Every person in the office will have a choice of 3 setups:
- A standing desk (~$200-$750) with a anti-fatigue comfort mat (~$20-$40). (more reading). For a look at a typical standing desk configuration, click here.
- An exercise ball (~$40) to sit on in lieu of a conventional chair. Research has found that exercise balls help build core stability muscles and, in turn, lower back pain and injury. We'll also get a ball base for each exercise ball, to prevent the balls rolling around loose. The cost for this combination is much less than a conventional office chair. We like the Trainerball, which has ball exercises printed directly on the ball. See 10 Reasons to Use an Exercise Ball as Your Chair.
- A conventional-seated office chair (~$150-$700).


We plan to encourage people to have multiple large computer screens at each desk, space and budget permitting. We will also encourage telephone headsets (~$90-250), which are more ergonomically sound than a standard telephone set up. Multiple computer screens increase productivity and efficiency.


We will also offer each person in the office an ergonomic keyboard. We suggest one of these, in ascending order of distance from a conventional keyboard:
- Goldtouch Adjustable Keyboard ($95)
- Kinesis Advantage Keyboard ($269)
- Datahand($995)


For a mouse, we really like the Designer Appliances E Quill AirO2bic mouse ($90). Another option for data input is dictation software and microphone, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking (~$50).


We also suggest people consider using:
- Hand grippers (~$15) for flexing during phone calls to relieve stress and improve grip strength.
- Wobble boards (~$55) for use when at a standing desk.
- Pedometers (~$20) or pedometer apps, for tracking miles walked per day. People wearing a pedometer walk about 27% more per day than people not wearing a pedometer.


Shoes
People in our office can wear whatever they want as long as they are reasonably modest and bathe regularly. (We do draw the line at nudists on the late shift .) We definitely do not want an office in which people feel pressure to wear any particular type of clothing, including but not limited to high heels or even low heels.


Personally, I like minimalist or 'barefoot-style' shoes. I particularly like the Sockwas ($50), which look like inconspicuous sneakers, and the Vibram Fivefingers ($83-92), which look like gecko feet, for training. However, we recognize that not all offices will be as tolerant of idiosyncratic footwear. When I'm in a fundraising meeting or other more conservative environment, I wear my Bally Pakos (style 6152604), which have the most comfortable minimal sole of any mens' business shoe I've found.


I'm impressed by Sergey Brin's aplomb; he has appeared at several conferences wearing his Vibram Fivefingers. As the old joke goes, the difference between crazy and eccentric is only a few million dollars.


Conference rooms and meetings

We are setting up three conference rooms: one with exercise balls as chairs (~$40-$150); one conference room with a standing conference table (~$950 on up) and anti-fatigue mats; and one conventional conference room with conventional office chairs. I've seen research that indicates standing meetings run much faster than sitting meetings.

In addition to the alternative conference rooms, when the New York weather allows and when a meeting topic doesn't require taking extensive notes, we will have walking meetings.

Office Setup

Given that social capital correlates with physical health (see Bowling Alone), we want to encourage people in the office to get to know one another. At the front of the office, we'll create an office map showing the names of our portfolio companies, and the photos of the employees that work at each.


Some other ideas we like, but can't execute in our office for logistical reasons:
- A shower, for people to clean up after jogging / biking to work.
- Pull-up bars (~$30), for periodic pull-ups/muscle-ups when you have an occasion. In our office most of the doorjambs are glass, but if we expand to another floor we may have the option of installing pull-up bars on doorjambs made of wood. New York startup Workmarket has a pullup machine right at the front of their office, with a list by it of the records set by different people who have visited the office.
- We also looked into treadmill desks (~$400-$2,000). The user walks slowly while talking to clients, writing proposals, checking email, or any other activity one would normally do at a desk. You could integrate ReRev into these treadmills; the company retrofits exercise equipment with a device that recycles excess energy created. At least for now, we've rejected this idea because of our concern about noise pollution.
- A nap room, for when our team just need a little rest.
- A corporate gym. In lieu of our own gym, we're going to investigate getting a corporate discount at a neighborhood gym.
- IdeaPaint has developed a new kind of paint that allows any wall to be used as a dry erase board. This new technology encourages more open dialogue and presentation at meetings as no one is isolated from the board, and is also very economical. We likely won't need this, because our conference rooms have glass walls.

