Business Lessons from sucessful entrepreneurs and business leaders: LunchLearning.com

Reading time: 3 - 5 minutes

Video Time: 24 minutes 55 seconds

Alright, so a lot of us are back from vacation and I bet you’re itching for some more lunch learning. This time the theme is boldness in the business world. All this week we are going to showcase individuals who have done something different, risky, or innovative that has had an impact on their business. Being the video game junkie that I am I couldn’t resist shining the spotlight on Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto is the General Manager for Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, but you might know him better as the creator of Nintendo’s Italian mascot Super Mario.

Today’s video is a question and answer session between Miyamoto and his fans about his work at Nintendo. Miyamoto talks about his innovative creations the Nintendo Wii (mentioned as the Nintendo Revolution in the video) and the Nintendo DS, two systems that drop the conventional standards of gaming. The Wii has you trading in your regular corded controller for a motion sensing nun-chuck apparatus while the DS gives you the ability the play games via touch screen. Both gaming systems have experienced wild success during these tough economic times even though people are cutting back instead of spending. So what made Miyamoto risk it all on two very experimental gaming systems? His personal desire to see video games mimic real life. In the video you will see that Miyamoto wasn’t content with just sitting around playing games he wanted to be active. His strong desire to integrate motion into gameplay was risky, but looking back it’s clear to see that it was the right decision.

This should be a lesson to all of us who are out there trying to make it as an entrepreneur. If you’re not following your own personal convictions or don’t have enough faith in your product to try something completely out of the box then you might not succeed. Now I’m not saying that if you believe in your product enough you’re going to be successful, I’m just saying that it’s one of the first steps for it to be profitable. When you watch the video you can see that Miyamoto is deeply passionate about what he does and as entrepreneurs we should be too.

Just for fun, let’s put a little perspective on this. According to Wikipedia the Xbox 360, a competing gaming system, has sold 31 million units worldwide as of August 27, 2009; while the Nintendo Wii has sold 56.14 million units worldwide as of September 30, 2009. That means Nintendo has sold roughly 20 million more units than its leading competitor…not bad for Miyamoto’s radically new gaming system. As you watch this video, I hope you can find more insight on what it takes to be a bold entrepreneur.

Happy learning….and Game On!!!

Thanks for joining LunchLearning.com today! Enjoy your Lunch!

Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 28 minutes 19 seconds

Business is receptive to people of all specialties, educations and paths. While many people choose to focus themselves early on, there are just as many people who a long, meandering route and find that business was the proper fit for them all along. The long way around is rarely a detriment, however. Skills are built up, people are met and perspectives altered from going a different way. Ann Moore, the CEO of Time Inc. and named one of the most powerful women in America by Fortune Magazine, is one of those people.

Growing up in a family with strong teaching and medical leanings, she betrayed her family’s expectations by briefly studying math before moving to political science with the intention of going into law. However, it wasn’t until she graduated and found her first job after graduation did she find her true passion lay in business.

Even after joining Time, the variety of experiences and learning opportunities didn’t narrow. She found herself working in the finance department and, after a year, took a path that few trod and chose to work with magazines rather than its rapidly growing cable TV department. From there, she further developed her skills and expanded her abilities. This process made her a powerful asset no matter where she worked.

This interview outlines her growth in a compelling fashion. Learning is something that should be constantly happening. But even more importantly, working outside of your desired field, or even before you know what you want to do, can build critical skills. People from different places bring different skills that can offer highly unique synergies that could actually be core competencies once they are properly applied. A lack of focus can drive things just as strongly as a tight focus.

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 35 minutes 25 seconds

Marissa Mayer (@MarissaMayer on Twitter) is the Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google. She has become a much recognized face of Google, often seen in interviews and speeches discussing Google’s current goals and achievements. In this speech given at Google Press Day in Paris, Mayer goes into detail about Google’s past, present, and future goals as a company.

Mayer begins the lecture with a quick introduction to the components of the search experience, which are specifically: comprehensiveness, relevance, speed, and user experience. Mayer stresses how Google has focused on each component to fine tune the overall search experience. When she describes the early days of Google, she marvels at how much Google and the internet have grown. When search first began, people were ready to sort through many websites to find the information they needed, but Google put its focus on relevance, aiming to place the best results first. This made Google extremely popular, just through people spreading the word, without any real advertisements.

Mayer explains how as information has increased rapidly on the web, it has become even more necessary to use search, and things like relevance and ranking become extremely important. She talks about how much information seeking has changed since search and the internet were introduced. At one point, we would have gone to the library, or asked other people when information was needed. Now, Google can answer a question in under a second. And despite using a lot of new features and capabilities, Google has remained clean and simple. Mayer describes many of these current capabilities in detail, for example things like spell correction, alternate queries, and sitelinks, all help make search more efficient and effective.

So, what will the future look like at Google? Google is working on answering questions even faster, according to Mayer, their goal is the speed of light. Of course, there are also numerous new features that Google is trying out. Developments in cross-language search which uses translation to search multiple languages, or universal search which offers up multiple types of links like images and videos that are all the most relevant to your search. One very interesting new capability is personalization, which takes a person’s search history and uses it to make search more relevant to the individual. The last ten minutes of the video includes a question and answer portion, which focuses on Google’s new developments.

It’s incredibly exciting to see what Google is coming up with to broaden and sharpen our search experience! So, enjoy this intriguing video about the future of search, and of course, Happy Learning!

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 24 minutes 15 seconds

It must be hard being a woman in the video game industry. Think about it, I mean really think about it. The video game industry has been a boys club for years. The developers are boys, the publishers are boys, and the general audience…..you guessed it, BOYS! It must be difficult or perhaps awkward for women to break into a male dominated industry. Well, Torrie Dorrell (@TorrieD on Twitter) Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Sony Online Entertainment is making sure that this trend doesn’t continue.

