Marketing and design blogs to feed your brain
Whether we’re talking with prospective or current clients, training a new hire, or providing mentoring, we often get requests for marketing and design blogs and resources they can reference to learn more. After compiling the list from scratch one too …
The power of purpose and how to discover yours
Revealing your purpose may seem superfluous and a little too touchy feely for your taste. However, it can be an enlightening moment and the key to your success. As James discussed in his blog post on how to build a …
The art of asking questions
One of the things that I’ve always seen as a differentiator between good and great teams is their willingness and courage to ask questions that go beyond the usual surface level stuff. The first part of this is the willingness …
Annual Report 2011: The Forty Book of Lists
The typical corporate annual report is a snooze fest, brimming with overinflated earnings, lofty goals for the next year, and psuedo-inspirational fluff. In typical Forty fashion, our team stuck our tongues out to all those lackluster reports and annual books …
Forty gets lucky: an interview about planned serendipity
We recently sat down to chat with Lane Becker and Thor Muller, authors of “Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business.” Forty previously worked with Lane on the branding and website for Freestyle …
12 business books to read this year
If you listen to Dave Ramsey, you’ll know he often quotes Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, who once said, “You’re the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things—the books you read and the people you meet.” The …
Client relationships are an improv scene
“There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him.” – Bob Wiley, What About Bob? (1991) The cornerstone of all improvised theater is the almighty two-person scene. In …
Officers eat last: Simon Sinek’s revelations on purpose and leadership
Simon Sinek is one of my favorite leaders and speakers in business. I discovered Sinek in early 2010 when I saw his TED Talk on how great leaders inspire action. The core of this presentation was a simple but compelling …
It’s a waste to start anywhere but the beginning
Whenever someone discovers there’s a problem with their business or has a marketing project to tackle, they want it done NOW. They get anxious, excited, and can’t wait to see the solution or finished product. That’s totally normal, and it’s …
Marketing and sales: you got your chocolate in my peanut butter
Having been in sales for my entire professional career, I’ve witnessed one side of the ongoing jihad between marketing and sales. Now that I’m the newest member of the Forty team, I can finally come clean and admit that I …
Is money really real?
Money is just a metaphor My relationship with my own money is usually played out in front of a screen. I spend a lot of time in front of our family budget spreadsheet, and sometimes I’m on my bank’s website …
The thing about “new” business: why focusing on people isn’t really new at all
Here at Forty, we’re big proponents of championing humanity. Maybe we’ve just become super aware of the subject, but we’ve been noticing an onslaught of articles popping up all over the interwebs that preach this same message, deeming it the …
Inside the Inc. 5000: what it takes to be a high-growth company
Every year, Inc. magazine ranks the 5,000 fastest-growing companies (privately held) in the United States. They just recently released their 2011 list, providing a fresh set of data on the movers and shakers across all industries. We’ve compiled and analyzed …
The Eiffel Tower vs. the Leaning Tower of Pisa: why rushing isn’t always the best answer
Picture the scene: You’re leading a project, and you’ve got all the plans in place. Everything is going smoothly (cue ominous music)…until you notice your to-do list has failed you. You break into a cold sweat as you realize you …
Why Post-it Notes for project management?
Pretty much every office in the world has these little sticky papers. You probably even have your own little stack nearby, right as you’re reading this! They keep us organized, on task, and up to date. Post-it notes are addicting. …
7 reasons why we’re making this up as we go
“If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher When I first joined the Forty team, I hoped to infuse a little bit of my passion for improvisation into our work environment. …
Lowering the limelight: Using screencast videos to remove the pressure of presenting
The time has come. You’ve slaved away at those new sketches or website comps for days, and now its time to put the pencil, pen, or mouse down and share your ideas with the client. How do you translate your …
Forty’s morning standup: getting in sync with Hinge
We’ve talked previously about Hinge, our project management system based on Post-it notes. Now, we wanted to share one of the ways we interact with our Post-it boards. The most important meeting of the day is our morning Standup, which …
The world’s best project management system
In our line of work, effective project management is absolutely essential. At any given time we have 15-20 projects going on, all with dozens (if not hundreds) of individual tasks involved. We’ve tried countless project management applications, trying to find …
The Cult of 11: Great leaders need to chill
Some people are natural-born leaders. When they speak, everyone listens. When they’re on a project, everything tends to get done well. When everyone else is satisfied with a 6 or 7 on the “push-o-meter”, they’re always taking their game to …