You’re a startup on your way. You are at that magic 50+ employee level at which you start to pay attention to things like Performance Appraisal. With that level of staffing, you will find out that when the tide goes out, some folks have been swimming naked — meaning not everybody is a super star.
Sure, you remember this — click on to see larger:
I am struck by how sometimes in startup world we miss the obvious.
Suppose you are a startup founder with a subscription element of some type to your future unicorn business. Being an analytical person, you check to see how many total subscribers/customers you have. About nine (or fifty) times a day.
You undoubtedly want to know, “Why did you subscribe to my website/product/genius?”
Amazon has a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama that employs 6,000 workers. The workers have petitioned for a vote to establish a union (a unit of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union), something that Amazon does not want to happen.
Amazon last had a union vote in 2014 in which there were some alleged “irregularities.”
Due to the presence of the COVID19 pandemic, the workers are being allowed by the National Labor Relations Board to use “mail in” voting.
You will recall we had a recent election, a Presidential election if my memory serves me well, in which the same justification was used to allow a massive “mail in” vote.
This week I had the great pleasure of chatting with all the Austin Techstars new class members. As usual, the Austin Techstars team did a great job of assembling world class ideas and talent to accelerate them. Every single company with which I visited has an idea that can and should work.
Bravo!
I was invited because I often am a mentor to a company that my skill set fits. I am never looking for the work, but I will do what I can. I like the Techstars approach and it has really gotten traction in Austin. Very classy outfit and the guy who runs it is a brilliant guy who has assembled a brilliant staff.
Put your COVID fears at rest; this was a Zoom meet up.
Which got me thinking about how one describes an idea and communicates it to others.
We have the typical pitch deck introduction, but that is for an idea with some bulk on it, some maturity — post accelerator. I am talking about more raw ideas.
If you are a young woman in either high school or college and are competing in sports, President Biden just struck a blow against fairness in your sport.
It will revolutionize the way that sports for women are managed and how women athletes perform.
In an executive order, the President has taken action such that “gender” may be assigned as the individual desires.
Let me strip that down for you — biological men will be competing in your sports in accordance with the desires of this administration.
From a social perspective, the notion that you may “feel” a way that is inconsistent with your end of the gene pool is not really at contest, but what is at contest here is this:
US law (the National Security Act of 1947) requires that a military officer be seven years from active, uniformed service before he can be appointed to serve as Secretary of Defense. That law also provides that Congress can waive that requirement.
That waiver has been granted twice in US history.
1. George Marshall — former Architect of Allied Victory in World War II, five star General of the Armies, Chief of Staff of the US Army, Ambassador (Special Envoy) to China, Secretary of State, President of the American Red Cross — would receive that waiver and go on to save Europe through the efforts of what came to be named the Marshall Plan.
General of the Armies George Catlett Marshall, VMI 1901, the Allies Architect of Victory in World War II as noted by Winston Churchill
I recently had a Chairwoman of the Board client, one of my favorite clients (equally brilliant husband is a former client), cancel a meeting. She is a delight to work with so I miss it when she cancels.
Her reason was that it had snowed in Madrid and she had small children who needed to build a snowman as it did not ever snow in Madrid.
Actual Madrid snowman
[It ended up snowing more than three feet in Madrid, so if she hadn’t chosen that early moment to build a snowman, it would not have happened. As in life, timing is everything.]
In less than 46 hours, we will have a peaceful transition of power as Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States.
He will be my President. I will not riot, demonstrate, conduct a coup, cry, wail, march up and down the street with a sign that says “Not My President”, and I will not demand his impeachment today — or, likely, ever. Not my style.
I will extend to him every courtesy of his high and difficult office as if I were interfacing with the entire 80MM persons who put him there. I will be respectful also to the 75MM Americans who did not want him. I will be a respectful, adult Big Red Car.
I have prayed that God grant him the grace to deal well with his momentous duties. I will continue to pray for him.
I will focus solely on policy. In my critique of Mr. Biden’s presidency, I will applaud those policies which I think are good for the country and I will boo those policies I do not think are good for the country.
Today, I learned of a policy initiative which President-elect Biden intends to put into practice immediately upon taking office.
Thank you for subscribing.
Something went wrong.