Jonathan's blog

As I climbed towards Mount Tripyramid’s north peak the rock slide seemed to go on forever up the mountain, getting steeper as I gained altitude. The views were spectacular looking out into the White Mountains and down into Waterville Valley. After a while I started to think turning around might be the better idea. I was hiking solo, it was getting cold with the clouds out, and the steepness of the mountain was starting to frighten me even though I had never been close to falling or sliding back down.

I turned around, looked down, and saw how amazing the drop was. Amazing, as in I was scared to death. Most people get nervous speaking in front of an audience; I get nervous from heights. Go down that? Hell no! Nerves shot through my legs and I knew it would be far easier for me to climb over the mountain and head down the south rock slide.Read more

Tomorrow is my annual self assessment.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, it’s the day I reflect on the past year and figure out what I want to focus my efforts on. I recommend scheduling a self assessment day every year. I chose Memorial Day weekend because two years ago around Memorial Day I finished Bolle’s “What Color is Your Parachute?” and had a clear vision of the direction I wanted to take in life. Last year I used the Friday before Memorial Day for this, and I’m doing the same this year.

Here’s what I do:Read more

The most important alignment in your life is the one between you and the people you are closest to. Your spouse/significant other, friends, coworkers and boss(es). They who are around you constantly.

Let me back up a step to explain. When you’re looking for a job, a business partner, a spouse, or a friend, what is it you are looking for? I bet if you answer that question for each area you’ll see patterns, and those patterns revolve around who you are and who you want to be. Once you know what you’re looking for it’s easier for you to determine if a job/partner/spouse/friend is a good fit.

This is not the concept of spending most of your time around people who fit you and what you want to become. Oh no, it’s bigger than that. The best relationships I’ve had in life in all four of those categories have been with people who shared core beliefs with me in ways that fit each relationship. I’ll show you what I mean.Read more

Last week I came to the realization I had finished phase 1 of my blogging, which was to practice writing every weekday possible. I can write a blog post and be happy with it. Now I want to do more than add a new post a day.

I want to post key thoughts, ideas, and analyses. I want it to be more than a post a day, as in bigger picture, not frequency.Read more

The majority of millionaires in the United States do not live in affluent neighborhoods, own massive mansions, or drive expensive cars.

Those were the first people the authors of “The Millionaire Next Door” looked at when they were trying to study wealth in America. What they found was the people who were worth in excess of one million dollars looked like the middle class, and the people who looked like millionaires often times were worth little more than the middle class.

Millionaires look like everyone else, and the rich aren’t so rich? What does this mean?Read more

Have you ever thought, “I wish I had made an offer for that instead of walking away” as you continued on your way somewhere else?

Me too.

A lot of people have told me they do not like to negotiate. Most of the time negotiating is a waste of effort. I’m not going to walk into the supermarket and start haggling over the price of grapefruit. They’re $1.50 apiece and I buy 2 or 3 each week, so there’s no point.

On the other hand, there are two key times when being prepared to negotiate is important: when you have a strong option to walk away, and when it’s a life-altering decision. Let’s look at why and what to do in each situation.Read more

My first ever mailbag! Thank you for asking me questions, keep them coming!

Q: What goes into a good business name?

There are many options -- making up a totally new word ("Google","Twitter"), combining existing words ("Microstrategy", "LinkedIn", "Sharp"), morphing existing words or parts of words ("Cognos", "Magnavox"), picking a arbitrary existing word ("Schlotzky's","Cerberus","Target").

Which naming strategy do you prefer?
from Mike in Cambridge, MA

A good company name will give someone an idea of what a business does and be memorable. Social media sites like Myspace and Facebook nail this on the head.

I feel it’s better to have a great name than a good name. A great name goes beyond telling you what the company does; it makes you think of something bigger. Target is a better name than Wal-mart, since the name invokes the idea of hitting a target or bullseye. Apple is a better name than HP, since it implies learning, knowledge, and health. Come up with a name people remember, a name which can tell a story on top of what the company does.Read more

Staying in shape is easy.

Getting in shape? Maybe not so easy.

There is a massive push to get in shape every January as people make New Year’s resolutions. Most will fail. Why? Because a New Year’s resolution is a weak reason to do anything worthwhile in life. It’s like saying “I have no purpose or reason to do this other than something tells me I should, so I’ll push it off until after the holidays and then make a change.”

Right. Make a change because it’s after the holidays and we have an odd tradition of making changes with the New Year. Do you think you’ll still feel the same in March when that is your big reason? Not a chance.Read more

The worst experience in retail shopping is giving in to their “Can I help you?” with a “yes,” only to have the employee be of no help at all.

Here’s what happened: I walk into an office supply store (which I will not name) looking for two things, being a long network cable and a small table. I’m going to this store because we have an account there, and they sent us a discount card for the month of April. I answer “yes” to the first store employee, and the next thing I know she takes off without me, expecting me to follow (which I do). She walks down an isle and stops, looking around, lost.

What am I doing? Walking over to the network cables and picking up the longest one they have. She had no idea where they were. How is this helping me?Read more

For me, the most difficult aspect of managing a team is deciding when I need to let them do their thing and when I need to focus their efforts.

In college one of my professors loaned me a book on applying theories in quantum physics to management. What stuck with me was the section on chaos. The author described how an entire organization will structure itself if no one is given any guidelines other than “get the job done.” Since there is no structure employees find what they feel is the best way to communicate with one another and get things done. Some things seem obvious looking back, like having engineers, manufacturing, and design people all work close together instead of sending their changes back and forth to be rejected or approved by everyone else.Read more