The Power of Collaboration

The Power of Collaboration.  When I think about this phrase, my realization is no one person builds a great company or great change without collaboration.  You look at the great entrepreneurs like Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates.  They all had a team of co-founders, investors, and employees who helped them grow to become one of the great companies in business history.

As I grew up in the 80's and 90's, my inspiration came from the great music created during that time.  In retrospect, it seems like the musicians didn't care as much about race and politics as they do now.  The bottom line for those musicians in the 80's and 90's was making great music and having fun.  The music transcended race and politics. As the lyrics from another great band from the 80's and 90's (Depeche Mode) state, "People are people so why should it be. You and I should get along so awfully."  The attached YouTube videos are some of my personal favorite music collaborations.  There are many more collaborations you may think are better but for those who grew up in the 80's and 90's will agree these stand as some of the great collaborations.  I especially like the collaboration between PSY and MC Hammer.  Notice the diversity of the audience and their reactions to the music.  As I previously stated, this music collaboration transcends politics and race.

For Free Agents and entrepreneurs, collaboration is a must for success.  Freeagentglobal.com was built as a platform for Free Agents to collaborate and innovate.  Transcend and become great!

Best Regards & Success,

Chief Free Agent #1

P.S.  Check out our new community!

Collaboration: Aerosmith and Run DMC

Collaboration: PSY and MC Hammer

Collaboration: Eminem and Elton John

LESSONS LEARNED: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

In June, I was speaking to a classroom of students about mentors around the time of commencement ceremonies.  Even though I never met Steve Jobs, I mentioned him as one of my "mentors" as I am an avid student of his business philosophy and regretfully he passed away before I was able to actively reach out to him. During the time Steve Jobs was struggling with cancer, he was asked to be a commencement speaker at Stanford.  It was a heartfelt address as he was coming to terms that he may die soon and the message really was aimed towards his young audience.  Attached is the YouTube video from Stanford and background information about the main quote (Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish).

The two messages that really hit me as a Free Agent and Entrepreneur were as follows.  1)  Follow your heart and intuition.  Many times in life, we follow the "agreed upon" decision based upon family, friends, or colleagues recommendation.  This is so we maintain the relationships and the status quo without "rocking the boat."  But in doing so, we lose our calling and passion.  I almost fell into that trap and kept an acceptable profession other than a Free Agent and Entrepreneur.  2)  Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.   As we grow older, the voices in our head guide our decisions and we become more risk-adverse.   Steve Jobs encourages entrepreneurs to start businesses when you are young because it is easier to bounce back from failure and because you have less obligations (i.e. family, kids, college debt...).  The biggest risk is not following your dreams and passion.  It's a risk that if you don't take it you will always regret later in life.   So these two messages guide my decision-making and my journey as a Free Agent.  To end my speech to these students, I used the words of my mentor Steve Jobs and told them to Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Best Regards & Success,

Chief Free Agent #1

P.S.  Check out our new community!

NOOOO!!! Not my Legos... Why is Lego cutting 1,400 jobs?

When I was little I use to love playing with my legos.  It was a window to my adulthood where building legos is like building a business where you move the parts to create "artistic perfection".  In retrospect, nothing much has changed with legos. It seems difficult to innovate legos from a strategy perspective.  So my son pretty much plays with the same lego that I played with over three decades ago.  It is a case study on a dying business due to lack of innovation and vision.

For Free Agents, the bottom line is not to be a LEGO!  Constantly look at yourself and your business with a candid view.   And reinvent yourself and your business.   Legos are cool but growing your business is cooler...

LINK TO LEGO ARTICLE: 1,400 Lego jobs gone!

Best Regards & Success,

Chief Free Agent #1

P.S.  Check out our new community!