Burke Alder - Leadership and Business Blogs
LEADERSHIP LOUNGE™
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The other day, I was scrolling through my Apple Note App and came across leadership notes I took while listening to Carine Clark speak at the Grow Data Driven Summit a few years ago. Carine’s topic was about leadership principles she wished someone would have told her early in her career. Her words and advice were a breath of fresh air.
The other day I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and came across a video that highlighted 10 life lessons from Albert Einstein. Many of us have been inspired by his scientific life and have learned E=MC2 in our physics classes. Here is a little about his life before we discuss his 10 life lessons.
Today, I heard Jeremy Andrus, CEO of Traeger Pellet Grills, give the opening keynote at Grow's Data Driven Summit in Park City, Utah. His keynote was inspiring as he discussed strategies and tactics he uses to drive maniacal execution with his team.
So what are the secrets of the most productive people? Is it working more hours, staying later at work, or putting in more time towards a certain activity? Actually, the most productive people in the world make the most of their time. They are able to find the productivity zone often. They feel the daily adrenaline rush of getting things done. So if it's not working longer, what is their secret?
The other day I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came across some inspiring leadership and business advice from Greg Butterfield. Greg Butterfield has had great business success in his life. I have been lucky enough to have spend time with Greg through out my business career and take away great advice each time we talk.
Thinking about these two important leadership characteristics, I am reminded of a story one of my friends told me about Arabian Horses. "It has long been said that horses in Arabia go through a rigorous selection process. To live in this hot, desert climate, one depends on unfailing obedience and loyalty of his horse. The horses are tested in order to select the very best.
Last week (February 28 - March 3), Qualtrics held their annual customer conference called the Qualtrics Insight Summit at the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. This conference attracts the best customer experience leaders from around the world. The line up of world renowned speakers is impressive and inspiring. Omar Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, Beats by Dre, inspired the audience from the stage on day one with his keynote, "Your Product is the Experience: Why Beats By Dre Isn't Just About Headphones."
As I have built companies, there has always been competition. As you build your business or your brand there will be competition both direct and indirect. I've had to learn to embrace the competition and use it to make our company and our products/services better. There is one truth I've learned through the process, competition makes you better. So how do you compete and win when your competition has more capital and resources than you do?
For this week's blog post, I'm going back 7 years to an experience where I learned the importance of internal marketing. I was a Director of Marketing at AtTask now Workfront. Over a quick few years, we had acquired some great enterprise customer logos. For most of the company, they where just awesome logos, but we know that each of these customers had awesome stories to tell and we wanted to tell them. We developed a internal product marketing strategy to change this.
Thanks for stoping by and reading my leadership blog. In this blog I cover leadership principles and business strategies that will help you succeed as a leader and entrepreneur. This week I've been inspired by the simple leadership teachings of the 14th Dalai Lama. His life and leadership principles are very simple to understand.
Over the past decade, I've been involved in helping Software as a Service (SaaS) companies go from concept to hypergrowth. I have gone through that that journey three times with Workfront Formerly AtTask, Lendio, and now ClientSuccess. During each of these startup journeys we have had to develop a strategic way we engaged with our customers. As we end 2016 and enter into 2017, the biggest impact in growth for a SaaS company will be in the ability to retain and grow their existing customer base. Revenue retention and growth of current customers is the catalyst to hypergrowth for SaaS companies.
Over the past 12 years of building startups, I've learned that the X factor to growth and success is found in the team. The successful teams have clear metrics that show if they are winning or losing daily. They have the ability to develop strategies that drive results. They execute those strategies with passion to win and determination to quickly remove the roadblocks that stand in the way. Here is a matrix to help you determine if you have the right people on your team to drive big results.
Each Olympics I watch to see who will emerge victorious in Olympic branding. The IOC (the governing body of the Olympics) has many branding guidelines and restrictions to Olympic branding. These guidelines create opportunities for companies like Nike who look for creative ways to gain mass awareness and generate deep brand equity throughout the Olympics. This year was no different—Nike used it's shoes with yellow and pink to win the Olympics branding game.
One of my favorite articles is, The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Walter Isaacson is the author of the best-selling biography of Steve Jobs. The book is based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues. Over the many years since the passing of Steve Jobs, there have been hundreds maybe thousands of blogs that have been written about him. This is one of my favorite articles on Steve Jobs because of the how much time Walter Isaacson spent with him.
In a previous post, I discussed the top 10 questions entrepreneurs and product leaders should ask before they build products. Now that you've answered those 10 questions, built your product, and found product/market fit. How do you continue product innovation? How do you disrupt a market or change an industry? Easy right? Innovation is a big buzz word. To succeed with innovation, make sure you understand 10 challenges that stop product innovation.
Successful companies build products that solve pervasive problems that people are willing to buy. Whether you're an entrepreneur or product manager inside a fortune 100 company, let me suggest ten questions you should ask prior to your build. These ten questions will help guide your product development process. The best products in the world solve real problems with simple solutions people are willing to buy.
Chasing Mavericks is a movie based on the true story of Jay Moriarity.'s journey to surf Mavericks, a big wave break in Northern California. Mavericks is a famous surf location about 2 miles from the shore outside Pillar Point Harbor, just north of the town of Half Moon Bay. Waves can routinely crest at over 25 feet and top out at over 60 feet. In the movie, Jay Moriarity's mentor (Frosty) Rick Hesson teaches him four pillars to survive and surf Mavericks. The four pillars can be applied to your life and help you set up for success.
Growing up in the world of competitive freestyle skiing, you learn very quickly that you can be good with your athleticism, but you need to be even stronger with your mental game. We have all heard the saying about how success in sports, life, or business is 90% mental and 10% skill. I believe that. My success in sports, life, and business have been when I've combined mental strength and preparedness with a foundation of skills.
Winston Churchill once said, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." These words are powerful. Failure is not fatal, unless you don't get up and you don't continue forward. I'm not sure anyone who has had success, hasn't failed. They have been fueled by it. To help prove my point, here are stories of famous people who have failed.
