Did you ever watch a child opening a Lego box? Did you notice the first thing that the child did? It took the instruction booklet and started from page one. It knew it needed guidance to turn that jumble of colored bricks into the complex plane or boat displayed on the box cover. If only every adult had such wisdom. Unfortunately, most of us want to be original even when it is inappropriate. We do not feel like reading some stupid set of standard instructions provided to each

When your company is successful, you will notice that outside people find some of its traits admirable. They may like its drive to innovate, its ability to attract talent, its consistently high-quality products, or its steadfast adherence to certain principles. Such admirable traits are a direct manifestation of your company’s capabilities. These capabilities are what sets you apart from your competitors. Capabilities are very valuable for several reasons, one of them being t

Do you remember the first time you used a spreadsheet? It was probably in college. Maybe even in high school, if you were ambitious enough to need a budget development tool for your part-time job. You probably realized even then that a spreadsheet was a super-calculator, nothing more. Those big corporations you hoped to join one day were bound to use complex software systems for their huge needs. Once you joined them (surprise, suprise!) you saw they used spreadsheets too. An