You can read the full article here: New York Times

Cliff Oxford’s most recent New York Times blog entry, “Why I Like to Hire Great Recession Graduates” has been making waves in the business community since its publication on Wednesday.  There has been much discussion over the entry, which weighs the pros and cons of hiring recent college grads versus the more experienced generation.  Social networking giant LinkedIn took notice of the blog, selecting it as recommended news on its homepage on Thursday.

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Pampered. Pragmatic. Persnickety. These are not the employee attributes that build fast-growth companies, but all three describe a group of employees that fast growth entrepreneurs must confront when hiring. Since the Great Recession of 2008, my advice to entrepreneurs is to run, baby, run when it comes to hiring this group.

Oh, by the way, I am not talking about Gen X or Gen Y employees; I am talking about their parents — at least some of them. Many thrived in an economy and work environment where they received multiple job offers, signing bonuses and automatic raises just for showing up. In other words, they got used to a reality that will not soon repeat itself. Today, post-crisis, workers have to justify their existence, why they are being paid. What value do they add? Meanwhile, the people who are stepping up in the new economy are the Great Recession graduates, new employees who were born into the new reality.

Let me be clear: I don’t mean to generalize. No group is all good or all bad or all anything. But the new reality is that entrepreneurs look at employees in two ways: they are either adding profits to the company or they are taking profits away. When I ask employees who remember the good old days to justify their salary, they do not even like my asking the question. But their children are different.

Those who have graduated from college in the last five years have the upper hand in landing these new jobs in the fast-growth companies where most new jobs are created. When I interview recent graduates, I sometimes feel as though I am talking to my dad, who lived through the Great Depression and never really got over it. If you talk to recent grads, you hear the hard-luck stories of deleted college funds — money that was supposed to send them to out-of-state schools.

Instead, they stayed home, went to the local college and waited on tables. And they have been hardened for what is still a tough economy in which to expand a company or be hired. Put it this way: I don’t think having a bring-your-dog-to-work day is high on their list, and there is no pushback on wearing business attire, either. Also, they do not have a lot of outside obligations that take them in and out of work five times a day. These Great Recession graduates are perfect players in fast-growth companies where a hunger to work and a will to win override the need for entitlements, praise and corner offices.

I have said it before — managing a fast-growth company is like walking on thin ice and riding rapids at the same time. No company needs people who cannot go with the flow and get stuff done. The Great Recession graduates do not question or doubt a job that has a tough mission. In short, they know how to survive, they will follow a vision and they want to make a difference.

I do not see that as often with the parents. Yes, there are lots of exceptions, but too many experienced employees are trapped in the easy-money past and have stopped trying to keep up. The first thing holding them back is that many have taken a pass on understanding social media as a business strategy. When I ask an experienced employee about social media, I’m told, “I am on Facebook and thinking about trying Twitter.” When I ask my own children or recent graduates about social media, here is the answer: “It is how we communicate.” Social media, Google and video represent a sea change; they have destroyed the knowledge gap that used to exist between entry-level employees and experienced employees.

Some may suggest that I am not respecting the value of experience. Here is my answer: I’m not convinced that that experience is relevant anymore. Here’s a real-world example. At the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs, we recently began hiring for our M.B.A. entrepreneur program. I was interviewing to hire recruiters, and I’m sure many of the experienced candidates could have been good employees. Many talked enthusiastically about how they would figure out the best places to visit and recruit M.B.A. candidates for our program.

But being enthusiastic isn’t good enough anymore, especially if you are asking for the kinds of salaries that were paid before the economic crisis. It was the recent graduates who asked us, “Isn’t driving to college fairs expensive?” The person we hired is a 24-year-old who suggested an integrated social media strategy to motivate hundreds of Web sites to drive traffic to our site. By the way, the recent graduates with two years’ experience wanted this: an opportunity to grow, $45,000 in annual salary and commission on revenue brought to the company. The experienced candidates wanted three times the salary and were quite concerned about not having their own offices.

Here’s another example. We recently hired five C.E.O. apprentices right out of business school and within two days they had all set up shop and congregated in an empty conference room where they sat face-to-face, collaborating on projects and generating ideas. Again, this is how they communicate. When they’re not using social media, they prefer face-to-face discussion, challenging each other in an open environment.