In today’s video, Torrie talks about the role diversity plays in the workforce. It’s necessary to understand that when an issue is identified, like a lack of females, it is important to proactively try and fix the problem. Torrie does this by creating G.I.R.L. a program designed to help women to get a foot into the “male only” video game industry.

There are two major points about women in the industry that Torrie addresses. The first is that women bring a new perspective to the table. In the video, Torrie brings up a story about how an idea was pitched and all the men in the room thought it was absurd while all the women thought it was a great idea. Through the collaboration of everyone in the room they were able to make a fairly successful online game. In any business it’s important to diversify the decision makers because a product that might seem useless to one person could be a huge benefit to someone else.

The second point is make the product for everyone. Lets think again for one second. If video games cater to only one demographic (males) that’s fine I guess, but if game developers create games (product) for a larger audience they have greatly increased the potential for new customers. Businesses must think this way too. Even if the product is “just for men” the people in charge should consider how they can broaden their audience. This could be anything from making the product relevant to men of all backgrounds and ages or sell it to women as a way to understand the male mind. There are other aspects of women in an industry that Torrie talks about so I hope you can glean more practical business tips from this video.

Happy learning…and Game On!

Thanks for joining LunchLearning.com today! Enjoy your Lunch!

Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 56 minutes 11 seconds

The idea of Avon Products inspires a wide range of thoughts ranging from the image of door-to-door saleswomen and house parties to that of top-line perfumes and men’s fashion. However, two things that generally do not leap to mind is a fashion juggernaut and an enabler for thousands of women across the country. As a company sometimes referred to as ‘The Company of Women’, it is only natural to find a woman standing at its helm: Andrea Jung, currently ranked as the sixth most powerful woman in the United States according to Fortune Magazine. She is a critical piece of the force of Avon and a figure well worth considering.

However, to truly grasp the concepts that drive Avon, we have to step back an era. Before women were even permitted to vote, much less be accepted in the workplace, the original founder of Avon, under the name of the California Perfume Company, decided to work with a predominantly female sales force. The spiritual element, in addition to the business logic, of female independence resonated with the company and proved to be a potent asset.

Maintaining this spirit of supporting women’s independence has done much to encourage the longevity of Avon by pushing them to explore new markets and giving the company a core concept to rally around through the ages. This center on aiding women has pushed the company to enter markets where other companies have shied away from, such as in developing countries, where women are just beginning to enter the economic environment, and grow in times of poor economic growth from people with an entrepreneurial spirit being laid off seeking new opportunities.

This video looks at a variety of elements, from the importance of spirit, constant reinvention, and the capacity to do multiple things at the same time. Whether it’s the ability to look forward at the future without losing sight of what brought you to that point or to strive towards an ideal while remaining grounded in reality, Andrea Jung is a potent woman at the head of a powerful company that has its very spirit geared towards uplifting peoples.

Reading time: 3 - 5 minutes

Video Time: 22 minutes 2 seconds

Let’s start off a week of important women in business with Sheryl Sandberg. It’s clear to anyone in the business-world that Sandberg has a pretty impressive resume. Currently the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, her past jobs include Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, and Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. This year she ranked #22 on the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune.

In this eloquent speech at a Stanford Business School Banquet entitled “Faces of Change, ” Sandberg tackles the topic of “Women in Management.” Sandberg’s speech is a perfect way to start off this week’s topic, because in it she offers us practical advice on how to make the business-world more equal. While Sandberg asserts that much has changed already and we must appreciate this, there is so much more needed. Sandberg illustrates how women continue to struggle for equality in the work-world, currently earning on average only 80% of what men make, despite earning 60% of bachelors degrees awarded. On the Wall Street Journal’s current list of the top 30 wage earners, only one woman is on this list. She explains how women are still underrepresented in top positions of power in our society, and that women who have successful careers are less likely to be married or stay married than men with successful careers.

So, how do we change things, how do we make things more equal? Sandberg gives women advice on how to stay in the work force, even while balancing the demands of a family. Her pieces of advice fall under three categories: pretend you’re a guy, don’t leave until you leave, and make your partner a real partner.

1. Pretend you’re a guy. This basically comes down to confidence. Put simply, men are more likely to overestimate their achievements and are more likely to attribute their accomplishments to talent instead of luck. Sandberg encourages women to be proud of their success. Along with confidence, Sanberg emphasizes the importance of women negotiating in the workplace; make sure you’re getting paid what you’re worth!

2. Don’t leave until you leave. Sandberg describes the issues involved with women who want to start a family and sometimes make premature decisions about their jobs because of this. She urges these women not to slow down because of future plans, and not to make apprehensive decisions. If you decide that you don’t want to leave your work, do not slow down. Continue to strive, take that promotion.

3. Make your partner a real partner. Sandberg illustrates how, according to research, in most married households women do the majority of housework and childcare even if they work full-time. These women are essentially working two jobs. The importance of having a truly equal partner in a marriage is essential to making women more equal in our society and specifically in the workplace.

Sandberg doesn’t sugarcoat it. She’s hopeful, but doesn’t deny that it’ll be hard work. She hopes to see women have more choices in the near future, but doesn’t forget the fact that men need more choices too. For instance, if a man wants to be a stay-at-home dad, he should be able to, but as of right now this is not a common choice for males.

So, enjoy this inspirational and informative speech, and hopefully you’ll learn a little about what you can do as an individual to promote equality in our workforce. Happy Learning!

Thanks for joining LunchLearning.com today! Enjoy your Lunch!