Reading Time: 6 minutesIn normal times, the beginning of September is one of my favorite times of year. The heat of the summer starts to subside, the bugs start to disappear, and youthful energy returns to Iowa City. Thanks to the year that just keeps on giving, that energy that powers downtown Iowa City is all but gone. … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 2 minutesBrad Feld and Amy Batchelor Startup Life ISBN: 978-1-118-44364-4 Many of the books I review in this series focus specifically on building a startup or business, building the entrepreneurial ecosystem, or working on yourself. In reality, there are other supporting you and your venture that are rarely discussed. Startup Life, by husband and wife duo … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 2 minutesJoel Comm and John Rampton Self Employed: 50 Signs That You Might Be An Entrepreneur ISBN: 978-1-68350-173-2 One of my favorite things about attending entrepreneurial conventions is walking away with new books in hand, or new additions to my list of books to acquire. At the second Young Entrepreneur Convention in 2017, Joel Comm gave … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 7 minutes2020 certainly hasn’t been the year that we all thought it would be. Rather than continuing the paths that we all were traveling, a number of crises have placed us at a major crossroads in history. The actions that we – both “we” as individuals and “we” as a society – will shape the years … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 5 minutesSince the beginning of the pandemic, it feels like a lot of the days have blurred together just a bit. I’m not really confused about what day it is – there are enough recurring events on the calendar each week to use as guideposts. With the exception of two weeks ago, where I was shuttling … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 2 minutesAmy Wilkinson The Creator’s Code ISBN: 978-1-4516-6607-6 What takes an ordinary entrepreneur or creative and makes what they do extraordinary? According to Amy Wilkinson in her book, The Creator’s Code, there are six essential skills that divide extraordinary entrepreneurs from the rest of the crowd. These six skills connect and build on one another, and … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 2 minutesLolly Daskal The Leadership Gap ISBN: 978-1-101-98135-1 If you have a Twitter account, you can get some pretty interesting followers sometimes. Most of the random followers you obtain are bot accounts, doing nothing but retweeting links to junk Web sites. Occasionally, I’ve gained a random follower on Twitter who actually puts out decent content. Lolly … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 7 minutesWe’re currently in a strange, new reality. With the exception of a few Zoom meetings on the calendar, time and date don’t really have much meaning. Even though I haven’t physically interacted with other adults over the past few weeks, my social life is actually better than it was before this event began, with several … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 3 minutesJeff Sutherland and J.J. Sutherland Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time ISBN: 978-0-385-34645-0 Agile and Scrum are the latest breakthrough in software development and project management. Rather than releasing completed software packages after months or years of in-house design and development (like some of the big software releases over … [Read more…]
Reading Time: 5 minutesWell, this certainly isn’t the direction I thought this year would go. Usually, the post I write in March celebrates the beginning of “event season,” and I talk about my excitement for finally getting out of the home office and interacting with dozens of new people throughout Iowa and the Midwest. With the country essentially … [Read more…]