The world's average number of marriages per 1000 people is 6.5, according to the United Nations Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, 2001.

If I count all my family members (even the over 70 and under 12 year olds), add close friends, random pick-ups, all my kindergarten fellas I had a crush on and party flirts so far, I might not even come close to 1000 acquaintances.

Well, maybe... however, I call myself a darling of fortune these days - I received my third wedding invitation this year.

Mike and Michelle tied the knot!!!

As I picture the happy couple my heartbeat immediately rises and a rush of adrenaline floods my body.

I am not a drama queen (in its original sense) nor am I exaggerating. Simply I allow myself at least a glimpse of romance in these hectic days of the 21st century.

One day, or more precisely, 25 hours, before the official ceremony took place I asked Mike, "Are you nervous?" Since I am used to the whole pre-marriage stress after attending two marriages earlier this year, I expected at least a trace of panic or serious concern.

Mike simply leaned back in his chair, gave me a surprised look (for this obviously weird question) and a counterquestion: Read more →

I created these comics over the weekend for fun. They do not represent actual events, just pokes fun at them ;P

You may have heard the saying...

"It can get lonely at the top."

When I first started MindValley, I was not quite sure what to make of this saying but after having run a company for a few years, I now completely know what it is all about...

As a leader, it might be difficult to create an open work culture where employees are comfortable and completely at ease to voice their own opinion, especially if they have ideas that go against what the leader is pushing for.

Worse, if one is not careful, very soon, a leader can find him or herself surrounded by "yes men" that are too scared to contradict or question the ideas put forward by the leader.

Equally important, when a company is rapidly growing some items are bound to fall through the cracks.  This is not due to a lack of caring.  As a founder, you will  frequently find yourself juggling dozens of "urgent and important" items.  While focusing on the top priorities every day and every week is important, the founder will

1. Not always realize everything that is important and
2. Might not focus on what other people on his team would consider important. 

What I like to tell my teammates frequently is that "I have no crystall ball." I don't assume I know everything there is to know. 

So, if there are things that are "not working for you," I expect everyone to speak up!  I frequently mention this because I cannot over-emphasize the importance of having an open work culture. 

I am lucky enough to work with so many bright members that by discovering what is "not working" for them I can rapidly help to prioritize what it is that I need to focus on to help make MindValley more successful and to create a far more exciting and fun work culture. 

Creating this environment is no easy task. 

While I keep stressing the importance of open, honest, upward feedback, this is not easy for everyone to do.  Some people are just less comfortable to "critique" their boss.

Trust, me, we can take it and we want any and all feedback that will help make us more successful and will make work easier and more fun for everyone. 

If there are things that are "not working for you," then the MindValley Way is to bring them up.  I am not a mind reader, I have no crystal ball, and I am not as smart as the rest of you so I look forward to hearing all of your constructive feedback on how to keep making things better and better. 

Over the coming weeks, I will be blogging a lot about "The MindValley Way" to help further build and cement MindValley's culture. I am a firm believer that having a well defined culture will contribute greatly to:

• attracting and retaining the best employees
•  make work at MindValley far more enjoyable
•  help to take MindValley to the next level

At the core of "The MindValley Way", we expect ourselves to take ownership & initiative. 

What exactly does that mean?

At MindValley, everybody is given a lot of responsibility and freedom to get their job done.  We often let employees that have just started with us run some of our biggest money making websites or start to lead important new projects.  At the same time, we do not micro-manage.  Why?  First of all, I believe that great people manage themselves and don't need to be micro-managed, they need to be coached and guided.  Secondly.  we have a flat organization and for a 15 people company, we are doing A LOT so there is no time to micro-manage anyone. 

However, that also means that every employee needs to take full ownership and take initiative.  Specifically, we expect that every employee should come up with their own action items of things that they should be doing to help move their project and the company forward.  Instead of waiting to be told what to do and what is next, we expect that everyone comes up with recommendations and proposed action items on how to best keep moving forward and achieve the targets that have been mutually agreed on. 

What have been the results of this so far?

Go getters tend to thrive.  They just grab the ball and run with it.  I believe it is better to execute and if someone makes a mistake they ask for forgiveness later.  At the same time, I have noticed that average people struggle with our culture.  That is because average people do not like to take initiative.  They do not like to think on their own two feet and they prefer to be spoon fed and told exactly what to do.  Well, we do not want average people.  We want great people and we are committed to creating a culture that is geared to see great people thrive and will hopefully quickly weed out the average people. 

I have also noticed that it is very important to keep communicating that this is part of our core DNA because when people first join they might find that sometimes they have an "empty to do list" and instead of sitting idle and waiting for what is next, we need to explain to them that often they are also expected to start thinking of what should be next to achieve the goals for the projects that they have been assigned to.  Having said that... that rarely happens since there is always a lot that needs to get done but we do want everyone to come up with lots of additional ideas and suggestions to take things to the next level.