Passion and preparation

If you are thinking of starting a business, you know that you need to have a passion for what you do. Just don’t get too caught up in your passion that you forget to do your due diligence.

 

In order for a business to succeed it needs both a passionate leader and a plan. Passion without planning is futile. The preparation and thought that goes into understanding the market, supply chain, distribution and financing of the business cannot be glossed over. The planning of the business is what will keep it afloat and able to be productive.

 

When trying to get financing, passion appeals to the non-professional investor that will contribute via crowdfunding, but professional investors and banks want more proof that you understand the business and will not invest without a thorough plan. By matching your passion with a comprehensive and cohesive plan you will not only appeal to both groups, but you will have the outlet and the understanding to give your passion the best chance it has to reach its potential and achieve your vision.

 

https://hbr.org/2015/07/for-founders-preparation-trumps-passion

In house marketing

Business is changing and so is the marketing.

Large advertising agencies are struggling to keep up with the current trend in consumer relationships, and as a result, more marketing is being done in house.

 

So much of marketing relies on adapting to the current consumer environment and responding quickly to what is posted. The typical ad agency cannot do that: they don’t have the people power or the decision making ability to respond that quickly. As a result, the marketing plans are falling flat or are not able to take advantage of new developments.

 

In an attempt to counter that, businesses are looking to do more of their marketing in house. This means that they have a team that is able to adapt and respond quickly to changes. To be fully effective, they need to understand what the ad agencies do. 

 

For a business to truly turn in house, they have two options: hire a full marketing team that creates all the advertising, marketing plans, evaluates their effectiveness and is able to respond accordingly. Alternatively, they can work with an outside agency with expertise in marketing to develop a plan and oversee the global implementation of that plan and have an in house response team that monitors social media, analytics and communicates directly with hired agency. This can help decrease the lag time in response and still provide for the expertise and evaluation that is vital to running a successful campaign.

 

For those companies that have the budget for a full marketing program it can make sense to shift things in house. For others, it is still necessary to work with a professional company, but having an in house team can really help campaign reach its full potential. 

 

https://hbr.org/2015/07/6-reasons-marketing-is-moving-in-house

Your personality affects your career

This is a fascinating article that looks at the links between personality type and career trajectory.

 

Your personality has an effect on your future potential. If you want to see where you stack up, check out the full infographic.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-ways-your-personality-affects-your-career-2015-7?utm_content=BISelect&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Wednesday%20Friday%29%202015-07-29&utm_source=Sailthru&nr_email_referer=1&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select

Goal setting

Precision Nutrition put together an article explaining their coaching process and why they have been so successful.

They have developed a 2 part process to goal setting and attainment: breaking the goal down into skills and the skills into specific daily practices. To determine what those practices are they use another set of parameters: simple, segmental, sequential, strategic and supported. What this means is that whatever the larger, grander goal is can be broken down into specific skills that need to be either worked on or achieved and then putting a daily routine in place to attain those skills.

The best part about this process is that it can be used to reach any goal. This system is adaptable and applicable to a variety of arenas, not just for fitness and nutrition. By making the goal smaller and putting together daily action steps the skills necessary for attainment can be developed. Having some guidance and accountability in place is also helpful. Having some way to monitor and assess your progress is a vital component of goal attainment.

Give this a try the next time you have a big goal you want to accomplish. The daily application of small, dedicated practices can add up in a big way.

You can check out the whole article to see how it can be used with real world examples by clicking below.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/pn-coaching-secrets-revealed?utm_source=PnCoachingSecretsRevealed&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=PnCoachingSecretsRevealedEmail

John Smoltz talk

As a young baseball player, it is not normal to have medial elbow pain (pain on the inside of the elbow) that is restricting your ability to throw. It can be caused by an irritation of the growth plate or from an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament. Often, an injury to the ligament results in Tommy John surgery.

 

As this surgery gets more and more common, it can be misconstrued, that this is normal for baseball players and especially pitchers. It is not. This injury is caused by repetitive trauma over time that causes a breakdown in the ligament. If a young player is having this injury it is often the result of too many pitches at a competitive level.

 

We all want our children to play and have fun and to excel in the sport that he/she chooses, but we also need to keep in mind that we want them to be healthy adults. Participating in one sport year round at a competitive level has negative consequences including injuries, sometime serious injuries. We all need to encourage young athletes to play multiple sports, take time off their main sport, and start a strength and conditioning program. For those athletes, that have a passion for one sport we can work with them to develop skills and have fun, but to limit the competitiveness in the off season so that they have a chance to recover.

