Posts by Fran Tarkenton
DECA: Educating Future Entrepreneurs
One of the best-kept secrets in the world of entrepreneurship is DECA, an organization for high school and college students looking to learn about business and leadership. They have been around for more than 60 years, and have more than 200,000 members all over America, Canada, and other countries around the world. DECA is a…
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How Adam Silver Aced His First Leadership Test
Adam Silver worked for the NBA for 22 years before becoming commissioner of the league this February. But he was only the man in charge for less than 3 months before he was faced with one of the biggest crises I’ve seen in professional sports. And he aced the test. Donald Sterling has owned the…
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Success Requires a Process of Excellence
Success requires a process of excellence. You can never be successful just by saying, “I’m going to succeed.” Instead, you are successful when you set out to improve in every area, to study your strengths and weaknesses and pursue excellence in each aspect. Some of the clearest examples of this come from the world of…
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Elements of Great Leadership
Strong leadership will go a long way for a business. A steady, confident organization has a far better chance of long-term success in the NFL, and the same holds true for small businesses. So let’s talk about important keys for leadership. Dale Kirke of Thales Training and Consulting put together a list of 5 Leadership…
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Hiring Lessons from the NFL Combine
The NFL Scouting Combine was held in Indianapolis two weeks ago. All eyes in the football world were on this year’s potential draftees as they ran through a series of tests and drills. But the system is completely flawed. The scouts are timing these players running 40 yard dashes, counting their reps at the bench…
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Growth Comes from Entrepreneurship
There is no country in the world where the culture of entrepreneurship is more central to life for millions of people than the United States. Think of the greatest innovations of the past century, and beyond. How many of them came from the United States? The Atlantic Magazine surveyed scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and technology historians…
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#TuesdayTip: Never Get Caught on the Bench
You have to wake up each day with a chip on your shoulder and a sense of desperation in your stomach. If you don’t, you’ll never take risks and improve. Hear the story of Fran’s first game for the Georgia Bulldog Varsity Football Team against the Texas Longhorns on September 20, 1958. Fran put…
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#TuesdayTip: The Mission of Business
The mission of business is to help others. Do this, and success will take care of itself. Subscribe to the GoSmallBiz.com YouTube channel to access support videos and more business tips.
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The Power of Persistence
Everyone has times when they fail. It’s easy to separate the world into two camps, those who are succeeding and those who aren’t, but what we often miss is that people move back and forth between those two groups all the time. Today’s great success was yesterday’s failure—and might fail again tomorrow. The key is…
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Lessons from Shark Tank
Shark Tank is an ABC reality TV show that matches startups with high net worth angel investors who will offer to invest in their business company in exchange for a proportional equity stake. The reason why I love this show is that it not only demonstrates the power of the startup but it offers some…
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