Standard Blog Alt

Insights on leadership, entrepreneurialism and management

  • The Pros and Cons Of Venture Capital

    The only thing more popular in Silicon Valley than food and sex is venture capital. Silicon Valley runs on the stuff. It is part of the intellectual infrastructure of high tech. Rare is the bootstrapped start-up or a company...

    Read more
  • Asking the right question

    There is an old adage that says one should seek to understand before seeking to be understood. I say we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason – because we need to listen twice as much...

    Read more
  • Rusty Golden Handcuffs

    The history of American slavery notes that some slaves reluctantly accepted their shackles, knowing that their harsh life at least provided shelter and food. Yet they wanted to flee. This is frighteningly like how employees relate to golden handcuffs....

    Read more
  • Your Problem Employee is The Dysfunctional-Functional Employee

    One of the biggest mistakes that I made while running my company Micrel for 37 years was to hang on to those employees who are extremely functional in that they produce a lot of high-quality work, but were dysfunctional...

    Read more
  • Making Every Day Your Best Day at Work

    The spouse of one of our employees contacted me regarding his wife, taking time from his work day to call and thank me. “Thank me? For what?” Enthusiastically he said, “Since my wife joined Micrel, she has become a...

    Read more
  • Begging for a Return to Respectful Communications

    Because we are all uniquely different human beings, it is not surprising that the chances are that most people are not going to see it our way. Very few of us hold the same view on almost any subject....

    Read more