Ellipsis Advisor

Sir Richard Branson Quotes

Business “Above all, you want to create something you’re proud of. This has always been my philosophy of business.” “I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I believe you are better off not doing it.” “Because I don’t see

Don’t get ambushed

When my kids were young, they would hide in a tree by our driveway, armed with supersoaker water guns. They would hide up there, anxiously awaiting for my car to pull up, giggling to themselves in anticipation of how they would “surprise” me as i got out of my car. And of course I would

Filling a need

You’ve been there.  It is 1 am and you are hungry. You go to “the place”.  You know that place. For me in college, it was the Silver Truck.  In Hong Kong its Ebenezers.  In Rio its BB Lanches, and in Fort Lauderdale, just the other night it was Primantis Pizza (Open 7 days a

That unreasonable customer

I was talking to a client the other day, and they told me about a hugely unreasonable customer.  “Nothing I do satisfies them. We bend over backwards for this customer and frankly spend way more resources on them than we should. They don’t appreciate that we do so many things for them that no-one else

Tania Fowler Guest Blog – Phil Jackson on Teamwork

Normally I would not post a sports interview as a business teamwork analogy but this interview with Phil Jackson caught my ear.  First of all, having lived in Sacramento these past 25 years, I can safely say that loathing Phil Jackson has been a past time and sport in and of itself here.  But…ahem, the

Questions I have been asked

Leaders Develop Themselves First! Don’t You Agree? Not sure about first but I am a firm believer that learning should never stop. I haven’t met a great leader who doesn’t read voraciously, who isn’t constantly searching for new perspectives. I believe great leaders have an inherent self-improvement plan – they may not articulate it but

Nothing beats face to face

I just spent all day at a conference as part of my work with two medical device startups.  Busy day meeting with stakeholders, potential investors, customers, distributors. And it’s a great reminder that there is no better way to relate to people than face to face. Often we have many reasons that lead us down

My old leather jacket

I have an old leather bomber jacket hanging in my closet. In 1990, I started working for Kith Mackie, one of the best leaders I have worked for.  Keith , as head of the Western Region, took a gamble, and rather than having a managing Director for each of his three districts, he decided to

TRAF

A lesson I learned I attended a management training course offered by my company many years ago. One of the techniques that stuck with me was how to manage that growing pile in your inbox ( paper or email) The system is called TRAF and it represents one of four things you should do with

Words of wisdom

Surround yourself with people whose skills, style and experience you admire. Make that an important part of your network. “We become like that which we constantly admire”