Cultural Capital

The fabric of every organization is created from the unique threads of cultural capital represented by every person who is part of that organization. I think of cultural capital as the total collective influence of life experiences that makes us who we are (family, ethnicity, nationality, education, choices, and on and on). Wikipedia describes cultural capital as “non-financial assets that involve educational, social, and intellectual knowledge”. The more diverse the individual cultural threads, the richer and more vibrant the culture of a organization can be. However, it takes strong Leadership to skillfully weave a diverse but focused and high performance workforce. It starts out with the building blocks of vision, mission, values and principles. It plays out with goals, objectives and leading by example. It pays off through outcome-based metrics, and performance management that rewards behaviors that are consistent with those metrics.

Good vibrations

The economy is showing signs of life, or at least signs of slowing its decline and coming out of the greed induced coma it entered last year. The New York Times reported this morning that “As a technical matter, most economists believe that the United States has escaped the grip of recession, the longest since the Great Depression”. These “vibrations” of recovery are good news for an economy that up until recently was described by many economists as in “free fall”. But this is also being described thus far as a “jobless recovery” and many many Americans have a long way to go before feeling its effects on them personally in the form of a good job and a recovered lifestyle. I am NOT an economist. I am a business owner and entrepreneur with some observations about the near to mid-term future of our economy that I would like to share:

1. WHERE WE ARE was caused in part by over-deregulation of the financial system and the naive belief that a system run by humans will be self-regulating.

2. WHERE WE ARE GOING will result in over-regulation in the interest of economic recovery and protecting the consumer. Mr. President and Congress, this must be a balanced approach that protects the system from human greed and consumer vulnerability, but does not stifle a free market economy and entrepreneurship.

3. THIS WILL BE A GENERATIONAL SHIFT in our economy and our way of life. U.S. domestic policy spent 75 years creating a robust but protectionist economy based on inflated incomes and easy credit. U.S. foreign policy spent the last 25 years creating a world economy that we now are not prepared to compete in.

4. WE WILL PERSEVERE. The spirit of entrepreneurship may have never been stronger in this country since the 19th century. It matters not that some is out of necessity. We have to be out of our comfort zones in order now create a sustainable economy for the next seven generations.

Social Capital

Social media tools have become mainstream, and have been for some time now. In my Venture Partner role at JumpStart I see many entrepreneurs with variations of specialty social networking business models come through the pipeline looking for early stage funding.  I personally find myself Tweeting, Facebooking and networking on Linked In… in addition to this blog (which took most of the summer off). These tools can be useful and powerful in maintaining and strengthening relationships of all types. Anyone who has ever looked for a job; dated; needed a housekeeper, handyman, mover or babysitter; played a sport or started a business knows that social networks are one of our most powerful resources both personally and professionally.  In business these networks represent an important and valuable form of capital required for creating sustainable business models, and it is important to invest in relationships and use them wisely and responsibly. Content relevance in using social media tools is of course relative and contextual to the audience, but an important principle to adhere to in growing and maintaining strong Social Capital.

Human Capital

Any successful leader knows that people are their most valuable asset.  And hiring the best people possible is one key to the success of any company or organization.  Good leaders hire people who are smarter then they are and more skilled in their given discipline. A successfully serial entrepreneur who I know likes to say that “A players hire A players; but B players hire C players”. His point is that a true leader knows their strengths and weaknesses and has the self-confidence to hire “above” themselves to make the organization stronger.

However, though fundamental and challenging, just hiring good people is not enough to creating a sustainable enterprise. Good people need good tools, good metrics and a healthy culture in order to thrive and create true sustainability. In addition to solid hiring practices, leadership must invest in training, professional development, process, technology, competitive compensation and performance metrics. Leaders must also develop and demonstrate strong values and operating principles in order for those good people to perform to their potential.

Human Capital is one of the four types of capital required to create sustainable business models.  But like other types of capital, it must be invested wisely in order to grow and create ongoing value.

Economic Capital

Effective leverage of Economic Capital is one of the 4 key forces of Sustainability. Every company, organization and governing body has multiple sources of existing and available economic capital. Sources of capital can take many forms: cash, debt, outside investment, earned or contributed income, taxes, new markets, strategic partnerships and other variations on these.

Good leaders learn how to balance these sources of capital, seek new ones when needed and avoid those that are too risk-laden. Wise choices around conserving, using and risking capital of all forms contribute greatly to the long-term sustainability of an organization.

Whoever coined the expression Cash Is King knew what they were talking about as insuring enough available liquidity to operate is fundamental. However, an “over-cashed” enterprise is also likely missing out on valuable higher yield institutional or strategic investments that will provide long-term benefits. Yes, Economic Capital can be simplistically defined as a “good balance sheet”, but good balance sheets result from good leadership, and making the best possible short and long-term decisions.

Capital Leverage

Effective development and use of available Economic, Human, Social and Cultural capital is essential to sustainable business models. Over the next few entries I will define and explore these key sources of capital:

Market Intimacy 1.0

Plato is known for saying, KNOW THYSELF. The allegory for business leaders today could be KNOW THY MARKET. Intimate understanding of one’s markets, how they are segmented, the trends in motion, the forces that drive them, and the risks that beset them are fundamental to creating a sustainable business model. More to come…

Think Globally, Change Locally

The challenges that permeate the national and global agenda provide great need and opportunity for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.  It is our hope at Cobalt Group to play a role in the broader landscape by addressing those challenges and issues first for ourselves and our clients.  We strive to help shape the future economy in ways that are local, sustainable, and part of a greater collection of efforts by many; the product of which will be geometric in its impact. My partner Patti Choby and I remain committed to Entrepreneurship and Sustainability as part of our core values and business model, and we always welcome the opportunity to work with Leaders who share that commitment.

Entrepreneurship and Democracy

We open 2009 with greater challenges than our country has arguably ever faced.  Many Americans are and will be presented with circumstances they not have faced in the past.  I firmly believe that adversity brings opportunity for those who have the courage to grasp it. The founders of this Democracy must have had Entrepreneurship firmly in their minds as a core of our society and our economy that would insure the United States would prosper in the long term and weather difficult times.  We now find ourselves in an era where greed, lack of leadership and absence of oversight bring us to where we are. My partner Patti Choby likes to say, “real change happens locally”, and she is right. Grass roots entrepreneurship, quality education, innovation, integrity and just plan hard work will ultimately have a greater and longer lasting impact in remaking our economy and reshaping our future than billions of bail outs designed for short term results with long term consequences unknown.

Missing Bags

A walk up 5th Avenue in New York on Saturday provided telling evidence of the state of the economy. The sidewalks were completely jammed with people as mid-town normally is during the holidays. Good.. right?.. but further observation found something missing… Shopping Bags. Of all of those would-be shoppers, very few were actually carrying colorful signature bags from the various retail brands that normally punctuate the crowded sidewalks and crosswalks. Stepping into a store or two… Façonnable and Hugo Boss were on my list.. revealed huge sales of 30-50% off nearly everything.. and virtually no customers. The sales associates of these upper-end stores, normally scriptedly aloof.. seemed hollow-eyed and nearly desparate to help.  So, did I buy anything?? Yes.. after all somebody has to stimulate the economy! But I must confess that those 30% off tags at Hugo Boss were some incentive.. not to mention the additional 20% friends and family coupon from my neighbor… Thanks Kerstin!