Titan Lost; Serious Threat; Art of People; Thank You Davids

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

CyberCrime is Serious — my latest Fortune column addresses this important topic, more below, but first…

The Art of People — this is the title of Dave Kerpin's new book. Notes Adam Grant, author of Give and Take and Originals, "This book is like How to Win Friends and Influence People-only better suited for today's world." I couldn't agree more. Subtitled "11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want" it's all about how to be likable – in meetings, in networking situations, etc. — and Dave Kerpin is the king of this space. It's the next book I'm having my teenagers read as well. Congrats Dave on writing this insightful and important book.

Silicon Valley Mourns Andy Grove — former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, was an icon of the Valley — and someone who mastered the art of people and took the role of leading a company seriously, having written several classic books including High Output Management, the bible of tech entrepreneurs (new Kindle edition released last year). He passed away this week at age 79. Here is one of Fortune's tributes.

Grove Tribute Video — and go right to :44 in this 23-minute video VC Ben Horowitz published honoring Grove – you have to love the fact that Grove corrected the television interviewer on the pronunciation of Intel – we should ALL be so bold and protective of our brands! The rest of the 23 minutes is worth playing in the background while cranking emails – this is how you honor someone!

CyberCrime is a Serious Threat — its real and it threatens all of our companies. My latest Fortune column highlights five specific recommendations:

1. Declare your own Orange Alert – get all employees up-to-speed
2. Lock down your phones — some inexpensive technologies exist
3. Strengthen your firewalls — add DPI-SSL services
4. Confer with competitors — we have to help each other
5. Avoid hostage situations — again, some technologies can help

I did two things immediately – sent an email to our IT team to give me recommendations on which technologies to enhance our security based on the recommended technologies. Second, I realized my own Android phone wasn't fully protected (call me stupid) – so I downloaded the suite of Avast apps – anti-theft, anti-viral, etc. – to monitor and give me full remote tracking and access to my phone. Take 1 minute to scan down through the column for more details. And take this seriously!

Thank You David and David — much thanks for help with the CyberSecurity column to David Stelzl, author of Data@Risk and founder of the consultancy Stelzl in Charlotte; and David Davenport, CEO of MotherG, a managed IT services firm in Chicago.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if your company would be a good candidate to work with an executive growth coach? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please contact Jean Carpenter at [email protected] / (360) 798.9471.

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