How to apologize

Last week, Seth Godin posted this in his blog...I thought it was interesting. It was even more interesting when, after receiving my weekly email of Verne's Insights and seeing that Verne had taken it upon himself to tell his readers who he was voting for and why, he sent a follow up email that day, with the title and text seen below.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

You are right. I messed up. I'm sorry.‏

From: bounce@infusionmail.com on behalf of Verne's Insights (vernes_insights@gazelles.net)
Sent: Fri 10/31/08 12:50 PM
To: XXX

OK, my deepest apologies - I tried something, giving people an option to read my thoughts on the election, which I shouldn't have and I simply ask for your forgiveness.

Obviously, I'm hearing positive comments from those that support my decision. However, I've heard from enough of you that it was a bad idea that I have to concur. This wasn't the right forum. What I care most about is helping growth firms and they seem to survive no matter what the situation so long as they keep their heads about themselves and remain disciplined - I'll stick to my message and find other forums for expressing my political thoughts (it's actually a hobby for me - I served in Washington and learned a great deal from the experience).

Keep on learning and growing,

Verne
The "Growth Guy"
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just goes to show that, really, sometimes you just need to say you're sorry.

Rock stars

I've been talking about rock stars for months...then received this post from Seth Godin a couple days ago, who's quoting Bob Lefsetz.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Not afraid of the big, bad economy

I've had numerous people ask me if I'm nervous about having just started a company before the economy takes a massive nose dive. I have an easy answer: no.

Maybe its my optimism, maybe it naivete, but I think if your company is built on talent, ideas, and work ethic, then unless your product is directly affected by the economic conditions (real estate, for example...) you can either look at the bad economy as an opportunity or a risk.

How can I see my new product as an opportunity? Well, for one thing, virtual worlds can enable organizations to reduce travel costs while increasing the intellectual capital of its employees...in other words, you can train people more effectively, remotely, using the Virtual Territory. And usually when companies are tightening down during bad times, investing in their people to improve performance is one of the ways to stay competitive in a bad market.

And it doesn't hurt that Seth Godin also thinks that bad economic times are times of opportunity for people who are willing to face the risk.

So, no, I'm not nervous. I'd be more nervous if there were more people who weren't nervous either. Then I'd just be one of the pack looking to make a buck off a good economy. Now my success will really mean something, and that means more to me.

Resumes are dead

I read a great blog from Seth Godin recently that made me admit a dirty little secret--I only read resumes to check for typos. I don't hire people based on their past experience, I hire people based on their potential and their passion. And I probably am a little partial to people who are a little cocky, and a little quirky. None of this is particularly evident from a resume. And I don't think traditional interviews work either. When I interview someone, its as much about them being sold on me and what I'm offering as me being sold on them.

If I had to pick one thing I'm good at, I would say its finding talented people to work with. I put together a fantastic team at my last company. Its tough to think about starting all over again. But I'm looking forward to meeting new people, building a culture that I'm proud of through the combined efforts of these new team members, and taking my little one-person start-up to a ground-breaking, earth-shattering phenomenon of a company.

If that's the kind of company you want to work for, don't rely on a resume--network, ask for referrals, join LinkedIn, and keep people updated on what you're doing. If a company relies too much on your resume for your interview, I'd be worried. But for goodness sake, if you DO submit a resume, make sure there aren't any typos.