Success?

I'm way behind on my reading, at least the reading material that I subscribe to that hits my inbox. I do my best to stay on top of it, but there are times where I'm more than a month behind. Take this article for instance - Want to be Extremely, Wildly, Radically Successful?. It was written by Joel Petersen, Chairman of JetBlue Airways and published more than a month ago on LinkedIn... but I'm sharing it now...

To summarize my understanding of Mr. Petersen's point in his article: there's a ton of articles out there (online) containing quick lists of things you need to do, almost presented as mere tweaks you can make to your daily life and be amazingly successful.

Mr. Petersen reminds us that all of these quick fix articles out there are the "Unplanned Offspring" of Stephen Covey's hugely successful book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Having worked with Mr. Covey, Mr. Petersen understands perhaps more than most what Mr. Covey was trying to communicate in his book. There are no quick lists or quick fixes to be more effective and therefore more successful. It takes hard work, it takes reflection and the understanding of oneself and the courage to make fundamental changes in oneself to be balanced and make the right choices in your personal life and professional life quickly and easily, almost subconsciously, because in the core of your being you know who you are and who you want to be and everything you do reflects that. Whew!... run-on sentence, I know... but you get my point.

Mr. Covey's book was passed to me by father. He read it when it was first published in the early 1990's and he was in his forties then. He passed it to me after he retired and I was in my forties. I read it and it had a profound impact on my life.

Mr. Petersen's article reminded again of how important that book is. It reminded me to make sure I continually come back to it and read it and practice it's teachings and pass it along to my kids... hopefully before they're forty :)

D

Boulder, Colorado: A Must Visit For A Tech Startup Entrepreneur

In 2013 I found myself working for a business technology developer... Full disclosure: my brother Kelly Powers worked there and recommended me for this position. It was a pleasure to be able to work with my brother while I worked for them.

I was excited when Kelly and I were asked to join the team in Boulder for a week in August. It was great opportunity to meet and work with the team there for a week. The trip to Boulder also offered an opportunity to see the tech startup community there that I had heard so much about first-hand and get a glimpse at what makes it so successful.

Boulder has the impressive distinction of being the top city for tech startups in the US. Prior to arriving there, I reached out to some friends on social media and they were kind enough to help connect me to people within Boulder’s startup community.

Most of our time in Boulder was spent working of course, but there were a couple of evenings where Kelly and I hit the town to check out Boulder’s startup scene. Here are some of the Boulder startup community highlights we experienced:

- Pitch to Developers. This meetup is for tech developers that are interested in getting involved in the creation of a startup, and for entrepreneurs that are looking for developers. Startups would pitch, answer questions and then setup in a corner of the room with snacks and beer and network with developers in the room. Get more information at www.pitchtodevelopers.com or www.meetup.com/pitch-to-developers .

Kelly inside the Pixel Space's new digs. Kelly was a rockstar in Boulder.

- Pixel Space Launch. Pixel Space is a startup that provides a residential experience complete with tons of geeky amenities, right in the heart of downtown Boulder. It’s a great looking space and a place I hope to stay when I visit Boulder in the future. They threw a fantastic party and we met some great people like Michael Dusing (@mdusing), Joe Sampson (@youngJsampson), Chris Hayes (@heizusan), Tim Williams (@timwilliamz) and Monika Wittig (@lan_monika). Check out www.pixelspace.co or @PixelSpaceCo on Twitter.

Kelly and I trying the 1 litre of beer they serve at the Bohemian Biergarten with Tim O'Shea in downtown Boulder... My recollection of observations and specific information around Boulder's startup community understandably gets a little fuzzy after this point :)

- Drinks, dinner and more drinks with Tim O’Shea (@tmoshea on Twitter). Among other things, Tim is the Events Chair for Boulder Startup Week and is incredibly connected to the community and entrepreneurs thriving there. He’s also incredibly generous with his time, knowledge and experience in Boulder. Tim gave us the lay of the land and introduced us to many of the people we met in Boulder.

I can’t say enough about the city of Boulder and its startup community and I can’t wait to go back. It's a town that must be experienced if you are an entrepreneur. You'll find every conversation with every person you meet to be positive and full of encouragement, support and advice.

D