hyperempowered

Building Companies So That Others Can Profit

There's a line written by Dave Winer in a blog post yesterday that struck me as being extremely prescient. 

Winer advises web entrepreneur Jason Calacanis -

"..he needs to figure out a way to build the company so that many others can profit from it."

What impresses me so much about the comment is that it truly is the perfect definition of "Web 2.0"  The companies that are succeeding today are those that are open and  allow other companies to be born, and to succeed as well, off their backs.  This is what the open API movement is all about.  Sharing the information and ultimately sharing the profit. 

Google is worth billions, but there are probably hundreds of companies that are worth hundreds of millions, and thousands of companies that are worth millions, that were created because of Google.  As Winer points out, Google is a success because others can profit from it.  The more they share the wealth, the more valuable they become.

Historically we think about building companies so that we (management, employees, and investors) can be the ones to profit.  But as Winer points out, there's now a fourth party that needs to be in on the action - the community. 

Sage advice indeed.   

 

...and then there were three.

After weeks of anticipation, the littlest Schiller has finally arrived!

Samantha Lily Schiller. 7 pounds 6 ounces was born early this morning, August 7th at 12:32 am.

I'm happy to report that Samantha and Sara are doing incredibly well.

Watching your own child be born is the most incredible experience imaginable.  It's everything people tell you it is. 

Today has been absolutely breathtaking and incredibly inspiring.

What are the qualities of a good leader?

A good rule of thumb is to look for someone who demonstrates that they have both EQ and IQ

What's EQ?

EQ measures emotional intelligence; the ability to use both your emotions and cognitive skills in your life. Emotional intelligence competencies include empathy, intuition, creativity, flexibility, resilience, coping, stress management, leadership, integrity, authenticity, intrapersonal skills and interpersonal skills.

IQ  is the measure of cognitive abilities, such as the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new situations; the skilled use of reason; the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests); mental acuteness; logic and analytical skills.