Let me repeat: I don’t mean to generalize. I recently hired a 51-year-old legacy employee with a sterling pedigree. He didn’t dwell on the good old days, and he approached me with a confident and humble view about a fresh start. These are good signs to spot, and when you see them, you should hire the experienced employees who get it — but a lot of them do not. Here is my recommendation for those who are struggling with the transition: Don’t try to reinvent yourself for fast growth. Instead, be yourself, and do what you always wanted to do.

I have a good friend who has had a terrific 25-year career in pharmaceuticals. With retirement approaching, she was eagerly courted by venture capitalists to join any one of a multitude of biotech start-ups. After visiting several of the companies, she told me: “I realized I was 52 and had crossed the line. I saw all of the problems in these companies. I felt sorry for them and decided not to do it. But they were happy and could not wait for tomorrow.” What is she going to do? What she always wanted to do. This fall she is going back to college as a freshman nursing student.

So I don’t think experienced employees should stop thinking about tomorrow — I just think some of them should stop thinking about joining a fast-growth company. Most do not have corner offices anyway.

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Most have yet to realize that while the idea of “the cloud” sounds nebulous, it’s benefits are very real. For starters, you can host just about anything on it. That’s right, even your tele and web services on it– for the fraction of the cost. In terms of storage it’s your virtual suitcase– just infinitely bigger. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Bill Gates or Joe Blow, extra cash in our pockets is a good thing. This article sheds some light on just some of the  cloud’s top uses.

For those of you that have already leveraged a cloud system to benefit your business, The Oxford Center and Savvis Direct want to know how it worked out. Tell us your story in the comment box below. The savviest entrepreneur gets the prize. And by prize we mean a smart new stereo from Jambox.

Winner will be announced March 15th.

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“How can fast-growth entrepreneurs lead a more balanced life?” is one of those agonizing questions that I am often asked. The good news is that there is a rather simple answer: “You can’t.” Save your money, and don’t waste your time on the books and coaches who want to sell you advice. Here is why.

Fast growth is a 24/7 proposition. It is not just the hours you put in at work; it’s that it owns your head. You think about work in the shower and on vacation, and you get lost in all of the ideas while you are sitting at dinner. It is exciting and dangerous. Of course, the collateral damage on the big three — family, health, and faith — can be disastrous. Nothing describes it better than F. Scott Fitzgerald, who said, “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”

Hero entrepreneurs have big egos and the audacity to want to create or change a market. In fact, many want to change the world, which is a very demanding job. And once you start to smell success, it is hard to stop. You become an addict, but instead of getting drunk at a bar, you get high on work. And that is fine until you have to go home and deal with routine family matters like changing diapers, taking out the trash or attending meetings of the P.T.A., or God forbid, the homeowner’s association. You are always in a hurry, and everybody else is so slow.

I remember one evening when my human resources director, Harriet McCormick, called me into her office and said, “We need to talk,” which is never a good thing coming from H.R. — even if you are the chief executive. She said, “Cliff, you have a mistress, your work. This company is going places, and you need to make up your mind if you are ready to give up your life for it.” I blew the conversation off because I was having a great time. I loved my family, I felt good about what we were doing at work, and I assumed I could maintain the balance. Five years later, I had three Inc. 500 plaques hanging on my wall — and I was divorced. This is the danger of the balance propaganda. You think you can have it all, and you wind up losing what means most to you.

Now I work with hundreds of fast-growth entrepreneurs who struggle to find the balance they read about in airplane magazines as they zip off to see the next customer, and I see these tragedies happen over and over. I tell fast-growth entrepreneurs not to get married while they are in fast-growth mode. They always do. I tell them to consider building a successful small business or consider making their current office more profitable instead of opening five new offices over the next year. They never do.

Entrepreneurs think they want balance, but they really don’t. We like swinging for the fences, and here is the weird part — we actually enjoy the insanity of long hours and long odds. It still gives me a thrill to remember the day I got the phone call from my I.T. department saying, “We are up and live in Hong Kong. South Africa next.” There were times, though, that I would go home for dinner at 6 p.m. to be with my family and within 30 minutes it felt like the whole world was trying to get a hold of me. These were not ego calls where I was just chatting. Balance was not in the equation and not in any conversation. If it had been, the company would not have made it.

