Take Away the Fear and Watch What Happens

Last week, Maddie and I visited Menlo Innovations, a software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You may remember my book review a couple of months ago of Joy, Inc., written by Rich Sheridan, the founder and CEO of Menlo. Menlo has been covered fairly extensively in the...

Don’t Screw Up the Culture

That title is actually the polite version of some advice that Brian Chesky, the CEO of AirBnB, got from someone who had just given him $150 million in startup funding. What the VC actually said, was “Don’t fuck up the culture.” Chesky suggests that...

Why Do Leaders Drive Culture?

I read a good article online about the founder’s role in setting the culture of a startup company. The article talks a lot about Facebook and Zuckerberg as an example, but I’ve seen this one first hand, and it’s been documented by other core writers...

The Problem with Smart People

What do you do with that person in your organization who is incredibly smart, incredibly knowledgeable, and incredibly good at their job–but also has very negative behaviors like bullying others, constantly criticizing, hoarding information…(fill in the...

Book Review: Joy, Inc.

Joy, Inc.: How We Built A Workplace People Love by Richard Sheridan Portfolio/Penguin, 2013 This book is by Richard Sheridan, who is the CEO of Menlo Innovations, a software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They’ve been covered by Inc., NPR and others, partly for...
Jamie Notter