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Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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Entrepreneurship

Lincoln’s leadership, courage and perseverance continues to inspire

February 6, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

It’s that time of year when we’re reminded of the life of one of the most famous people in the history of modern civilization. What follows is a little history and a lot of inspiration.

Earthlings in every country on the planet have heard of the American who was born dirt-poor in a log cabin on the frontier, 2011 years ago this week. Even if they don’t know why, people know the name Abraham Lincoln. And for good reason. Besides almost three dozen Lincoln monuments (including internationally), there are over 600 schools, dozens of cities and counties, and no less than a gazillion streets, parks, buildings, and sculptures celebrating this great man’s iconic name and countenance.

As the 16th president of the United States of America, it’s generally accepted that Lincoln’s leadership during one of the greatest conflicts in human history was a profile in courageous genius. Even though the American Civil War was horrendous and the post-war era harsh, prolonged and contentious, both resulted in the successful reassembly of the United States – sans slavery. When you consider the blessing that the re-United States became to the world for the past century and a half, it’s no leap of logic that Lincoln is recognized as one of the most important individuals in the history of Western Civilization.

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Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Ethics / Trust, Leadership

What politicians, small business and mice have in common

February 1, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

As we stand here on the threshold of another national election year, it’s appropriate to turn to the legendary book by the late Dr. Spencer Johnson. Who Moved My Cheese? tells the story of four characters who ate only one thing: cheese.

Every day, all four characters went to a specific place in their world – a maze – where they found cheese. The first two were not picky about their cheese, nor where they found it – it was just food they found in a place. Then, one day – you guessed it – somebody moved their cheese. These two unfinicky fromage finders immediately began looking for the new place where cheese was being put.

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Filed Under: Demographics, Generations, Entrepreneurship, Futuring, Government / Politics, The Age of the Customer

Seven ways to cut yourself some SLACC in 2020

January 17, 2020 by Jim Blasingame

People make New Year’s resolutions all the time. But do you know anyone who actually kept one? OK – one person. But that’s the guy who reminded the teacher she forgot to assign the homework.

Knowing how impractical – bordering on futile – resolutions can be, there’s a different way to kick off the new year in your business. I call it Strategic Look At Critical Components, or SLACC, for short. So, instead of getting all bound up in annoying resolutions, just cut yourself some SLACC.

SLACC works when resolutions don’t because it comes with three things essential for effective change: a purpose, a plan, and measurement.

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Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Management Fundamentals

Small business owners are still crazy after all these years – thank God

December 27, 2019 by Jim Blasingame

“Still crazy after all these years.”

That’s the title of a 1975 song and album by the legendary Paul Simon. Hearing that song – for the zillionth time – makes me think about what makes small business owners different.

It’s the crazy way they look at the world.

Entrepreneurs think about challenges, imagine outcomes, appraise risk, project potential, and measure all of that against their resources and themselves, differently than everyone else. And when they decide to move forward, like the poker player who pushes all his chips to the middle of the table, small business owners are all in. Against all odds. No one else in the marketplace does that.

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Filed Under: Entrepreneurship

Four business lessons I learned on the farm

December 6, 2019 by Jim Blasingame

Growing up on a farm provided many valuable lessons that have transferred beautifully to my life in the non-farming marketplace. Here are four of those timeless and universal lessons.
 
The Application of Patience
In civil society, patience is respected as one of the great virtues. Who hasn’t heard the admiration, “The patience of Job?” But in the marketplace, patience is half of a powerful paradox because of its alter ego – impatience.

Impatience can be a problem – everybody knows that. But not when it morphs into urgency, because in the marketplace, urgency is not only good, it’s essential. Knowing how to transmogrify impatience into urgency is a lesson we can take from the farmer.

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Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Management Fundamentals

The problems and perils of perfection

September 20, 2019 by Jim Blasingame

There are a million – maybe a billion – scenarios for how someone becomes the Founder of a business. But regardless of variability, there is one part of every venture that, almost by definition, will not vary: In the beginning, and often for some time afterward, the Founder will be the first to do all the jobs.

If you’re one of those Founders, you were the first receptionist, the first salesperson, the first accountant, and the first janitor. But you didn’t become a business owner to answer the phone, pay the bills or sweep the floor. You did those jobs because, at that moment, you were the smallest of business entities. An entrepreneurial quark. A team of one.

You have every right to look back on those days with great pride. Starting a business from scratch and growing it into a success story is a modern-day Herculean feat, accomplished against all odds. But there is one perilous byproduct of the Founder being the first to do all the jobs – they were all done perfectly.

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Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Ethics / Trust, Leadership

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