I'm There For You Baby…

Published in UT San Diego, May 13, 2013

The entrepreneurial life. The high school class reunion. I have spent most of my life embracing one of those and a recent weekend at one of them.

I graduated from an elite, then all-boys private school in the Midwest in a class of 53 students. On the . . . → Read More: High school reunion can tell you a lot about entrepreneurship

Published in UT San Diego, May 6, 2013

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “Pulp Fiction” and “The Godfather”? The dramatic arc of each mutates through fear, anger, threats and ultimately power.

So I began to wonder what the proper role of drama is in the art of negotiation. I have two stories and will disguise . . . → Read More: Drama, used sparingly, can work in negotiation

Published in UT San Diego, April 22, 2013

Rule No. 180

Sometimes you need to go into your closet and throw out the clothes you don’t wear or that don’t fit.

Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.

The recent visit to San Diego by entrepreneur and investor Brad Feld has ignited a . . . → Read More: San Diego Entrepreneurial Ecosysem Sparks Debate

Published in UT San Diego, April 16, 2013

In 1974, I was one of 107 women (15 percent of the class) entering the two-year MBA program at Harvard Business School 11 years after the first eight were enrolled alongside 676 men. Times do change.

A few weeks ago, 800 alumnae gathered at the W50 Summit to . . . → Read More: Women’s Equality Fight Long, and It’s Not Over

Epsilon Micro Devices team from SDSU

Published in UT San Diego, April 9, 2013

Lean startup is one of the hot new trends in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It either means the founder is living on ramen and about to drop 10 pounds or that he is highly focused on figuring out what the . . . → Read More: SDSU’s Real World Competition: Do a lot with little money

Published in UT San Diego, April 2, 2013

“You’re fired.” The Donald made that a famous phrase on The Apprentice, but the harder question, particularly for chief executives, is why wait to hear that when you could have just as easily stepped down graciously, privately and with dignity.

A case in point is Andrew Mason, . . . → Read More: When it’s time to resign, don’t be the last one to figure it out!

Published in UT San Diego, March 26, 2013

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” said Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in the 1976 movie “Network.”

It takes a lot to get me angry, but a relative’s recent experience with a Los Angeles health care provider made me want to scream because I . . . → Read More: Let’s see medical charges ahead of time

First published in UT San Diego, March 19, 2013

Rule No. 170

It’s all done with mirrors, wires and trap doors.

Characteristics often assigned to successful entrepreneurs are passion, discipline, dedication and vision. What is often not mentioned is self-confidence. I am interested in the power of that trait.

A good friend recently said, “I never felt . . . → Read More: Self-confidence is so important that those without it better fake it

Published in UT San Diego March 12, 2013

In 1866, Charles Goodnight, a cattle herder, invented the chuck wagon. In 1890, lunch wagons came to New York City to feed the workers on the night shift. In the 1950s, the Army got into the game with mobile canteens.

In 2013, the world has moved from . . . → Read More: Running food trucks no easy ride