Doing Well By Doing Good, Part III
Doing Well By Doing Good, Part III
In Part I of this series, I blogged about my friend Raj Vinnakota and his amazing adventure starting the SEED School and Foundation in Washington, D.C. In Part II, I extended the conversation to some of the things we do at Return Path to help make the world a better place — even though our business model is less “inherently virtuous” than that of many other organizations, particularly non-profits.
One thing we did last fall in the wake of the hurricane devastation on the Gulf Coast was pledge to send one or two groups down to New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity to assist in the recovery and reconstruction efforts, giving people the week of paid time off and covering a portion of their travel expenses. We have six member of the company down there right now.
My colleague Tom Bartel is blogging about the experience every day this week, so far posted here, here, and here. (And if I had to guess, since this posting will live on the web long after today, I’d say his postings for the next two days will be here and here.) It’s an amazing story, a grim reminder of both how much damage there is AND how little has been done so far in more than six months since Katrina, and Tom chronicles it well.
I’m incredibly proud of our whole team down there — Tom, Stephanie Miller, Dan Deneweth, Melinda Plemel, Jeremy McGuire, and Harry Pallick (apparently the group’s Tool Captain — who knew he had that hidden talent?). Way to go, guys!
The Good, The Board, and The Ugly, Part III
The Good, The Board, and The Ugly, Part III
To recap other postings in this series:Â my original, Brad Feld’s, Fred Wilson’s first, Fred’s second, Tom Evslin’s, and my lighter-note follow-up.
So speaking of lighter-note takes on this topic, Lary Lazard, Tom Evslin’s fictional CEO who ran Hackoff.com, now has his own tips for effective board management. You have to read them yourself here, but I think my favorite one is #3, which starts off:
Never number the pages of what you are presenting. Lots of time can be used constructively figuring out what page everybody is on.
Enjoy.
Blogiversary, Part III
Blogiversary, Part III
OnlyOnce turns three today. While year 1 was exciting and year 2 was still a build, this year has been more about maintenance. I don’t mean that in a bad way — I still enjoy writing it, but I am finding it a little tougher to make time for it (probably more a function of other things going on in life). Also, I periodically catch myself starting some post or other and realizing that I wrote it, or something much like it, sometime in the past!
I think in honor of the third blogiversary, I’ll reinvigorate today by posting three times!
The Rumors of Email’s Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Part III
The Rumors of Email’s Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Part III
Now it’s Groove Chairman Ray Ozzie saying that email is toast, since his kids use IM as their preferred channel, relegating email to something to be avoided since it’s only from parents or teachers.
Um, ok. What about bosses and clients and colleagues? You may not want to hear from them, either (especially that pesky boss), but I’m still struggling with the argument that because kids aren’t addicted to the medium, it will surely die. Kids eventually grow up and do things differently than they did when they were kids. Perhaps email is one of those things you have to grow into when life isn’t (regretfully) just about chatting with your friends?
links for 2005-08-19
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Entrepreneur Bernard Moon does a great job of articulating “how to build the perfect team” for your new startup
links for 2005-11-16
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Jeff Jarvis on Why We’re Glad We’re New Media…good stats on all the troubles facing “old media” nowadays (box office, newspapers, music, radio, books)
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Fred Wilson on how VCs relate to entrepreneurs vs. their limited partners. They should think of entrepreneurs as their customers, and think of LPs as shareholders.
links for 2005-11-26
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Charlie O’Donnell from Union Square Ventures has a great post about LinkedIn, its limitations, and some things it could do to be MUCH cooler and more useful.
links for 2005-12-02
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Good quick point of view on what makes a great employee in a startup.
links for 2005-12-06
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Brad talks about comp for outside Board members
links for 2005-10-20
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Get your mind out of the gutter! These are very useful and oddly hard to find graphics for doing checklists in presentations (thanks to my colleague George Bilbrey for this link).