You might get the impression from the books that I read that I am working on a “do it yourself MBA by mail” course. The truth is not far from that.
As the chief technologist at a community marketing agency and in my previous endeavors I have lived through many of the triumphs and pitfalls chronicled in numerous business and marketing books.

• I learned, among other things, the value of a “sincere tie” at Watson’s IBM.
• I searched for excellence at Hewlett-Packard back during the days of the HP Way.
• My first startup (Momenta) died trying to cross Geoffrey Moore’s Chasm.
• I learned to start a project with a t-shirt design at Apple as instructed by Kawasaki.
• I bet on the value of internet community with the author’s of Net Gain (dedicated in part to the 3 founders of my current company).

I have built and launched products, hired and managed teams. I have debated the 5 P’s of marketing as they apply to my business, but it turns out I had never actually read about them. I became increasingly aware of my ignorance. Those of you who know me know that I am uncomfortable with ignorance.
And so the process of re-educating, re-making and re-branding my self continues.