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Author Archives: Dave Berkus
Surround yourself with great, sharing advisors.
This insight addresses the establishment and maintenance of an advisory board, a formal group with no legal responsibilities, but one able to be called upon to act as business, industry and scientific advisors to the CEO. Usually, such an advisory … Continue reading
Posted in Surrounding yourself with talent
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An experienced coach has seen your movie before.
Business coaches come in all sizes and shapes. You’ll have a relative willing to devote time, a school friend with business experience, professionals who charge for the service, investors with a reason to promote your success and more. … Continue reading
Posted in Surrounding yourself with talent
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Pay for frequent moves over risky long term leases
One of the most obvious observations I make with growing company CEO’s is that planning for a new office is done with an optimistic view of the future, incorporating planned space that compromises only slightly the measured needs for … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Hedging against downturns
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Sign short term leases early on. Move more often as you grow.
Avoid long-term commitments. It is statistically true that at least half of the young companies funded by angel or venture investors will not survive three years from funding to demise. The greatest burden of either a growing company or … Continue reading
Posted in Hedging against downturns
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How do you manage and measure home-based employees?
Do home-based employees work with the same dedication and productivity as those in office cubicles next to each other? That depends upon the management as much as the employee. I have a friend who is a CEO of a … Continue reading
Review regularly and ACT upon results.
Allowing small problems to escalate into big ones is simple. Just ignore the signs for long enough and the job is done. It takes far more energy to review regularly the key performance indicators you’ve established for each individual … Continue reading
Posted in The fight for quality
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Does even a taste of ownership make a difference?
How about incentives for employees all the way down the line and through the corporation? How do we align them to the goals and strategies of the enterprise? Obviously for the appropriate individuals, a bonus program aligned to the … Continue reading
Cash is only ONE measure of employee happiness.
In 1981, Herb Cohen published “You Can Negotiate Anything”, an excellent guide to great negotiating. I’ve read and reread the book a number of times and find myself using the techniques often in many areas of my life. One of … Continue reading
Align incentives with your goals.
And be generous to your high achievers. Recently I was asked to review an offer letter for a senior director of business development. The CEO was concerned that he was offering far too much in the form of incentive … Continue reading
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses.
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses. The truth of this statement may be obvious, but the execution of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome … Continue reading