Food and Snacks
In the holistic spirit of our initiative, we want to introduce healthy food options into our office environment when we serve food. Among the writers we like on this topic are John Durant of the Hunter-Gatherer Blog and Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. Both of them advocate for all-natural, unprocessed, healthier alternatives to the more common industrialized foods.


Here is a list of snacks that we think are consistent with our food philosophy and appropriate as hors d'oeuvres, for example, when we host our periodic invitation-only idea dinners:
- organic vegetables, e.g., edamame, avocados, carrots, celery
- organic fruit, both fresh and dried
- dips: guacamole, bean dips, hummus, organic sugar-free applesauce
- low-fat cottage cheese/yogurt
- mixed nuts, unsalted
- mini brown rice/sesame cakes, unsalted


One last idea that we have decided to integrate into the new office, which we believe will be very popular, is that we will serve free beer and/or red wine on Fridays. Studies suggest that light to moderate alcohol consumption can be quite healthy, particularly for the heart.


Travel
Because white collar work often involves travel, we are also encouraging our employees to adopt a fitness routine while on the road, since travel normally disrupts ones regular workout routine. We encourage our team to bring whatever equipment helps them to stay fit on the road, e.g., a travel workout kit.


Technology
As investors in early-stage technology companies, we are particularly interested in some of the new technologies that have emerged that promote fitness, and we'll promote their use. For example:
- Camspace, an ff portfolio company, allows everyday objects to control a computer's actions through use of standard web-cams. At the front of the office, in lieu of the classic Foosball table, we'll set up a Camspace game.
- BetterWorks offer large company group-buying for small businesses to take advantage of, for example, corporate gym discounts.
- Games / apps that promote fitness, e.g., Keas, Fitocracy, Runkeeper, Nexercise, etc. Some of these apps leverage game mechanics to promote fitness, and those game mechanics are particularly powerful if everyone in an office signs up for a given app.

More Radical Ideas

We have a lot of other ideas which are probably too radical for our office; these ideas might make some people uncomfortable. However, you might be able to use some of these ideas in your own home/office.
- A shoes-discouraged policy, perhaps with a shoe shelf (~$30-$300) at the office entrance. In most Japanese homes, no one wears shoes. Lloyd Blankfein, today CEO of Goldman Sachs, famously used to wear just his socks around the office. Victor Niederhoffer, a prominent trader, had a sign at the entrance to his Park Avenue office, saying, "Please remove your shoes."
- Squat toilets . These are extremely common in Asia, but highly unusual in the US. Squatting when going to the bathroom is significantly healthier than sitting on a conventional western toilet.
- Group morning exercises. Many Japanese workplaces start with a fixed set of morning calisthenics. However, we think this won't be well received in our working environment.


Rejected Ideas
We looked into a lot of other ideas not listed here, which we rejected as not being based on research/sound reasoning. One idea we looked into and had hear about was 'full spectrum lighting.' We had heard that this new technology, which tries to mimic natural sunlight, was supposed to enhance productivity. Ultimately, though, we rejected the idea as multiple studies found inconclusive evidence on its benefits.

We also considered adding air purifiers and ionizers, which remove pollen, dirt, dust particles, and allergens. However, a prominent study showed that such air purifiers often emit ozone which could be damaging to the human body, negating any real benefit. We decided against including them.

We looked into the new 2bU line of health-focused vending machines. The company's mission is to only provide "Organic, Gluten free, Vegan, Kosher, Locally produced, Performance driven, Allergen free" products. However, their products looked too processed for our preferences.


Next Steps
Winston Churchill said, "The Americans will always do the right thing... after they've exhausted all the alternatives." We've now reached the point that 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009; we're truly at the point of exhausting all alternatives. As my wife says, "The US doesn't have a debt problem; we have a healthcare problem."


The rebounding movement towards a healthier lifestyle will create significant investment opportunities, and we're actively looking for those that fit our portfolio, as well as those that benefit our team. Our investment in BetterWorks was in part driven by our belief in the importance of employee benefits in a tight labor market for highly qualified people.


We'd love your insights on what else we should put in the office---and what we should invest in!


Update: we've posted photos.

We thank Duncan MacDonald-Korth, Captain, University of Oregon Men's Tennis Team, for his help researching this blog post.

(Sergey Brin wearing Vibram Five Fingers photo courtesy Steve Jurvetson)

The Inside Numbers on the Job Market and the Impending Hiring War

How to Conduct the Perfect Interview

Understanding your cost to hire.

