Strengths, disruption, and serendipity. [Venture Kindlings for January 15, 2016]

This week I’m introducing a special post format that I plan to issue on Fridays. Venture Kindlings will feature short bits of information I’ve tripped across or developed that can help you light a fire or revive a fire for your venture. Let’s get glowing.

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Kindling from the web:

What’s your Strength Finder? Seems everyone has taken the Gallop study to find their top five strengths (mine are: Strategic, Woo, Activator, Communication, and Belief). A recent article in Harvard Business Review suggests that Strengths-Based Coaching Can Actually Weaken You. Suddenly, I’ve got a lot more work to do.

Is your venture disruptive? I work a lot in the tech industry and I hear this word a lot. I mean A LOT. But as Fezzik might say, “I do not think that word means you what you think it means.” And neither does Clay Christensen who coined the term. Fortune Magazine summarizes his longer HBR article in Uber is Not Disruptive but Netflix Is, Says Clay Christensen.

Are you a super-encounterer? This New York Times article on How to Cultivate the Art of Serendipity suggests that serendipity doesn’t just happen, it something that people do. Okay, time to get to the kitchen and start mixing stuff up.

Finally, I’ll throw you a couple of sticks from my corner:

Got your 2016 game face on? If you’re a holdout for on New Year resolutions for whatever reason, give my New Year podcast, What’s your 2016 game plan? a listen. It may help you rethink your game plan.

What could you do with 5% more time? Imagine what it might be like to get just 5% of your work time to use on creative, strategic thinking about your business or career. If you’re in the Minneapolis area on January 29th I’ll show you how at the Strategic Margin Workshop.


The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

— F. Scott Fitzgerald


Leave a comment about these kindlings and share some of your own.

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