 

This is a great article on Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz discussing his surgery and his recommendations for young players.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2015/07/26/in-hall-of-fame-speech-john-smoltz-warns-against-tommy-john-surgery-for-teens/?utm_source=followingweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20150727

 

Concussion research

The news on concussions keeps on coming. It is quite the hot study topic these days, and for good reason; we do not know as much about their prevention and treatment as we should.

Stanford researchers have been criticizing the helmet tests that determine their safety by pointing out the fact that they may not be accurately testing for concussions. Helmets do a great job at dissipating force that can cause blunt force trauma and fractures, but they are not capable of decelerating the brain on the brain stem. The researchers looked at the cause of injury and noticed there was a rotational force component that was not being accounted for in standard tests and they recommend that future tests take this into consideration. While this is a great summary of the causes of concussions, I am still skeptical at the ability of a helmet to effectively control the acceleration and deceleration of the brain. I think the biggest factor in preventing concussions is to properly train kids how to play.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/athlete-safety/study-football-helmet-tests-may-need-a-change.html?eid=277204494&bid=1133043

This is also born out in another study that looked at the causes of concussions in soccer. Heading the ball is typically blamed for the injuries sustained, but the actual results show that individuals are more likely to have a concussion in a collision. An aggressive play style increases the risk over heading alone. Along with player education and training in football, soccer athletes should be taught how to protect themselves and referees should work to ensure that the play stays within the laws of the game. Keeping the game under control can help to decrease the risk of sustaining a head injury.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/more-news/study-rough-play-riskier-than-heading-in-youth-soccer-br.html?eid=277204494&bid=1122209

When an athlete does suffer a concussion, it is not fully clear why some athletes heal faster than others, until now. Researchers looked at the brains of children with head injuries and compared them to their non-injured counterparts and noticed that those who have a head injury have slower electrical activity. This may be a result of damage the coating that surrounds nerve fibers and aids in conduction. This lining may be injured in a concussion and may help explain why some athletes take longer to heal. When this lining is damaged, nerve impulses are not effectively transmitted which can cause some of the common symptoms related to a concussion such as headaches, confusion, vision trouble and difficulty concentrating. They may not return to normal until this lining is healed. 

 http://www.athleticbusiness.com/athlete-safety/brain-injury-study-suggests-why-some-children-recover-faster.html?eid=277204494&bid=1123452

Overall, lots of interesting new news on the head injury front. Hopefully, in time we will have a better picture of what is happening when the brain is injured so we can effectively work to decrease injuries and improve healing.

Over hydrating

We all know the dangers of dehydration, but there is danger of hyperhydration, too. When you have too much fluid intake this is called hyponatremia, and can be a life threatening condition. 

The challenge is that when you are hydrating you are diluting the sodium in the blood vital for cell function. As the water content grows, the body starts to shut down. Drinking a sports drink can help mitigate this for longer term activities, but the sodium content is still not enough to offset the water content.

The general recommendation is to prehydrate, drink water for activities less than 60 minutes in duration and sports drinks for longer than 60 minutes of duration. It may also be a good idea to increase the sodium in your diet if you are going to be very active through adding salt to foods or consuming chips, pretzels or popcorn.

You can tell if you are drinking too much during activity if your weight is more at the end than it was at the beginning. Some mild weight loss is normal for activity, but overweighing with activity is a sign that you may be drinking too much. Cut back, drink when you’re thirsty and check out the new guidelines.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150709092727.htm

Expertise and decision making

It turns out that being an expert may not mean that you know everything. A study was conducted that showed that people who perceived themselves as experts overestimated their own knowledge. 

The concern is that if you believe that you are an expert in a field you may limit the amount of research and studying you do since you already think you know it. This may mean that you are not up to date of current recommendations and that your knowledge is actually less than it is. This leaves you vulnerable to making poor decisions. 

We all want to think that as we gain experience we gain knowledge and expertise, and this is true. But, it is also important to continue to expand our knowledge and experiences and not get comfortable thinking we have achieved the pinnacle and that there is nothing more to learn. There is always more to learn. Be hungry, be curious and never stop growing.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150720092303.htm