic Alliances and Partnership” he explains how any business can gain traction and better develop these all important relationships.

Martin states that certain key skills employed across the alliance development process are important regardless of alliance type.  These skills consist of emotional intelligence, relationship intelligence, perspective taking, systems thinking, cognitive intelligence and somatic intelligence.

To learn more about successful collaboration and alliance development please listen to my interview with Martin.  If you want to check out Martin’s website you can click here.

I hope you enjoy this great interview with Martin Echavarria the author of “Enabling Collaboration

This interview is with the remarkable Diana Rivenburgh on here most recent book “The New Corporate Facts of Life.”  In this book, Diana can show business leaders how to seize and profit from the opportunities born every day in this new era of catalytic change.  This book will arm readers with practical models and tools in order to rid your business of outdated and useless practices and to bring it up to speed with modern influences.

Diana Rivenburgh has 25+ years  experience with organizational and leadership development, change, consulting and strategy creation.  She has her M.S. in Positive Organizational Development and Change from Case Western Reserve University and her B.S. in Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology.

Learn more about Diana Rivenburgh at strategic-imperatives.com.  You can also purchase “The New Corporate Facts of Life” here.

 

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