Wednesday, February 27, 2013

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY CEO HOWARD TULLMAN QUOTED IN CANDID CANDACE

Candid Candace

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer bans (some) employees from working at home, ridiculous or not?

By Candace Jordan, today at 7:12 pm

In July 2012, Marissa Mayer was lured away from Google to re-energize Yahoo. Shortly after being hired, she said, "I want Yahoo to be the absolute best place to work, to have a fantastic culture. We're working really hard right now to remind people about all of the opportunities that are there."

That was then, when working from home was a perk for many employees, and this is now. Mayer has notified an unspecified number of Yahoo staff that they will need to report for work to local offices. Gasp! And even though there is a preponderance of articles about the wisdom of this decision, I can see lots of reasons why, for certain positions, this is the best course of action.

In a recent Daily Mail article, genius businessman Richard Branson said, "This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever." And our own local genius/Tribeca Flashpoint Academy founder, Howard Tullman, said, "I think that we are heading more and more toward what we call the 'porous' workplace which means that people will be coming together and working together virtually regardless of where they are located. You won’t even know whether the person is next door or in the Netherlands in a pretty short time. She’s trying to turn back the tide and it’s not going to be good for her or anyone else there."

We've all been on conference calls with children crying, doors slamming, dogs barking, doorbells ringing and even toilets flushing so, in some ways, going into the office seems like the better choice. But some jobs are done better if people can interact in person. Creative ideas need a group atmosphere so you can bounce them off of each other, read body language and see how fully committed someone is to a certain course of action. I think eye-to-eye contact is critical in a creative environment but, on the other hand, I would guess that technical jobs wouldn't need such a personal touch and it wouldn't matter if these employees worked from home or not.

And, of course, it's easier to work from home. Some statistics show that people who do are more productive, happier, stay with the company longer and work harder. But I know this isn't always the case. There are distractions at home that sometimes keep you from concentrating. There's that new magazine that beckons or it's a sunny day and you're a golfer. I could go on and on. BUT, who's to say that office workers don't waste time, too? Name one person you know who works in an office and doesn't waste one moment of his day on something personal. (Why is Facebook so active in the afternoons? I wonder......) So, I don't think it's a matter of the work space dictating the quality of the job being done but, rather the worker himself.

So if this latest move by Mayer tends to separate the "wheat from the chaff," then just maybe she's onto something.....I sure would miss my fuzzy slippers, though.....

Monday, February 25, 2013

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY WELCOMES ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERT DR. ERNESTO SIROLLI OF THE SIROLLI INSTITUTE FOR TOUR AND WEBCAST TAPINGS

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY WELCOMES ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERT DR. ERNESTO SIROLLI OF THE SIROLLI INSTITUTE FOR TOUR AND WEBCAST TAPINGS

WATCH HIS TED TALK: WANT TO HELP SOMEONE? SHUT UP AND LISTEN!

Italian-born, Dr. Ernesto Sirolli received a Laurea di Dottore in Political Science from Rome University in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia in 2004. He has worked in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom in the field of economic development.

In 1985, he pioneered in Esperance, a small rural community in Western Australia, a unique economic development approach based on harnessing the passion, determination, intelligence, and resourcefulness of the local people.

The striking results of “The Esperance Experience” have prompted more than 250 communities around the world to adopt responsive, person-centered approaches to local economic development similar to the Enterprise Facilitation® model pioneered in Esperance.

Enterprise Facilitation has been documented in Dr. Sirolli’s book: “ Ripples from the Zambezi —Passion, Entrepreneurship and the Rebirth of the Local Economy." Adopted as a textbook in an increasing number of academic courses in Community and Economic Development, the book has helped to introduce Enterprise Facilitation to a new generation of economic development practitioners and civic leaders interested in growing their communities from within, one passionate person at the time.

Dr. Sirolli is a noted authority in the field of sustainable economic development, and is in demand as a speaker worldwide.

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli is the Founder of the Sirolli Institute, an international nonprofit organization that teaches community leaders how to establish and maintain Enterprise Facilitation projects in their community.

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY CEO HOWARD TULLMAN APPEARING ON BARRY MOLTZ'S BUSINESS INSANITY TALK RADIO SHOW

Friday, February 22, 2013

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY CEO HOWARD TULLMAN INTERVIEWED BY SPOTHERO CEO JEREMY SMITH FOR GRID CHICAGO

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: http://www.chicagogrid.com/people/flashpoint-howard-tullman-shares-his-wisdom-with-spothero-cofounder-jeremy-smith/

Deemed “The Most Accomplished, Best-Connected Entrepreneur You’ve Never Heard Of” by Inc. Magazine, Howard Tullman has founded more than a dozen high-tech companies and Chicago’s Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy. Jeremy Smith is the cofounder of online parking spot rental marketplace SpotHero, founded in 2010.

JS: Wanted to talk to you about hiring. At what point do you determine it’s right to start bringing somebody in?

HAT: I always say that the CEO is the last person who should do any hiring at all. Because CEOs are a) really busy, b) always focused on selling, not great listeners. And then, if that wasn’t bad enough, CEOs by and large believe that if it’s a great person, they can find a job for them. And that is a not a good strategy for a startup.

The issue with [hiring] more experienced people is they have a different approach to everything. Everything isn’t a fire drill [to them], which isn’t necessarily startup culture. You’re bringing them in because they’re middle management and they’re a little more mature. But that culture clash with the young people who have been doing everything and running around is something that’s really complicated to manage.

JS: So let’s say it is a senior position. You can tell in interviews that this is somebody who’s very intelligent, but keeping them challenged is going to be difficult. How do you go about that?

HAT: If you’re worried about how to keep somebody busy, they’re probably the wrong person. You’ve got to find somebody, whether they’re senior or not, who’s excited about the opportunities. It’s almost impossible to think that anybody would be bored or wouldn’t be challenged if they were the right person. Smarts is really important. Attitude, way more important. Energy, probably even more important than that.

JS: My company is dealing with major parking companies. We’re the small fish in the sea right now. We’re not in a position of leverage over them. What gives you tipoffs that, OK, now we have some real bargaining power?

HAT: When we were building one of our businesses that serves insurance companies, which are monsters, there [was] what I called FOMO — fear of missing out. If you convinced them that the other big players were doing it, and they were going to be left behind, then lo and behold, they got on the program.

JS: What sets great entrepreneurs apart from your average business owners?

HAT: It’s like we say about movies: If you’re in the movie business to make movies, you’re going to be really happy. If you’re in it to make money, you’re in the wrong business. I think that’s absolutely true of great entrepreneurs. The money is nice. But they’re in it because they want to change things. They want to do important work.

JS: If you sit back and see somebody that’s in my shoes, what would be the best piece of advice about growing and continuing to be an entrepreneur?

HAT: First of all, I almost never sit back. No. 2, I would say, learn to sleep really fast. Then, I would say, understand that we’re not umbilically connected to any business — it’s not your family, it’s not your life, it doesn’t define you. The minute you take venture capital money, you have to understand that one of the [potential] outcomes is that the company could go on without you, [it] could be sold whether you like it or not. So you have to have this attitude that if this is the way I want to spend my life, it also may be in a different business. The question is always the same, and that is, is this something I want to be doing? Is it important work? Is it something I can get excited about?