Other

Do you hire or lead IT people?

Join me in Saigon this Saturday 16 November as I share my learnings on “5 Must-Know Recruiting Secrets for Tech Leaders,” part of ITviec’s “Tech Talk” series for IT people in Vietnam.

Continue reading →

T’m speaking on “Marketing Secrets for Tech Entrepreneurs” at Web Wednesday in Saigon, 23 October. This is the presentation that won “Best Talk” at Saigon Barcamp last summer.

If you come some of the things you’ll learn are:

• How to avoid the big mistake made by most entrepreneurs
• Why focusing on price means death
• The #1 reason why all companies fail
• Why a great product isn’t enough

Register today on Facebook to reserve your seat. See you there!

A truth that will never change.

Recently I read a brilliant quote of Jeff Bezos’ wisdom:

“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two Continue reading →

Yesterday I presented at Barcamp Saigon, the technology “unconference.”  There were over 1,500 attendees.  It was an honor that my presentation “Marketing Secrets for Tech Entrepreneurs” was selected “Best of the Day” by popular vote.

Several people asked for it, so here it is: Continue reading →

I love this quote from Teddy Roosevelt, 26th President of the USA:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; Continue reading →

A friend of mine just sent me this short article that explains why some people are great violin players and why other people are only average violin players.  I highly recommend you read it.

The secret is the great violin players set aside concentrated, focused 2-hour blocks of time to practice twice each day.  The average violin players do not.

Working with great focus on a difficult subject for only 3-4 hours a day separates the great from the average.  Then the rest of the day the great violin players can relax and stop thinking about playing.  In other words, “If you’re busy you’re doing it wrong.”

This is a big challenge for me.

I have a couple talks coming up this week.  I gotta double down and focus on them.  Planning, writing and practicing a talk is consuming and hard work.  I’ll start with 1.5 hours in the morning, 1.5 hours in the afternoon of focused work.  I won’t check email or do other, smaller tasks during that time.  Let’s see how this works out!

Talking is not effective communication.  Neither is sending an email.

Effective communication is making sure you are understood.

Continue reading →

My “To-Do” List from 25 February. Note I didn’t check off “Product Document!”  I probably should break that item down into smaller tasks.

I found an incredible way to increase your productivity, instantly.

It’s called “making a list.”

Continue reading →

Last year I wrote about the power of focus and not doing things.  Doing fewer things delivers better results at the few things you do.

I thought that was pretty good.  Then I read about Peter Thiel’s philosophy of extreme focus. Continue reading →

Mango Seller photo courtesy of Dat’s Diary http://datdiary.wordpress.com

A friend of mine, Dat, writes a blog where he posts his observations of life in Vietnam.  Recently I read his post “Price Collusion in Vietnam.”  It’s a great little story that gives insight into why so few Vietnamese companies or entrepreneurs innovate.

They just don’t think that way.

Continue reading →