Employment Screening, beware and be aware

Social Network Recruiting - Beyond Employee Referrals

Turn disgruntled applicants into raving fans!

Finding Top Performers

Within private equity, these groups are often called "portfolio operations", sometimes "portfolio resources groups", or what Riverside Company calls its Toolkit. At larger funds, "operations" may be distinguished from governance, talent selection, pre-investment involvement, or even strategy, partly because "operations" is a term that management may infer to mean backseat driving.

By definition, these groups focus on improving the operations of the existing portfolio, not on diligencing potential deals or on deal structuring. Just a few of the many major private equity funds that have well-developed private equity operations groups: 3i (Business Leaders Network); Cerberus; Irving Place Capital; Bain Capital; TPG; General Atlantic; and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.

A Bain study found that "as much as 80% of private equity returns [going forward] will come from real performance improvement, rather than [ ] financial structuring." According to a 2006 KPMG study of 100 private equity exits (below), 48% of the value-add during private equity ownership came through organic revenue growth, as opposed to capital structure changes and multiple arbitrage.

Source of Gains in Private Equity-Backed Companies

I see six major reasons why limited partners now expect that private equity funds will have a formal operating strategy, minimally an operating partner and/or a formal portfolio resources group. I should mention my thinking throughout this blog post and especially in the list of factors below is shaped by a number of presentations I've seen by Jon Weber, who has run portfolio resources groups at three major private equity funds.

1) Global economic crisis. Particularly in 2008-09, most portfolio companies required operating changes to survive. In most cases, the existing management teams were hired for their ability to grow revenues, not their ability to restructure. The funds had to supplement and/or replace the existing teams.

2) Commoditization of financial engineering. The classic question Michael Jensen asked is: if leveraging is so wonderful, why don't companies do it themselves instead of waiting for an LBO fund to buy them out? Since Jensen first began researching this area, larger companies increasingly chose to lever themselves, and there has been a massive boom in the private equity industry---thousands of funds all of whom can offer leverage. It has become much harder for a private equity fund to make high returns simply by borrowing some money and taking advantage of the interest tax shield.

3) Investors seek differentiation. Building a formal portfolio resources group has been a way that private equity investors can differentiate themselves and ease the capital-raising process.

4) Maturing private equity industry. According to the Parthenon Group, the larger size and greater complexity of funds has led to greater role specialization. As one investor said to me, "We've moved from the 'great man' to the 'great team' model."

5) Risk mitigation. The deal team tends to have a strong incentive to do a deal, and then move on to the next deal. An operational perspective adds a counter-balance to the deal team.

6) Strategy driven. Certain strategies -- deep value investing, turnarounds, mid-market focus, and industry-specialized funds -- require a hands-on approach.

I remember speaking at a Capital Roundtable Private Equity Portfolio Operations conference back in June 2008, and I was struck at the number of attendees who commented publicly on how they felt like "second-class citizens" at their funds, both in status and in compensation. However, when I spoke at the IIR PE Ops conference in October 2009, in the midst of cleanup from the economic crisis, the mood of the operating professionals was much more buoyant (despite the challenges they faced in their portfolio.) On a relative basis, they knew that their professional contribution had become much more apparent at their firms.

We have not yet seen a similar boom in portfolio resources teams in the venture capital industry, but it's coming. I recently had a conversation with Chris Farmer about this, which sharpened my thinking considerably (he is the coauthor of my forthcoming study on "Best Practices in PE/VC Deal Origination"). According to the NVCA and PWC Moneytree, the average VC round has doubled in the last 12 years with the growth of the industry (from $4m to $8m). At the same time, the cost of starting a company and proving concept with a new product has declined dramatically in many sectors.

Some such as Marc Andreessen argue that costs have dropped as much as 100x over the last couple of decades since the current venture capital model was created. As a result, many innovative venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are creating new fund models from Andreessen-Horowitz to Betaworks to Founders Collective and Floodgate. Fred Wilson wrote, "The venture capital asset class does not scale . . . . I think 'back to the future' is the answer to most of the venture capital asset class problems. Less capital in the asset class, smaller fund sizes, smaller partnerships, smaller deals, and smaller exits. The math works as long as you don't put too many zeros on the end of the numbers you are working with."

