Topics
Finance and budgeting
- A Model for Return on Engineering Expenses
- Growth, Profitability, and the Stock Price
- Metrics for cyclical businesses
- Stock buybacks
Investing
Product development
- Queuing theory and product development
- A Model for Return on Engineering Expenses
- The Essential Product Investigation Phase Gate
- So you want to ship the product early?
General Management
- Customer Equity
- The best and worst job in the company
- Tricks of the trade
- Woe be the average man
- Magic elixirs for business
- What goes around
- How to get laid off
Research
Strategy
- Growth, Profitability, and the Stock Price
- But thinking makes it so
- The experience curve
- Mommy, it's not fair!
- Attacking the entrenched competitor
Marketing and sales
Operations and Manufacturing
People and culture
- Silicon Valley melting pot
- What goes around
- Tricks of the trade
- Thank you Japan
- Bah, humbug
- How to get laid off
© Lance A. Glasser 2007-2011
All Rights Reserved
Over my career I have been blessed by the many people have coached me, helped me, and given me a break here or there. In the vast majority of these cases, reciprocity is impossible because of our unsymmetrical positions and these angels have helped me out without any realistic expectation that I could return the favor. Of course, in such cases one works like hell to be worthy of the break, but for years I thought that was about all you could do other than say “Thank you!”
When my children began to enter the workforce, I learned a different perspective. One day my son came to me delighted but concerned that someone had given him a summer internship that would have been hard to justify by any optimistic expectations of his productivity. He would do his best, but the equation did not balance. What I told him was that there was in fact a way to balance the equation. Some day, if he is lucky and works hard, he will be in a position to give some other kid a break. Indeed, that is his obligation. He repays the one-sided investment someone makes in him today by doing his best, by saying thank you, and by himself remembering to invest in others somewhere down the road when he has the position or knowledge to make a difference. Thus we repair the world.
Check out Lance's new company Audio Everywhere
The opinions here do not necessarily represent the views of any past, present, or future employer.
I am particularly interested in comments and stories related to my business essays and on pointers to original or insightful references. Thank you.
