Creative

Thrive In The Hive

Thrive In The Hive is a blog about the world of business. I started Thrive as a companion to my Welcome To The Beehive book.

Is There A Jeremy Lin In Your Company?

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 16:17

By now you may have heard about Jeremy Lin. He's a point guard for the New York Knicks. Two weeks ago he was unknown, sitting on the end of the bench, playing a few minutes here and there. Then the Knicks temporarily lost their two best players. The coach had no choice but to use Lin more. Fast forward two weeks. The Knicks have won seven games in a row with Jeremy Lin at point guard. Lin has put up all-star numbers during that time and even won a faceoff with the Lakers and NBA great Kobe Bryant. Saying that Lin has caused a sensation is putting it mildly. Yet two weeks ago the Knicks, the fans, and the two NBA teams that had previously cut Lin had no idea that his skills were that sharp.

We Live In A 'Show Me' World Now

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Fri, 12/23/2011 - 09:42

In a time when many people are struggling to find work that is financially and personally rewarding it's important to point out how things have changed over the last decade. When you were looking for work (either as an entrepreneur or employee) in the past you would spend most of your time telling people why they should hire you or buy what you're selling. Today the cost of the technology required to share what you do is more accessible than ever. Combine this fact with the reality that every hire is important to companies because a) they know that they have the luxury of choosing from many candidates, and b) bottom lines are so fragile that the output of every employee counts.

Learning From Steve Jobs

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Sat, 10/15/2011 - 12:59

Steve Jobs TributeI took the picture at left outside the Apple Store on 59th Street in New York City. Based on the scene that I saw there and the volume of tributes that have appeared across the web there is no doubt that Steve Jobs was one of the greatest innovators of all time. I do believe that in the future in schools his name will be mentioned alongside names likeThomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. Beyond his status as a great visionary and innovator Jobs also founded and for many years ran one of the great American companies.

Get To Know Technology

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Sat, 09/24/2011 - 18:54

One topic that I don't cover in Welcome To The Beehive is technology. It's a shame because although the ten lessons in the book are tried and true the issue of technology speaks to a challenge of the modern age. Twenty years ago an executive could get by without too much knowledge of the latest hardware and software. Those days are long gone though.

John Mayer On Creative Quality Versus Quantity

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Sun, 07/17/2011 - 09:08

At a recent event at the Berklee College of Music John Mayer talked about the lure of quantity in a social media world. John had amassed millions of Twitter followers and became more focused on the quick high of tweeting then he was on the hard process of creating quality music. John said, “The tweets are getting shorter, but the songs are still 4 minutes long. You’re coming up with 140-character zingers, and the song is still 4 minutes long…I realized about a year ago that I couldn’t have a complete thought anymore. And I was a tweetaholic. I had four million twitter followers, and I was always writing on it.

What You Can Learn From Anvil

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Thu, 06/23/2011 - 20:25

I saw a movie called Anvil! The Story of Anvil last weekend and while I normally wouldn't connect a documentary about a heavy metal band with the fundamentals of business this movie can teach you an important lesson. Lesson ten in Welcome To The Beehive says that you should believe in yourself. I know that to many people that sounds like a cliche that also goes without saying. The journey that you see in the Anvil movie brings lesson ten to life and shows that belief in self is not a cliche or something that you should take for granted. Belief in self is a key element required to help you along on any meaningful journey. And what a journey the guys in Anvil are on!

My Personal Business Philosophy

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Tue, 05/17/2011 - 17:06

The recent completion of my MBA has had me contemplating the future. In partcular I have been considering the importance of a philosophy to guide me through what I plan to be a very rewarding period in my career. To that end I have spent some time over the last few days creating a rough personal business philosophy. Since it is going to change anyway I thought that I would share it with you. The funny thing about the philosophy is the fact that I have already been adhering to most of it. Now that I have written it out and shared it the philosophy has really come to life in my mind though.

Here are the four tenets of my business philosophy.

Energy

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Sun, 03/20/2011 - 10:44

Have you ever noticed that when you really care about something you find the energy (or motivation) to make it happen? Think about it. Do you have the same feeling when you wake up on a typical Monday morning that you have on the day of an important event in your life? I don't. There's a different level of energy present. I am able to wake up quicker and get moving faster. It's almost like I'm being pulled in the direction of the event or task that is important to me that day.

The Innovator's Dilemma

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Sun, 02/20/2011 - 10:36

I recently finished reading The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen and prepared a ten page executive summary of the book for a Change Management course. I found the book to be very insightful and very relevant to the times we're living in today. For the benefit of those who might be interested in reading this book I have included the introduction from my executive summary below.

Business Orientations

Submitted by Robert Safuto on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 12:15

While working on a project for a graduate school class I started thinking about categories (or orientations) of businesses and the challenges related to each type. I may write more about these in the future but I just wanted to take a few moments to put the idea out there.