A corollary of Fred's point is that the small number of portfolio companies which do hit hypergrowth need more support. Chris and I think that one logical new model is: seed a large number of companies with quite modest amounts of capital. Then, double down with follow-on rounds on those concepts that do take off. For those companies that experience rapid growth, it makes sense for a fund to bring extra support, since those companies can't hire good people fast enough to do everything they need to do. In addition, a portfolio resources group can share learnings across the portfolio. This is much easier in venture than in private equity, because VC funds are much more likely to specialize in tightly defined industries. In addition, the portfolio companies are smaller and so it's easier for a VC to shape their growth according to the fund's beliefs in best practices.

In the case of companies that do not reach hyper growth, the companies will have raised modest amounts of capital and can be sold for much smaller amounts while still resulting in a win for entrepreneur and VC alike. Of course, failing to provide a follow-on investment is a signal that can hurt the company, but that has always been a part of the business and we are confident that models will evolve to minimize the negative effects.

Here are some models of VCs Chris and I identified which are building out portfolio resources groups:

- Andreesen Horowitz has said very explicitly that their model is to be able to invest at a wide range of capital levels in the 10-20 companies per year which have true potential to scale. They have built out a small value augmentation group: Ronny Conway (point person on business development for the portfolio) and several recruiters (1 for college-level talent, and 1 for experienced talent).

- Insight has the "Insight Onsite team" which is particularly focused on sales, SEO, and SEM.

- Accel has a Venture Development group and firms like Oak Investment Partners and Bessemer have Operating Partners to lend added support to companies. Charles River Ventures had a similar approach during the bubble.

- Bessemer also has a Designer in residence (showing the increasing importance of design for internet companies, e.g., Mint.com).

- Highland Capital Partners, Union Square, and numerous others have "Thought Summits" with noteable guest speakers. These events usually are organized by portfolio functional role, e.g., a portfolio CTO summit, portfolio CEO summit, etc.

- As I mentioned above, Union Square Ventures announced that they are hiring a General Manager of their portfolio.

- There has been a boom in accelerators: Boostphase (Atlanta, GA); Bootup Labs (Vancouver, BC); Capitalfactory.com (Austin, TX); Charles River Ventures QuickStart (Boston, MA); DreamIT Ventures (Philadelphia, PA); Iaccelerator.org (Bangalore, India); Launchboxdigital.com (Washington, DC); Nextstart.org (Greenville, SC); seedcamp (London, UK); Shotputventures.com (Atlanta, GA); SeedStart (New York); Summer @ Highland (Lexington, MA and Menlo Park, CA); Techstars.org (Boston (MA), Boulder, CO, and Seattle, WA; The Difference Engine(Sunderland, UK); Y Combinator (Mountain View, CA); and Y Europe (Vienna, Austria). For more information on how to build a replica of Y Combinator, read Jed Christiansen. For a comparative listing and more background, see Readwriteweb and Dan Veltri. TechStars recently released very positive data on the success of their incubated companies.

This approach differs from the incubator and acceletor trend (e.g., cmgi, antFactory) of a decade ago. That model was often criticized for selection bias: the less-competent entrepreneurs found the incubators more attractive. In addition, too much of the core competency of the company was driven by the incubator instead of in the company itself, creating ambiguity in attribution of value between the two entities. The new model looks more like the VC as consigliere instead of a bacteria splitting off new progeny.

I've had a front-row seat to this phenomenon, since I've done a lot of work in the past with portfolio resources groups at some of the major private equity funds. I've presented in the past on "Finding New Deals and Improving Portfolio Company Valuations by Working with Operating Executives," which covers some of the structural options private equity funds have in working with their portfolio.

As usual, I'd welcome your feedback.

The heritage shows.  Speed of Trust is written in a very similar style to 7 Habits, and I mean that as praise.  It contains reasonable advice, based on the author's work with clients, and is seasoned with anecdotes from Stephen M.R.'s clients and family/personal life.  It discusses five 'waves'; thirteen 'behaviors'; and the four 'cores of credibility' that inspire trust.  I know management consultants are often mocked for their love of the numbered list, but there's a reason why they use it: it enhances recall for the reader.

Echoing Ronald Coase's argument for why firms exist in the first place, Stephen M.R. argues that a high-trust workplaces receive two main benefits: they get things done faster, and at a lower cost.  This certainly echos my own experience, both inside and between firms. 