How do I feel now about not having balance back then? First, I am not worried about that deathbed conversation where everyone says they wish they had spent more time with their family. At that point, we are going to die in short order anyway. No, the pain cuts a lot deeper and lasts a lot longer when the regrets start, as they did for me, at 49, when you are dropping off your daughter at college and you have the whole long ride back to think about how much more you could have done and how much more you could have been there.

These are the life moments when you ask yourself whether it was worth it. Well, if your life can be just about you, then it is. But if you need to share your life with others, it is not. Look at Bill Gates as a role model. He did not get married until he was getting ready to exit as Microsoft’s chief executive. From a distance, I think we can say that he has done fast growth and family well. He just did not try to do both at the same time.

I thought I could help entrepreneurs understand that balance is a fantasy — a good fantasy but still fantasy. But I have been about as successful as Harriett was with me. I discovered that entrepreneurs listen and ask a lot of questions but continue to do even more of the work thing. I would say maybe 2 or 3 percent make some time adjustments between work and family. I have been told that this is about the same success rate for heroin users in rehab. I once engaged Dr. Dragana Bugarski, an M.D. with an M.B.A., to discuss the science of how our brain makes decisions and how the brain reacts to pleasures and failures at a conference of 35 chief executive entrepreneurs. Dr. Bugarski showed us brain scans of heroin addicts, people engaged in intimate acts, people with attention-deficit disorder and entrepreneurs.

She demonstrated that entrepreneurs get their drive and capacity for work fulfillment from the same brain stimulants that drive heroin addicts to go back to the needle. Dr. Bugarski explained why the brain’s pleasure center drove us to stay late at work when we should be at home. It was a very emotional session for everyone. No one left “fixed” that day but everyone better understood what was making it so difficult to achieve balance. The science drove us away from the idea of the so-called balanced life and toward a discussion of how entrepreneurs can have an integrated life of work, family and health. How? Your dedication and outcomes of work, family and health are measured not by time but by consistency and commitment. For example, if you get home at 9 p.m., a couple of bedtime stories are better than being there all evening but checking your e-mail and making phone calls.

While balance is largely designed around a fixed allocation of time, an integrated life is designed around focus on where you are at the moment. In short, when you are at home, you are at home. Don’t tempt the brain by leaving your cellphone on or looking at e-mail while you are eating dinner. Louis Brown, chief executive of Brown Financial and a P.G.A. golf pro, said after Dr. Bugarski’s talk that he now sets a specific time to leave the office — it might be early or late but he no longer kept putting it off and making his wife wonder when he would be home. “My wife now knows that I might not be home until 8 p.m.,” he said, “but she also knows that when I get there, I am totally focused on the home. I don’t let myself try to do both or even 90 percent one and 10 percent the other.”

Here is the deal: Fast growth means all-in, 24/7 for the mission and success of the company. Balance is snake-oil that says it can all be pretty and nice. It can’t. But I think setting boundaries can help. I think boundaries are about bringing maturity and intelligence to the fast-growth life. Here is an example: You cannot make all of your child’s softball games, because you will be texting and taking calls during the games. But you can attend half the games and leave your phone in the car. Half the games you are all-in at work and half the games you are all-in at home.

Boundaries are trade-offs, and entrepreneurs are good at negotiating trade-offs. Balance is propaganda that sells well but is a cruel hoax that will continue to write tragedies.

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Myers is one of the local entrepreneurs who found happiness as well as hardship running a small business in a foundering economy. One Sandy Springs couple, Gail Smith and Randy Dempsey, turned brewing craft beer into a second source of income. Jaime Foster, who lives in Sandy Springs, left her job as a medical sales rep and used her grandfather’s almond butter recipe to launch a new career…

Read more at Buckhead Reporter

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A Gwinnett County site once proposed for Georgia’s first gambling complex could instead become the home of something very different: an education project aimed at training the region’s next wave of entrepreneurs.

Developers envision a $200 million “live-learn-play” project off I-85 that would combine an MBA school with housing, a sports complex, a film studio, office and retail space and a hotel. It would be one of the biggest mixed-use projects in recent years in metro….Read More at The AJC

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