Is novelty inherently bad? No. However, from a strategic business perspective, how should novelty factor into your business model or long term plan? It should be used cautiously and paired with the word temporary. Both Innovation and Novelty are cyclical, but their turnover rates are not equal. I subscribe to the theory that the life-cycle of novelty is much shorter than that of innovation.

I do believe that novelty can lead to innovation, but novelty should not be a long term strategy. When a product or service is novel, people are intrigued. As they become familiar with the item, however, their interest fades. This is the key reason why novelty is not a sustainable long term strategy.

Novelty can be a great play as a short term strategy (short term of course being relative, such as 1 to 3 years). This is because most novel things are easily replicated by competitors. This is true especially if you have just recently or not yet filed any trademarks or patents. The best example that comes to mind is that o…

This isn't a rhetorical question. Decision making is part of daily business life. It seems that each day brings more decisions than the last, so how do you ever make progress? You delegate decision making to other team members and employees.

Does it make sense to let individuals make their own decision every time? Perhaps not, but don't miss the positive advantage decision making can add. It is important to first address good decision making practices to your entire venture. After all you hired and built your team the way you have for a reason. If they are the experts (and they should be for their primary role) they are in the best position to make an informed decision for a topic in their own domain.

Remember if you slip into micro-managing you have caused two major issues. The first is that you will spend most of your time researching and making decisions for others instead of focusing on your own important decisions. The second is that your team may become irritated by the lack of control in their own w…

Point taken. Any time you find yourself in a meeting, discussion or brainstorming session keep the following points in mind. When used correctly, counter points can diffuse an escalating situation and place the focus back on progress. Preparedness is key in using counter points, if you aren't prepared you've already lost.

Preapre Your Counter Points

• Research Early - Complex topics require focused thinking time. The earlier you start researching additional information on the topic, the more time you have to find connections and opportunities.
• Read and Reread - Review all documentation ahead of time. Take care to read and reread material to ensure you have a good understanding of the material and the context.
• Capture Questions - As you research and read you may find yourself asking questions. Write down all questions as you think of them. You may find some questions answer themselves after futher reading or research. Remaining questions should be discussed with the rest of the group.
• Prespective Shift - Thi…

You may find yourself wondering why I'm suggesting you should aim to be like Royal Crown Cola. I believe RC Cola to be a fitting metaphor. Startups historically have messy paths to success, and in that trail is usually a rich and interesting history of how the company came to exist. This is true of Royal Crown Cola.

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and think you will become an overnight success and will be the top performer of your industry. The truth is overnight success usually takes time and patience. This is my point for modeling yourself after Royal Crown Cola. Usually startups begin from an existing frustration. This is true of RC Cola, who created an offshoot cola because of a disagreement with a Coca-Cola bottler over price. Coca-Cola even waged assult after assult with lawsuits prohibiting Royal Crown's usage of "cola" on their beverage. Royal Crown Cola was indeed a scrappy pioneer creating the first diet cola before its larger rivals arrived in that market.

I think many lessons can…