The challenge with growth companies is to figure out how to scale the culture as the size and complexity of the business grows. How do you grow the business without breaking the culture that made the business great to begin with?
What could a cartoonist possibly have to teach you about living your life? That's the question I had before starting Dilbert creator Scott Adams' book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. By the end of the book, I was an Adams disciple. It turns out there's so much more to Mr. Adams than Dilbert.
The primary job of a manager is to provide leadership for their team. To be a leader. But what is leadership? This post is about my definition of leadership.
Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife by John Nagl uncovers common themes for effectively dealing with insurgent or non-conventional warfare.
Participation trophies aren't just a way to make everyone feel good about themselves. Maybe they're that too, but they're so much more to my son.
This is a pretty terrible advice letter for anyone college bound, but what can I tell ya. College was awesome. Try to enjoy it.
I've always been a Nike fanboy, but I never heard of Nike's founder Phil Knight until my Audible app recently recommended his awesome new memoir Shoe Dog. I loved the book, so here's a quick recap to maybe pique your interest in reading Shoe Dog for yourself.
Bruce Lee. Legendary Kung Fu master, martial artist, actor, philosopher, author, and one of my idols. He is perhaps best known for pioneering the martial arts style called Jeet Kune Do. An update to my post about describing My leadership style.
One of the great regrets of my life is not having served in the military. I've become painfully aware of my lack of service since moving to the D.C. area, where it feels like everyone is either active duty or retired military or a "defense contractor" or an FBI/Secret Service agent. They're all way way … Continue reading Fortune Favors the Offensive: 5 Principles of speed and aggression from history’s greatest generals
How do middle class people of the developed world keep the edge, work ethic, and values their immigrant ancestors had? How do we develop mental toughness?
This month my company featured me on our portal in a blog-style interview. I thought I'd share since I haven't posted much about work lately. Here you go: Get to Know John Demma We all share common goals, but rarely do we have an opportunity to share a cup of coffee and break the ice. Yet, studies show … Continue reading Get to Know Me, From My Company’s Portal Blog
You may have heard someone say that expense savings go right to the "bottom line". What does that mean? What is the bottom line anyway? For a business, the last line on the income statement is net income. Income statements are one of the core financial reports for a business (along with balance sheets and … Continue reading Expense Savings Go Right to the Bottom Line
This barber, he had to be seventy, was telling me once while trimming me up how he just had a whole bunch of cancer surgically removed about a week earlier. Tough old dog, I thought. "I can't believe you're back to work already." "You ever been in a fight before?" he asked. I nodded. "Then you know … Continue reading Gut Check – Getting Back Up
That's a picture of a cute little clownfish, we'll call him Remo, swimming among sea anemone. Most fish would not be feeling too good right now, because those cool looking tentacles of the anemone are laced with stinging poison. Good thing Remo's ancestors evolved a thin layer of mucus that protects him from the poison. … Continue reading Management Skills: Create Symbiosis
I'm a fraud and so are you. We run around pretending we know a thing or two about a thing or two. And we're surround by all of these experts on subjects from economics to science to sociology to religion and the Big Question. Everyone's such a smartypants. I sometimes post advice on this blog … Continue reading We All Know About the Same: Nothing
