Thinking out loud.

I've had the honour of working with some truly talented and creative people in my career. That honour has allowed me to observe that extreme talent often comes with extreme passion.

History is replete with the perils of two-front wars. A second front necessitates dividing resources, balancing agendas, and having multiple strategies simultaneously at play.

Mike Tyson famously said that "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. " It's as true in business as it is in the boxing ring.

Imagine that you are on an overseas trip to Switzerland to learn about becoming a master watchmaker. As you depart the plane and walk through the duty-free stores, you are inundated by shiny and beautiful watches locked within glass display cases.

Mr. Spears was my high school physics teacher.

Innovation ecosystems are often measured by the number of ideas generated, startups created and successful exits achieved. Those measures matter, but they do not tell us whether the ecosystem itself is sustainable.

Whether it is for a contract, salary, or valuation, the negotiation process is a critical part of the business world. And nothing seems to invoke our primal competitive urges like a good old fashion barter.

One of the biggest challenges of any startup is dealing with the cultural battles that arise when a company starts to implement structure and process into its operations. Communication and coordination are easy when the entire company can sit around a single lunch table, but once you have a lunchroom life becomes a little more complicated.