Funding and Building your Business

A computer engineer packed up his 8-year-old for Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Called into the office of the human-resource manager, he brought along his little shadow – only to be told in her presence that he was … fired. The man and his daughter were then escorted from the building, according to Workforce Management.

(We’ve had some excellent success during and after the 2003 Roundtables. If you have suggestions for speakers, topics, venues or changes to the process, please let me know so we can incorporate them in 2004. [email protected] Happy New Year to all. Russ)

In my opinion, the expectation of manager commitment to employees’ development is one of the great casualties of a career environment where workers are nomads and managers aren’t rewarded for helping their workers learn and advance.

70 percent are jeopardizing their own chances for promotion. After all, if there is no logical replacement for you, the company would have the extra burden of recruiting and training someone.

Many firms simply fail because they do not succeed in releasing great software applications on time.

As much as you want your business to succeed, you have to recognize that it doesn’t have to be at the expense of not having a life outside of it. Being properly structured in your business also means being structured enough to allow yourself some personal time off.

The battle over digital music is just another verse in Apple’s sad song: This astonishingly imaginative company keeps getting muscled out of markets it creates. So what does Apple have to tell us about innovation?

As a small-business owner, you have to take certain steps in order to find that top performer.

"Our innovative work force is our greatest asset."

In venture capital investing, a herd mentality can sometimes cause trouble by creating too many startups chasing after the same customers. And that’s one allure of the odd venture.