I shared this message with Target’s team members moments ago. As I told them, the truth hurts, but it can also set you free.

To say that the last five months at Target have been difficult is an extraordinary understatement.

The data breach we suffered rocked consumer confidence and ignited a nationwide discussion about phishing, cyber-security and the realities of living in today’s data-enabled world. Thanks in large part to social media, it looks like this will have been one of the most...

One of the things that great companies do is they hire the best people. These successful companies aren’t afraid to recruit the best candidates from other organizations or pull talented people from other industries. There are three attributes that are most important to an organization when hiring: attitude, competency and mindset.

Attitude. An employee has a passion for the organization and what it is trying to accomplish and is excited about being a part of the...

1. Use only a few well-defined categories. For most people, strategic plans top their list of “most boring documents to read.” If you hand your employees 20 pages of text, they are unlikely to read it. If they do, they are not likely to retain it. Instead, clearly define a small number of categories to provide a framework that is easily remembered and relevant to your employees’ daily activities.

2. Make a clear differentiation between you and your competition. Your strategic plan should...

I have given birth to one child and helped launch at least 6 start-ups. I might have a few illegitimate start-ups out there that I don’t know about but we’ll save that for another post. I had a blinding moment of delusion recently with my current start-up where I experienced the exact same feeling I did as the mother of a toddler. It was a day where one microscopic sign of progress overshadowed months of endless challenge, preparation, and self-sacrifice. How can that be?! How can the joy...

We’ve all heard about the marketing segments called “yuppie, metro-sexual, millennials, etc.” but we’ve probably not heard of the segment called YUMmies. Young Urban Males, dubbed “Yummies” by HSBC, is a segment, really. And big brands have made noticeable shifts to target this segment, including Burberry, Tumi, Michael Kors, according to this recent article from BusinessWeek.

There may be a number of reasons why we are only hearing about this now.

Desperately Seeking a New...