rick13714Nov 17, 20162 minA Thanksgiving Bone to Chew OnThanksgiving means family around the table, too much football, and too much food. We count the blessings of family and listen to stories of what has happened...
rick13714Nov 11, 20161 minDriving Miss EntrepreneurIn Exit Planning: The Definitive Guide, John Brown, CEO of BEI, points out the value of becoming Miss Daisy. In 30 years of helping business owners develop e...
rick13714Oct 13, 20161 minWhat I learned from HGTVI have come to realize that a new addition to my business is a fusion of my wife’s favorite HGTV shows. In part of my consulting practice, I serve clients as...
rick13714Dec 28, 20131 minMind Mapping – How To Plan and Shop at The Same Time!The first step for me is always just mind mapping my thoughts. I try to combine reflection, direction, and brevity. I reflect on this year, think about my di...
rick13714Nov 8, 20122 minBusiness Funerals and Other Lean ThoughtsHow did it get so big? A wonderful Methodist minister, John Ed Mathison, gave me the answer. They refused to hold any program funerals. And they are not alon...
rick13714Oct 10, 20122 minEntrepreneurial AccountabilityHere’s the irony. The best way to ensure success is by increasing your eyes and ears in the marketplace to counterbalance entrepreneurial tunnel vision. Buil...
rick13714Apr 17, 20122 minLearning to not CompeteAs a former racing sailor, the analogy made sense. My first race in San Francisco Bay, in a competitive Soling fleet, found us tacking to port when the fleet...
rick13714Apr 4, 20121 minWent to a planning meeting and the plan broke outTwenty business owners got to know each other and the networking and understanding was better than any business after hours I have attended. The conversation...
rick13714Mar 28, 20121 minFeedback and Continuous Improvementhttp://todaysleanmanufacturing.com/tlm-005-guest-interview-with-rick-miller-discussing-continuous-improvement-lean-and-kaizen/ Boy, was it wonderfully ear-op...
rick13714Mar 9, 20123 minIf a new product falls in the forest….Launching a new business, product, or service is both easier today and harder today for the same reason. In our tribe driven, niche oriented, internet flatte...
rick13714Mar 4, 20122 minMetric FailuresKPI taught me a lesson I still apply today. The less you understand about a problem the more information you request. The more you know about your problem, t...
rick13714Mar 2, 20122 minTeaching the TeacherThe course offered through a community college failed to attract enough students to “make” its March schedule. Unlike businesses, schools offer products cont...
rick13714Feb 28, 20122 minOptimistic Blind SpotsFor all its wonderful attributes, optimism has its risks. Whether its running a business or a 10k, you need more than just fuel to succeed. This idea surface...
rick13714Feb 25, 20123 minTalking Heads Change vs. Core ValuesRunning or swimming provides me a forum for thinking through nagging problems in my head. This morning the change vs core values issue surfaced as the topic....
rick13714Feb 8, 20122 minMarketing in the Bazaar WorldThinking about Godin’s “Weird” analogy and Friedman’s earlier book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, I had another weird thought. In comes the Clash singing Rock th...
rick13714Aug 25, 20113 minEdwards Deming and the Family BusinessI recently was turned on to a 1984 video by W. Edwards Deming, the guru of Japanese quality and innovation. In the Five Deadly Diseases of Management, Deming...
rick13714May 17, 20114 minThe Cart Before the Horse: When Not to InnovateInnovation is hot. Everywhere is another book, publication, blog or daily tweet on the need to innovate, how to innovate, why to innovate and/or lessons lear...