MONKEYZ BLOG

I wish our political leaders would stand tall and tell us the way it is—no spin, no half-truths, no omission of facts to “protect us.” Contrary to Jack Nicholson’s rant in A Few Good Men, we CAN handle the truth. We’re grownups and we deal with grownup issues 24×7. We can take it, and we…

While politicians continue to dither and our government seems determined to remain stuck in a rut of its own making, luckily there’s a new type of entrepreneur stepping forward in this country and around the world, showing us that we CAN make a difference in big ways and in small. Social entrepreneurism—where individuals and organizations…

Have you been watching the continuing dysfunction in Washington, DC? It’s hard not to. We’re peppered with “he said/she said” style reports, political gamesmanship, opinionated pundits, and so on via 24×7 news coverage and bloggers occupying practically every stop along the political spectrum. Where is the truth? It’s hard to tell anymore. Watching it all,…

We’re all pretty much attuned to the notion of company brands and positioning, and to a certain extent, we’ve all heard about personal branding—which has become especially important these days with the pervasiveness of online and social media activities. Whether we’ve actively cultivated it or not, we all have a personal brand. It represents what…

As the Federal shutdown, slim down, or whatever you want to call it starts week number two, I just had to take a step back and wonder if the politicians in Washington D.C. (and locally, for that matter) really have any notion of the wants, needs, and desires of us constituents. Polls tell us one…

There’s a simple business axiom on which I think we all can agree: “If you can’t turn a profit, you really don’t have a business and you won’t stay around very long.” This doesn’t mean you have to turn a profit day one—few businesses do, and even the IRS assumes most businesses won’t turn a…

It’s official—as of September 22 at 4:44 pm ET (the autumnal equinox) summer is over. Now it’s time to get back to work after July and August vacations and make a last dash toward year’s end before the holidays hit. It’s also time to think about reconnecting with business and work colleagues, clients, and leads.…

Just because something is innovative, does that mean commercial success is assured? If you listen to most politicians, you’d think the answer is “yes.” Innovation is good, they tell us. Innovation is what drives the American economy, makes us different, makes us want to see what’s just around the corner or over the next horizon.…

We’ve all been there: buyer’s remorse. What looked so good in the store, on the lot, or on the Web site, doesn’t look so good now that I’ve got it home or in the office. What was I thinking? Chances are I wasn’t . . . and if you find yourself in a similar pickle, that your…

It took me at least four attempts to start writing this blog. I kid you not. It’s not that I didn’t want to write the blog, or that I didn’t have anything to say. (I rarely have nothing to say!) Rather, every time I pressed my finger tips to keyboard, something else seemed to grab…

Where has the summer gone? Hopefully, the summer months have been treating you well and you’ve been able to balance a bit of play time with work time. But with Labor Day just around the corner, it’s back to school and back to work . . . and a whole new sort of balancing act…

What if I told you that you could market your product or service to a handful of key individuals and be just as successful, if not more so, as you would casting a wider net to reach a bigger audience? Would you think, “Paul’s been spending too much time on the volleyball court” or “What’s…

The sales this week of the Boston Globe and the Washington Post to John Henry (Boston Red Sox majority owner) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), respectively, got me to wondering why such successful business leaders would venture into print media—arguably a dying industry. The more I thought about it, the more I realized these sales…

Communication, by its very nature, is a two way street. Someone speaks and someone listens—well, hopefully someone listens—and then someone speaks again; or someone writes and someone responds, and so on. People also communicate non-verbally. A gesture here and a wink there can have the same effect as words. People communicate in-person, face-to-face; by telephone;…

If, like me, you’ve been skimming the headlines recently (online, of course) and ducking the constant barrage of what’s happening where and when—from the Trayvon Martin case and the Edward Snowden stare down, to D.C. politics as usual and the birth of a future king—you’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed, maybe even a little anxious.…

While the lone wolf, silent hero is certainly popular in movies, books, and TV these days, when it comes to real life few of us truly “go it alone.” Instead, we rely on networks of friends, family, co-workers—you name it—when the going is good and especially when the going gets tough. Think about it. It’s…