Ian Smith | The Portfolio Partnership

Are Your Brilliant or Just Lucky?

by Ian Smith | Dec 10, 2012 | Operational Blueprints, Operational Tips

Jason Zweig published an insightful piece last week in his WSJ column on the subject of successful investors. His key points have real relevance for how you run your business. Key Points If one fund manager beats the market by 10% by sheer guesswork, that number alone...

Blog Post Ideas For CEOs

by Ian Smith | Dec 9, 2012 | Blogging

I believe every member of the team is in sales. Especially the CEO. But sales starts with lead generation (well actually it starts with positioning, then great products then lead generation but you get my point). So how does a CEO generate great leads? The CEO writes...

The Illusion of Age

by Ian Smith | Dec 6, 2012 | Management, Scaling

It seems the world is fascinated by demographics. Certainly the Japanese have more reason than most: The Japanese Health Ministry estimates the nation’s total population will decrease by 25% from 127.8 million in 2005 to 95.2 million by 2050. Japan’s...

When Should The Company Founder Step Down?

by Ian Smith | Dec 5, 2012 | Leadership, Management, Scaling

This Question was asked this week in the FT influenced by the embarrassing debate over the future of Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Groupon. The answers by an investor, a current CEO and an academic were helpful and can be summarized as: When someone else can do the...

Creating An Increasingly Powerful Business

by Ian Smith | Dec 3, 2012 | Scaling

How do you sustain the momentum of your business once it starts to move? How do the moving parts connect to drive the vehicle forward? How do you create continuous momentum? I’m not sure leaders are explaining to their teams how this works. Let me help by taking the...