The Conundrum of Capitalism
Winston Churchill famously said that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried….” The same is often said of free market capitalism. Of capitalism...
View ArticleResolutions for an Entrepreneurial Year
My consulting firm co-founder Jay Kerness and I are not a big fans of New Year’s resolutions (although Jay usually does go to the gym in January so he can say he “started working out this year”)....
View ArticleLooking for a Few Good Entrepreneurs
Are you a Mason alum or area business owner (or dreaming of becoming an owner)? Have you thought about starting your “own thing”? Think someday you may need outside capital? This semester I am...
View ArticleWhat Makes an Academic “A”?
In his popular book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking author Malcolm Gladwell discusses one famous case of art forgery. The Getty Museum of Los Angeles reportedly paid more than $7 million...
View ArticleLearning the Good Stuff
Some months ago another father in my son’s Scout troop learned that in addition to being a business consultant, I teach courses at the George Mason University School of Management. “Oh yea,” he said....
View ArticleNew Age of Advertising
One of the oldest jokes in business is about advertising: “We know that half of all your advertising dollars are wasted. We just don’t know which half.” That was never more true than today, in a...
View ArticleLearning the Good Stuff: Part II
In an earlier blog I wrote about a father’s special insight. This particular dad understood that the so-called “hard skills” of mathematics, science and history are not as difficult to obtain as the...
View ArticleLearning the Good Stuff: Part III
Here is my list of specific subjects that should be studied by every entrepreneur, business owner, and business leader. The spark for this list came from a casual conversation with the father of a...
View ArticleFinish Your Homework
My son does not always get his homework done. That’s not really news – he is 16, in high school, and while he does well on tests and knows his material, turning in homework is just not always a...
View ArticleWhy We Need the One Percent
I am not a member of the One Percent. Some wag once said “Why would I want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member?” Well, perhaps like you, I wish I was a member of the One Percent of...
View ArticleGiving Thanks for What’s Possible
A lot of my friends don’t seem very thankful this season. Even though it’s the middle of November, and the newspapers are full of tips on turkey and advice on handling similarly ill-bred relatives,...
View ArticleBest Practices for Strategic Planning
Like many aspects of good management practice, drafting a sound strategy is not especially difficult. Corporate strategy is not rocket science. There are certain steps considered “best practices” in...
View ArticleSubmit Your Proposal for the 2013 Dean’s Business Plan Competition
The School of Management’s annual Dean’s Business Plan Competition is now accepting proposals. The competition is open to student teams from across Mason, in any major or discipline. Many...
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Mason Innovation Lab Accepting Applications
Are you a George Mason student who has an innovative idea for a product or business? Do you need some help turning your idea into a reality? The new Mason Innovation Lab will open January 2014. It will...
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