CAPITAL NEWS
A Salute to Women in Business 2012
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Three entrepreneurial gamechanger books Advice about surviving tough economic times isn’t only cheap these days, it’s unavoidable. By now, most resourceful entrepreneurs have probably had their fill of being told to think outside the box. The problem is: How? Fortunately, two new books promote their own particular brand of outside-thebox innovation while a third, fast becoming a contemporary classic, dispenses with the box altogether.
ing or creatively rethinking basic skills like networking, experimenting, observing, and even asking questions. The Innovator’s DNA is, most of all, a primer on how to make positive associations. This includes everything from showing up at “idea conferences” like the now famous TED Talks to making sure you have a meal with someone from a different background at least once a week. “Thinking outside the box,” according to the upbeat Dyer, Gregersen, and Christensen, “often requires linking the ideas in your area of knowledge with those of others who play in different boxes.”
DISRUPTIVE INNOVATORS Of the new books, The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators gets straight to the point—to think differently, you have to act differently. In The Innovator’s DNA, authors Jeff Dyer, a professor of business strategy, Hal Gregersen, a leadership consultant, and Clayton M. Christensen, author of previous bestsellers The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution, have done their research on how the biggest names in entrepreneurship got their “big ideas.” Not surprisingly, they’ve succeeded by creative think-
GET LEANER Upbeat is not a word you’d associate with Eric Ries’s new book The Lean Start-Up: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Ries, an entrepreneur-inresidence at Harvard Business School and a popular business blogger (Startup Lessons Learned), has penned a bestselling guide to 21st century entrepreneurial discipline and efficiency that’s about as light-
hearted as a double-dip recession. Even though we are living through an “unprecedented worldwide entrepreneurial renaissance … this opportunity is laced with peril,” Ries warns. “We’re throwing our excess capacity around with wild abandon.” Ries sometimes relies too heavily on insider jargon to argue for the necessity of “creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” Even so, his main asset in The Lean Startup is his own experience staring down that uncertainty. His own failures, a few of which are chronicled in the book, taught him one essential lesson: get leaner. Ries is also a firm believer in the change of direction. Small businesses, in particular, have to be able to “pivot” when they find they’re headed down the wrong path. In this century, Ries writes, “we have the capacity to build almost anything we imagine. The big question is not can it be built, but rather should it be built?
Local women’s business support groups Kelowna Chapter of Canadian Federation of University Women 250-766-6808 Box 21168 , Kelowna, B.C. V1Y 9N8 Founded in 1919, The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), is a voluntary, non-profit, self-funded bilingual organization of over 10,000 women university graduates. CFUW/FCFDU members are active in public affairs, working to raise the social, economic and legal status of women, as well as to improve education, the environment, peace, justice and human rights.
CONNECT Kelowna 250-712-0508 CONNECT is a rapidly expanding businesswomen’s networking and referral group located in Kelowna, British Columbia, offering exclusivity to one representative from each type of business. Membership in CONNECT offers the opportunity to each member to receive referrals from other members, to promote their business through our “businesscard box” and to promote their business through CONNECT promotional events.
That is, coincidentally, the same kind of question Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia Inc., repeatedly asks himself in his book, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman. “I’ve been a businessman for almost 50 years,” Chouinard says by way of an introduction. “It’s as difficult for me to say those words as it is for someone to admit being an alcoholic or a lawyer.” Let My People Go Surfing was first published in 2005, but Chouinard’s blend of philosophical musings on everything from product design to environmental responsibility makes this book feel brand new. Born in Maine, the son
For the past 30 years, Gloria Peitsch has turned her dream into reality!
their sales to environmental causes. In the end, Let My People Go Surfing stands as an authentic blueprint for growing a business outside the box. *** Books referred to in this article: * The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen (Harvard Business Review Press, 296 pp, $29.95). * The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Ries (Crown Business, 320 pp, $30.00). * Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (Penguin Books, 258 pp, $18.50).
Kathy Wiebe Rosebuds is a lovely, large designer consignment boutique located on Kirschner Road in Kelowna that has been serving the Kelowna area for the past 23 years. Rosebuds carries about 30% new at any given time, and prices are often discounted up to 75% off regular retail. Many that come in say Rosebuds has the look and feel of a Los Angeles Boutique. Kathy laughs and replies that is the exact look and feel we are moving towards. We believe every woman can afford to look beautiful. Everything from prom and party dresses, to Lululemon workout wear and most everything in between. We specialize in higher end labels but at lower end prices. We have many regular shoppers that call us their “retail therapy” but we always have room for lots more new friends. In these troubled times consignment shopping can be a day full of fun and adventure. You never know what you are going to find so fill up your car with your friends and stop in and meet the friendly staff at Rosebuds Designer Consignment Boutique. We are here to serve you. NEW at Rosebuds. Designer inventory buyouts - selling at consignment prices. Don’t know what to wear or how to wear it? Book an appointment for a fashion consultation! Private Shopping Parties. Some estate services available. Cinderella Fund - for students aged 18 to 88. Forms available at the store or on-line.
Designer Consignment Boutique
150-1855 Kirschner Rd., Kelowna 250-861-1911 Open Mon-Fri 10-5:30 • Sat 10-5 • Sun 12-4
www.rosebudsconsignment.com
Gloria Peitsch In 1982, Gloria Peitsch, the owner of Park Boulevard Fashions had a dream. That dream was to offer Kelowna a unique fashion experience with service as her primary concern.
of a Quebecois handyman, Chouinard moved to California as a child and grew up to be an expert rock climber. Patagonia had its origins in the climbing equipment Chouinard developed for himself and friends. Eventually, Patagonia expanded from selling outdoor gear to clothing, introducing rugby shirts and coloured sweatshirts to the sportswear market. Of course, the more successful he became the more he worried. In fact, it has been Chouinard’s reluctance about being a businessman that has propelled him to introduce initiatives like “one per cent for the planet,” which has seen Patagonia forge an alliance of businesses dedicated to donating at least one per cent of
RELUCTANT JOURNEY
Elvira Brunner Aft moving from Switzerland to Revelstoke in 2009, Daniel Weber After an Elvira Brunner opened the first Canadian CRESCENDO store and in October of the same year. W the great success of the Revelstoke location, Daniel and With Elvira opened the second CRESCENDO store in November of 2011 within the Mission Park Mall.
Refresh yourself and let Park Boulevard’s experienced fashion consultants help create a new look for you in 2012.
We offer over 40 cask-aged balsamic vinegars, award-winning fruit vinegars and exquisite oils directly from the cask. We sell all our products in a variety of quantities and dispense them into any of our great selection of traditional bottles. Our collection, with over 60 exquisite herbs and spices, include gourmet salts and peppers, chilies, fine herbs and seasonings from all over the world.
The difference between dressed and well dressed is Park Boulevard Fashions, where the cappuccino bar is always open.
Customers can also select specific wellness oil according to their individual needs with our one-of-a-kind skin care products that have a high percentage of fresh oil without preservatives.
Park Boulevard Fashions offers exclusive designer fashions from around the world in an atmosphere like no other!
PB
Park Boulevard Fashions Ltd. 1771 Cooper Rd / at Enterprise Way Kelowna, BC (250) 860-1240 info@parkboulevard.ca / www.parkboulevard.ca
Unlike other specialty shops, CRESCENDO not only allows, but also encourages, visitors to savor all of the unique offerings found within. CRESCENDO is a store where licking the spoon is encouraged!
CENDO
C RE S
THE SYMPHONY OF TASTE
3155 Lakeshore Road 250-868-8628 www.crescendocanada.com