Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com May 18, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 25 BIZ BOOKS Leveraging untapped ideas offers best shot at startup success "Z ero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters (Crown Business, $27). Is following a trail easier than break- ing trail? If you're hiking, most people would agree. If you're in business, Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, would not. Follow- ing other businesses has risks: You're just another face in the crowd trying to create elbow room. By providing more of what's familiar, it's difficult to add enough value that distinguishes your business from those that came before. You're perpetually climbing a competitive hill. While breaking trail may be even riskier, the payoff for creating something new off- sets the risk. He points to Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Bran- son, Elon Musk and others who created not only businesses, but founded industries. They weren't just entrepreneurs; they were visionaries who made vision real, which added value to the lives of many. They didn't wake up one morning with a Big Idea. They did it by answering two ques- tions: 1. "What valuable company is nobody building?" and 2. "If I build it, will they (i.e. investors, customers) come?" Their answers used technology as a means to create new things. Their ideas were viewed with skepti- cism — until they weren't. They understood the "Power Law" — An entrepre- neur cannot diversify his/her own life by keeping equally possible careers as fallbacks. They were all-in. They built upon not only what they were good at, but also with an eye on its future value. They also knew that you need a full-time team that knows each other and works together (i.e. shared vested interests) to achieve the organizational vision. This doesn't mean congruent thinking. Rather, it means the team constantly questions "how" in light of a business world that lives in dog years. Key takeaway: "A startup is the largest group of people you can convince of a plan to build a different future. A new company's most important strength is new thinking." • • • "Four Seconds — All the Time You Need to Stop Counter-Productive Hab- its and Get the Results You Want" by Peter Bregman (Harper One, $25.99). Habits, past-behavior and goals shape the way we react to situations. Often one's reactions to situations result in actions that leave egg on one's face. Why? We for- get about the context of the situation and other(s) involved. Bregman's four-second approach to changing the way we interact seems simple and straightforward: Pause, take a deep breath, think and connect. It's easier said than done. In moments of pique, emotions often put us on knee-jerk auto- pilot. Responding without pausing to think a few seconds can create conflict that takes time to address. How do you create your four-second habit? Start each day with at least five minutes of meditation. I use the alarm on my smartphone as a timer. Sitting in silence and focused solely on breathing — two seconds in; two seconds out. "Every time you have a thought, notice it and bring yourself back to your breath." The first few times you try it, you'll think that the five minutes are an eternity. Part of Bregman's process also involves reframing one's thinking from goal-setting to focus-setting. As outcomes, goals deal with the future. Areas of focus deal with the pres- ent (i.e. the process of achieving the goal). Example: Salesman's goal — deals closed; Salesman's focus — increasing the number of prospects contacted, which should result in closing more deals. By focusing on what must be done, you stay on task. Bregman also advises against arguing because emotions will dominate the conversation. Instead, be quiet and listen intently to the point(s) made by the other party and say, "Thanks for sharing your perspec- tive; it gives me something to think about." You're not agree- ing or disagreeing; you're col- lecting data. The bottom line: You control your reactions and actions. n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak OTHER VOICES Where are you going, Hartford? By Anthony Price M ary Ann Evans, better known by her nom de plume George Eliot, said, "It's never too late to be what you might have been." What is it that Hartford could have been and still can be? This question should get the synapses in the brain firing with endless possibilities, especially if one is an optimist. On the other hand, the same question in the mind of a pes- simist is reason to spew vitriol at the Capital City. Perhaps it is deserved because Hartford sits so close to Boston and New York City. Both cities seem to manufacture news that makes Nut- meggers feel inferior. We are Hartford, whether we live in the city or in the neighboring suburbs. This is a region. We are Hartford. Let's get comfortable with that last sentence. Say it again. We are Hartford. Let it resonate in your whole being. This city of nearly 125,000 is an orphan because few in the suburbs claim it. But truth be told, there's some Hartford in all of us. Admit it. It was in Hartford that you were rejected by a lover, a fancy school turned you down, or the promotion with the corner office and raise never came. Disappointment is a familiar friend in an unstable world. The New England Patriots promised to come, but never did. The Hartford Whalers moved. Now a new baseball team is com- ing to town, named… wait for it… the Yard Goats. As Don King said, only in America. Yes, over the years, a plethora of visions have espoused this or that new Hartford, but nothing has stuck or captured the heart of the public — i.e. the suburbanites, the people expected to be wowed while they sip their Starbucks caramel macchiato or wait in line for Apple's newest must-have gadget at the mall. There is a shelf somewhere in the ether burdened with economic development plans full of visions. Shelves are sagging, groaning, ready to topple from the weight of lofty expec- tations, sitting in the graveyards of plans. Some view Hartford as the city they begrudg- ingly work in. There's no disputing the fact that Hartford is the region's workplace. Metro Hart- ford Progress Points reports that of the 121,000 jobs in Hartford, 82 percent are filled by com- muters. These commuters battle the morn- ing rush-hour traffic like salmon swimming upstream. The plight of the daily commuters evokes the movie, "Groundhog Day." In the movie, Bill Murray plays Phil Connors, a conceited Pittsburgh TV weatherman. Connors is assigned to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pa. Suddenly, Con- nors finds himself stuck in a bizarre time trap where every day is the same, over and over. After having some fun in the time trap, he is forced to look at his life and reexamine his priorities. We need to do the same. Before we go forward with creating a uni- fied vision of a utopian Hartford, let's look back at the city's thriving past. Hartford is one of the oldest cities in America and has a rich history dating back to its heyday in the late 1880s when it was a manufacturing pow- erhouse with Samuel Colt and later Pratt & Whitney. In1810, The Hartford Fire Insurance Co. was the state's first publicly owned insur- ance company to receive a charter from the Connecticut General Assembly. Roughly nine years later, The Aetna Fire Insurance Com- pany opened for business. Hartford needs to rethink its priorities. We need a plan to eliminate the treadmill of pover- ty that continues generation after generation, branding the city as poor. Poverty shouldn't be a scarlet letter. The majority of us are a layoff or major medical expense away from financial ruin. In fact, Metro Hartford Progress Points indicates that the highest increase in poverty is in the suburbs. The vision for the future should promise a job or training to everyone. The city should be a place of hope for its 82 percent minority population. To waste the human potential of any person is foolish. But to subject an entire generation to poverty is uncon- scionable. We can, and should, do better. If we continue down the path we are going, another generation in Hartford will be doomed to a life of poverty, prison, hopelessness, and worse, death. The suburbs are in danger as well. Hartford, what is your vision that will entice people and prosperity? Let's create a vision we all can be proud of and then work toward it. Once there is consensus, we must lay down our mobile devices and join the fight against poverty. Let's change the script for Hartford before it's too late — when the freeways are packed with people leaving the city and the region. n Anthony Price is an economic development professional working in Hartford. Anthony Price ▶ ▶ There is a shelf somewhere in the ether burdened with economic development plans full of visions. ▶ ▶ By providing more of what's familiar, it's difficult to add enough value that distinguishes your business from those that came before. You're perpetually climbing a competitive hill.

• Cover