The Internal Revenue Service unveiled proposed regulations for the Opportunity Zones (OZ) incentive, addressing gains invested in qualified opportunity funds. The rules provide investors with guidelines about how they can qualify for special tax breaks in so-called Opportunity Zones — underdeveloped areas where the U.S. government is trying to promote investment. They specify that only capital […]
Archive | Strategy
CDFI Fund Awards $3.5 Billion in NMTCs
On Tuesday, February 13th, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) awarded $3.5 billion in New Markets Tax Credit allocation to 73 community development entities throughout the country. Based on the terms of the awards, it is expected that approximately $2.47 billion of allocation will be deployed to support businesses in […]
Four-star General and Hippie Agree on Leadership & Change Management
This last week I went to the Fortune Magazine ScaleUp Summit in Atlanta Georgia. The overarching theme of the summit–from General McChrystal’s “Team of Teams” keynote to Ari Weinzweig’s change management presentation about Zingerman’s Deli–is that no one wants to be managed. Instead, our people want and need coaches. If the frontline employees have access to the […]
Our Weaknesses Could Be the Key to Our Success
Today marks the 35th anniversary of Tom Dempsey’s record-setting, 63-yard field goal in 1970. For 28 years, Dempsey was the sole owner of the record until his feat was equaled by Jason Elam in 1998, then again by Sebastian Janikowski in 2011, and David Akers in 2012. On December 8, 2013, Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos topped it with a 64-yard […]
Five Myths in Marketing to Business-to-business Purchasers
This summer, world-wide Google searches on mobile devices surpassed those on personal computers for the first time, Amit Singhal, head of search at Google, said at the Recode Mobile conference today. This is an important milestone for the way that people access the internet, especially for business. See this blog post on the Digits section of the Wall Street […]
Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast
My new favorite baseball team is the Washington Nationals. This is mostly because, as a father of four former little-league or high school baseball players, I’m a fan of Vegas-native baseball phenom, Bryce Harper. The Nationals didn’t make the playoffs this year, to the surprise of almost everyone familiar with Major League Baseball. They were a consensus pick […]
Successfully Exiting Your Business
Last weekend, I ran into an old friend who was a little frustrated. He said he is still trying to retire by exiting his business. He has tried twice and not succeeded either time. It reminded me of the old saying that “it’s easier to get into business than to get out of it.” Many […]
Pareto Principle: Determining Key Drivers
In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in Italy, observing that twenty percent of the people had eighty percent of the wealth. The principle does not just apply to economics. In fact, the pattern occurs in almost every natural and social system. Pareto himself showed that […]
It is easier to win.
Earl Nightingale recorded a talk called “It’s Easier To Win” more than 30 years ago. It is one of my favorite audio recordings and is part of the best-selling “Lead The Field” program. I’ve listened to that set dozens of times. Some of the ideas Nightingale shares are: Success is easier than failure. Winning is better […]