Hugh Molotsi

This article first appeared on the Lean Startup Co. blog . Last year, I wrote how the  innovators at Intuit became BFFs with the Legal team . While most people expect company lawyers to impede innovation, it turns out they can be invaluable partners in developing truly innovative solutions. A lawyer with the right mindset  – one where the main job isn’t actually about reducing risk, but instead in helping the company grow – can be a tremendous asset in finding ways to bring prudent ideas to life, and don’t create untenable legal exposure. At Intuit, we called this mindset “Getting to Yes.” When a group of employees comes up with a promising idea that might create several problems for the company, instead of a knee-jerk “No!” reaction, the innovation-minded lawyer uses her legal expertise to help identify alternative approaches that mitigate or eliminate the problems, while achieving the same desired outcome. And it’s not just lawyers who can be invaluable members ...

We had the pleasure today of visiting one of All Star Code's Summer Intensive cohorts at the MLB Advanced Media office in Chelsea Market, New York. In the Summer Intensive six-week program, high school boys are taught computer programming and life skills. All Star Code creates economic opportunity by developing a new generation of entrepreneurs who have the tools they need to succeed in technology. I'm proud to support the organization and serve on its board. Here are some photos from today: We got to watch the students make progress working on their personal websites. All Star Code teaches students to celebrates failure but hustle with passion towards success. This is the "Fail Wall" where students share what they failed at. Instructor  Victor Ramirez and Director of Programs Machi Davis . My wife Michelle with Teaching Assistant Michael Emefele and Curriculum Manager Mahdi Shadkamfarrokhi Adobe's Cass Taylor , his wife  Schantae, ...

Watch my interview with Jim Cook, Mozilla's CFO, where he describes the lean experiments he led during the early days of Netflix. Great startup lessons! Follow @hughmolotsi

Today’s developed nations attained their economic status by riding the wave of industrialization that began with the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18 th century where workers moved from farms to factories. According to conventional wisdom, the path for today’s developing nations to grow their economies and increase per-capita-income is to follow a similar pattern of industrialization. That’s why most economic development programs for developing countries involve large capital projects and luring large multinational corporations to build factories on their soil. In fact, countries like China, South Korea, and Brazil made significant economic gains in the second half of the 20 th century by embracing industrialization. However, in the 21 st century, we are witnessing the shrinking of manufacturing jobs across the globe. Between 2000 and 2010, the US lost 5.6M manufacturing jobs and according to the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State, 85%...

I had the honor of being interviewed by Matthew Sullivan for his Hooked on Startups podcast.

This post was first published on LinkedIn . Congratulations! You’ve just been placed at the helm of the company. Your years of hard work and accomplishments have been rewarded with this awesome new responsibility. Enjoy the moment but don’t spend too much time celebrating. There is much work to do and expectations are high. Your employees and shareholders are expecting you to drive growth and are looking to you for immediate answers. So what’s your next move? For inspiration, you might be looking at Steve Jobs’ triumphant return to Apple in 1997. At the time, it would be putting it nicely to say Apple was in the doldrums. The company was operating at a loss. Microsoft Windows was dominant. And to add insult to injury, Michael Dell when asked what he would do if he was running Apple said “I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders”. But that’s not what Jobs did. He started a period of spectacular growth by introducing a stream of innovative new products. I...