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Alan Gilbert
Alan Gilbert

71 Followers

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1 day ago

Lesson Learned: Build a culture where it is more important to win than to be right.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. This is the last post focusing on building a great company. Next week I will start to focus on lessons learned in becoming a great leader. One of the best…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Build a culture where it is more important to win than to be right.
Lesson Learned: Build a culture where it is more important to win than to be right.
Leadership

2 min read


Mar 20

Lesson Learned: Getting meetings right is enormously important.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. So much has been said and written about meetings, and this is by no means meant to be a comprehensive guide. But I have seen bad meetings, and bad meeting…

Leadership

3 min read

Lesson Learned: Getting meetings right is enormously important.
Lesson Learned: Getting meetings right is enormously important.
Leadership

3 min read


Mar 14

Lesson Learned: Don’t be tempted by the Dark Side of motivation — fear and blame-avoidance.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech Many successful companies are built upon a culture of fear and blame. I worked at one for many years. You can get pretty good results with negative energy. People don’t…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Don’t be tempted by the Dark Side of motivation — fear and blame-avoidance.
Lesson Learned: Don’t be tempted by the Dark Side of motivation — fear and blame-avoidance.
Leadership

2 min read


Mar 6

Lesson Learned: Don’t rush core values.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. Another short but sweet one. Capturing a company’s core values in writing, and promulgating and evangelizing them, is an important step in scaling a company. And once leaders have an…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Don’t rush core values.
Lesson Learned: Don’t rush core values.
Leadership

2 min read


Feb 27

Lesson Learned: Attention to detail and high standards matter.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. This week’s post is short and sweet. The leader of a company always sets the standard for attention to detail. It’s only natural that the rest of the company levels…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Attention to detail and high standards matter.
Lesson Learned: Attention to detail and high standards matter.
Leadership

2 min read


Feb 21

Lesson Learned: Venture capital is frequently a trap and incentivizes bad habits.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. I understand why venture capital exists, and I have participated in both sides of the equation. When applied to the right companies, in the right way at the right time…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Venture capital is frequently a trap and incentivizes bad habits.
Lesson Learned: Venture capital is frequently a trap and incentivizes bad habits.
Leadership

2 min read


Feb 6

Lesson Learned: Ready, aim, fire. In that order.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. Ready, aim, fire. In that order. I know this sounds contrary to a lot of conventional startup wisdom and the tropes we all like to glorify, like moving fast and…

Leadership

3 min read

Lesson Learned: Ready, aim, fire. In that order.
Lesson Learned: Ready, aim, fire. In that order.
Leadership

3 min read


Jan 30

Lesson Learned: Ruthlessly prioritize. Get use to saying “no” or “wait” to important things so that you can say “yes” to the most important things.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. I like the WIN framework, which directs you to ask “What’s Important Now?,” to decide where to focus your time and resources, and to defer everything else. At one company…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Ruthlessly prioritize.
Lesson Learned: Ruthlessly prioritize.
Leadership

2 min read


Jan 23

Lesson Learned: Don’t let stable become stale.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. The words stable and stale look a lot alike. Just pull out that one little ‘b.’ Likewise, there is a fine line between stable organizations and stale ones. Organizations that…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Don’t let stable become stale.
Lesson Learned: Don’t let stable become stale.
Leadership

2 min read


Jan 17

Lesson Learned: Study your competition and take them seriously.

This blog post is part of a series of leadership lessons that I have learned from 40 years in tech. Each post is a quick read that covers one lesson. When you’ve had some success, It’s tempting to make competitive analysis a self-gratifying, ego-reinforcement exercise where you revel in where…

Leadership

2 min read

Lesson Learned: Study your competition and take them seriously.
Lesson Learned: Study your competition and take them seriously.
Leadership

2 min read

Alan Gilbert

Alan Gilbert

71 Followers

I build teams that build things.

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