USA Today business reporter Rhonda Abrams watched last week’s season 4 premiere of “Mad Men” with a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. And why not? Season 4 of this hit TV show about life at a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the swinging ’60s kicks off with a startup launch of its own. What did the new firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce do right?
• Balance team strengths.
• Think “out of the box.”
• Move fast.
• Stay flexible.
And what did they do wrong?
• Rent expensive offices.
• Overdependence on one or two customers.
• Lack of staff diversity.
• Partner with people you don’t trust.
• Single tasking.
Read the full article, “Mad Men offers good business lessons” here. Hat tip to the Dateline Media blog for capturing this first.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.