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Today Fred Wilson posted a great comment on the state of media. Find it here:

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/02/whats-wrong-with-traditional-media.html

He’s responding to a request from a major media outlet to share dirt on his fellow VC’s and Start up Entreprenurs.  Of course, the media looks for sensationalism, but it seems to now be the only thing out there. It is a great article, and the comments from his community are fantastic.

Think how many headlines with question marks you see today.

“Is Obama a closet neo-facist cross dresser?”  “Does Sarah Palin eat puppies?”

Of course, the story is three “experts” talking about the possibilities, and no facts at all.

My father was a great newsman – he produced the ’68 Chicago convention for Westinghouse, and would later serve as a VP / General Manager in Chicago. He is also a start-up kind of guy -  risked it all and moved us kids to Minnesota because he believed FM Radio would be something someday.

I still talk to him about the state of media news. He is as disgusted as anyone.

I remember once asking him how I should respond when listeners would call in and complain about the news we chose to air.  We understood that as owners of a news media, we had a responsibility to tell the truth, broadcast what people wanted and needed to hear.  To keep seperate the sales department and the news department.

We also knew that this wasn’t news:

Average man catches average size fish today at the lake.  Upon further investigation, it was discovered his boat made it safely back to shore.  He is now resting comfortably with his family.

So being a newscaster meant understanding the line between sensationalism and boring.

Tough to describe how to be in the middle, but pretty easy to know when you’re on the wrong side of the line. If you have to ask if you’ve crossed the line, chances are you already have.

My MBA students asked me to supply a suggested reading list.  I thought it would make for a great blog post.

I will update this from time to time.  I’ll try to post the less obvious ones.

In no particular order:

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Eliyahu M. Goldratt (Author), Jeff Cox (Author)

The Goal is a great business book that is also an entertaining read.  It is part of almost every MBA reading list in the world – and for good reason.

Goldratt weaves a nice tale of plant manager’s journey of trying to improve the plant he works at.  Along the way, we learn the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and basic methodology for continuous process improvement.

This book was the first glimpse I ever had at the power of driving operational performance.  I changed the way I thought about things forever.

All Marketers are Liars (with a New Preface): The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All

Seth Godin (Author)

You can’t go wrong with Seth Godin books – I’ve read them all, and his blog is one that I visit daily.

I especially like this one – Originally released as all marketers are liars, it was updated by Seth to be a friendlier title.

What sticks in my mind is his definition of a brand as a promise… and when that promise matches our world view of ourselves, a connection is made.

Great book that puts marketing into a whole new framework – changed the way I teach marketing and build marketing plans.

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery [Paperback]

Garr Reynolds (Author)

Take a stand… vow never again to perform “Death By Powerpoint”

Every presentation has common elements

• What you Say
• What they See
• What they Have
• What they Do

Make them all different – and wow them.  Recommended by Seth Godin.  Worth every penny.

Guy Kawasaki is a giant of the Entrepreneurship world. The Art of the Start is one of my most recommended titles in my library. I used it as a textbook when I teach Entrepreneurship – here at Minnesota State University and when I teach overseas.

Today I commented on his blog. He posted on Financial Projections, a topic I deal with everyday with Small business owners.

Guy only told part of the story.

He has great instructions on how to create an operation forecast – the Profit and Loss statement.  Unfortunately, this is only half the story.

Here’s my comment:

…operational (Profit and Loss) forecasts are an important part of the picture. For inventory and account receivable based businesses it is vital to forecast the balance sheet as well. The relationship between inventory and money people owe you determines a great deal about your cash flow. In the end, we need to forecast the checking account balance.

I recommend Entrepreneurs visit the Small Business Development Center – these non-profit centers are located at over 900 colleges and universities around the US, and can provide resources to help develop complete financial projections.

I am the Director in South Central Minnesota at Minnesota State University, Mankato – and we help around 350 Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs get started and grow their companies. www.myminnesotabusiness.com

I thought I’d share what I did from 7am-8am today…

First, I love being the first one up.  I have today off from work, so it promises to be a lazy day.

First, coffee.

Then, laptop on…

Check email, see a comment on a Facebook post.  Log into FaceBook and comment on a friends status.

Respond to a LinkedIn request.Find me at www.LinkedIn.com/mikenolan99

My google home page/news reader.  I follow about 10 blogs and feeds.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/ James Altucher got the first read today. He is a New York Investor/Author/Blogger.  I started reading it on recommendation from my friend Penelope Trunk, another great blogger on my daily feed. (No new post today.)

Nice post about his wife’s bout of Lyme’s disease today.  Led me to read an older post of his. Got me thinking about my investments.

Loaded up Fool.com, read this month’s newsletter.  I subscribe to their original Stock Advisor newsletter.

I updated my investment spreadsheet. I dollar cost average – then signed on to TDAmeritrade.com to schedule some trades.

Log into Twitter, write a short post about an assignment I will be asking my students to do about LinkedIn.

Nothing new by David Pogue at the New York Times, or by Dharmesh Shah at OnStartUps.com

Over to AVC.com, Fred Wilson‘s great blog.  His MBA Monday feature is required reading in the MBA classes I teach.  Today’s post was on scaling the management team.  I even got to make the first comment.

Then on to the Mankato Free Press.  I subscribe digitally.

Instead of reading it, decided to write this post.  Now to edit, link up and post.

Then, more coffee, and my newspaper…

Have a great day.

The newest issue of Connect Business Magazine features a
cover story of me.  they did a great job.

I did have to look up the word “Quixotic.”

According to Connect editor Dan Vance, “Mike fits a wealth of cover story selection criteria, including being a highly successful businessperson, possessing a long business track record, and having the ability to spin a reader-grabbing tale.”

I just like that he compared me to a Monty Python character.

Read the full story here.

My hometown these past 18 years recently ranked 25th on the Forbes list of “Best Small Places For Business And Careers”

Here’s the link:

http://www.forbes.com/places/mn/mankato/

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4[/youtube]Another in our student guest posts – this one from Minnesota State University MBA candidate Megan Kelley:

In the video “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”, Simon Sinek talks about how the average company can become successful through a great leader or leaders. He talks about Apple as an example and how they think from the inside out and instead of explaining what they do, how they do it, and why they do it, they start with explaining why they believe and do what they do and how they do it, and then last what they make. They are selling their company more so than their product. I think this video goes back a lot to our culture discussion and how the leadership of a company can really drive success. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it and the passion, desire and leadership of a company are what drive its success.

Related articles

• How Great Leaders Inspire Action (penn-olson.com)
• A conversation with Simon Sinek, author of “Start with Why” (asable.com)

Another great contribution from MBA candidate Sabah Ahmed at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

I picked this video because I felt it was a great way to introduce different leadership styles from around the world. Fields Wicker Miurin gives examples of leadership styles of three different people and why they chose to do what they do. They show us what is possible when you change the way you look at the world. The video shows how these people with little educational background became leaders without learning how to be a leader. They have qualities that leaders possess such as drive, passion, and commitment for what they do and they know that its not about them but about their communities. At the end she suggests that we should look at them as models and examples of leadership.

I just went through facilitator training for a great educational series targeted to business owners: Profit Mastery.

This two day training is absolutely fantastic. You will leave this with a much deeper understanding of your own company – and a tool set of killer financial tools.

My favorites: Estimate debt capacity needed for growth – step-by-step cash flow projections – and a detailed method for exploring the causes of low cash flow…

Here’s the corporate pitch… contact me for more information.

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Here are just a few of the skills we can help you build:

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