To bring people on board or to get them onside with an idea or a proposal or an initiative of some type by getting them 'intricated' into the process bit by bit, almost without their noticing that they are making a commitment.
When a group was trying to Bring Back the Ottawa Senators in 1990, a team that had not played in the National Hockey League for nearly 60 years, one of their key advisers, former US Attorney General, Elliot Richardson (now deceased) said: "First we'll intricate the League then we'll get the (expansion) franchise!"
by Prof Bruce March 05, 2009
A combination of mystery and devious. Used to describe a person whose actions and plans are both mysterious and devious, especially as it relates to business matters.
"Rick's corporate organization is so complex that the only word I can use to describe both it and him is mystevious.
Here's the way it appears to work: he owns all of Acme 1 Inc. in which he has invested $25,000. Acme 1 owns 51% of Acme 2 which has outside investors that invest $25,000 less a dollar in Acme 2. Acme 2 then invests all of the proceeds in Acme 3 in return for 51% of Acme 3. Again Acme 3 has outside investors that put in cash equal to the amount Acme 2 has invested less a dollar.
By the time Rick has incorporated Acme 12, he controls (absolutely) a company that has $51,197,953.00 of cash on hand with an initial investment of just $25k. And it's all perfectly legal to boot."
Here's the way it appears to work: he owns all of Acme 1 Inc. in which he has invested $25,000. Acme 1 owns 51% of Acme 2 which has outside investors that invest $25,000 less a dollar in Acme 2. Acme 2 then invests all of the proceeds in Acme 3 in return for 51% of Acme 3. Again Acme 3 has outside investors that put in cash equal to the amount Acme 2 has invested less a dollar.
By the time Rick has incorporated Acme 12, he controls (absolutely) a company that has $51,197,953.00 of cash on hand with an initial investment of just $25k. And it's all perfectly legal to boot."
by Prof Bruce April 13, 2010
A Startup Whisperer is a person who has a natural feel for what it takes to build a successful new enterprise.
“Thinking of starting a new business and not too sure what you need to do? Then call in the Startup Whisperer.”
by Prof Bruce September 13, 2010
A tech whiteout occurs when your office experiences or you experience a complete meltdown of the technology you rely on to run your enterprise or life.
“All we did was call in one of our techies and the next thing you know we had a total tech whiteout in our office: our entire network crashed, our VoIP phones wouldn’t work, in fact, you couldn’t even log on to your own local workstation since even that is controlled by the network. These days the Internet is so in-grained into our work flow for: data storage, social networking, running our websites, operating our phones, running applications, communicating with our clients, etc., that when our network isn’t working, we might as well send everyone home. The only thing that was working was the one old analog phone line we keep around for our fax machine.”
by Prof Bruce April 03, 2010
A client when buying your product or service can experience a negative cost if the benefits from using your product or service are greater than its cost. A negative cost can also result from a reduction in their costs from the use of your product or service that is greater than the cost of buying the product or service from you or it may result from some combination of higher benefits and lower costs.
Negative cost selling is all about understanding your client’s business from their point of view and being able to measure the benefits you create and the cost reductions you cause.
Negative cost selling is all about understanding your client’s business from their point of view and being able to measure the benefits you create and the cost reductions you cause.
“A minor soccer team organizer approaches a professional team for a donation to help with their upcoming tournament. Instead of just giving them money, the pro team gives them tickets at a discounted price (say $25 each) which they in turn sell at full retail price (say $45 each). They keep the difference. Their cost for each ticket is a negative cost, i.e., -$20. This also turns all the local minor sports teams, the players, their moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers into a new sales channel for the pro team which helps to fill their arena or stadium. It also teaches the kids about entrepreneurship and self-reliance and they come to understand the maxim: ‘Give a person in need a fishing rod, not a fish.’”
by Prof Bruce October 30, 2009
In a tough, competitive world, it is crucial for CEOs to have direct and forthright conversations with clients and suppliers. To do that effectively, they have to disintermediate their direct reports and even their techies, which means that they will be able to get accurate information from the field without it being filtered or biased, say, by their direct reports who may only want to tell their CEO what they think he or she wants to hear.
“By using social media tools like Twitter themselves, CEOs can disintermediate everyone from the data stream. They can connect directly with customers, clients, suppliers and others and hear unfiltered reports of what is really going on in their enterprises. Just as importantly, they can make their views known to their followers and stakeholder group without it being filtered by their PR people or the media. In times of crisis, this might save the organization.”
by Prof Bruce February 21, 2010