What's particularly interesting to me, given my experience building Circle of Experts, is how economic capital can be used to substitute for social capital in building trust.  The whole power of an expert network is that it allows a customer to very rapidly open up a high-trust conversation with a source, without all of the lengthy relationship-building that historically was necessary.  This can reduce the amount of effort required to build trust.

I think that the book has a lot of wisdom and encourage you to take a look.

I hope you'll join me for Boosting Returns With Web 2.0 Technologies, a special 90-minute interactive webinar, July 23, 2009, at 12-1:30 Eastern; 11-12:30 Central; 10-11:30 Mountain;  9-10:30 Pacific.  It is hosted by Buyouts Conferences' Private Equity University.

UPDATE: Reuters Buyouts posted a summary of the panel.

Our panelists are

During this 90-minute online seminar you'll learn the following:

• The skinny on Gerson Lehrman, GuidePoint Global, Evalueserve Circle of Experts, DeMatteo Monness, Coleman Research Group and other expert networks--how to get the most out of them;
• What it takes to join and take advantage of the most popular gated communities for investors and executives, including sites such as ACG Network, Angelsoft, INMobile, and Albourne Village;
• How to use Web 2.0 services to perform background checks on managers, and to quickly identify and talk with customers, competitors and suppliers of target companies;
• Which leading professional and social networking sites to join to land introductions, keep tabs on colleagues, recruit executives, find co-investors and unearth opportunities for new transactions;
• How to use a blog to differentiate yourself and attract deal flow to you�instead of chasing after deals;
• How to easily and cheaply keep your contact management system up to date and exhaustive.
• How to optimize what people see when they Google your name

Register now and you'll get two special benefits: a complimentary PDF copy of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online, a book on how to find and close deals leveraging online technology; and a PDF copy of the exclusive slides from the Webinar.

Order a DVD.

How Operating CEOs Can Work with Private Equity Funds

Gain insight into how you can work with private equity funds at a private dinner.

Sponsors:
Castle Harlan (leading private equity fund, with $3 billion in cumulative assets managed)

CEO Trust (invitation-only group for CEOs of companies with over $50m revenues)

Date: July 14th, 2009, 5:45pm-9pm.
Program starts at 6:30pm

Location: Midtown Manhattan restaurant; location confirmed upon RSVP

Cost: complimentary

You can view a sneak preview of this presentation at http://teten.com/executive .

David Teten, our guest speaker, will discuss:

- Participating in brief paid interviews via expert networks

- Entering senior advisor networks

- Becoming a deal executives

- Joining private equity portfolio company boards

- Why operational expertise is now far more important for private equity portfolio companies

- How private equity ownership impacts a company.

- How you can use online networks and other ''social media'' internet technologies to increase the pool of private equity funds with whom you can work (and more generally to increase sales at your company).

David Teten is CEO of Teten Advisors (Teten.com), which advises private equity and venture capital funds on accelerating deal flow, portfolio company executive optimization, and due diligence.

David was most recently a Managing Director with Evalueserve, a global financial research and analytics company. Among its 1,100 clients are 6 of the top 10 investment banks and 10 of the top 15 strategy consulting firms. David was previously Founder and CEO of Circle of Experts, an expert network investment research firm acquired by Evalueserve. David was formerly Founder and CEO of Teten Recruiting, sold to Accolo, #42 on the 2007 Inc. 500 list. He was also formerly Founder and CEO of an investment bank focusing on serving the internet domain name asset class, which he built to 450 customers. He worked with Bear Stearns'' Investment Banking division as a member of their technology/defense mergers and acquisitions team, and was a strategy consultant with Mars & Co. David holds a Harvard MBA and a Yale BA, both with honors.

David is a frequent keynote speaker to technology and finance conferences. He has twice received the highest ratings of any speaker at a conference. He is the lead author of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online.

RSVP: Please note this event is only open to CEOs of companies or divisions with at least $50 million in revenues.

To register, send a short biography to Theresa Boyce, Chair, CEO Trust, tboyce(at)ceotrust.org , and cc David Teten, dteten(at)teten.com . For more information on the CEO Trust, see http://www.ceotrust.org/aboutus.html . The formal entrance criteria to the organization are at http://www.ceotrust.org/membership_requirments.html .

To learn what a Mastermind group is and how it works, continue reading...

Junto 2.0 DRAFT MasterMind Group Operating Manual

by David Teten and Kaushal B. Majmudar

Outline of Manual

I. Introduction

II. Objectives

III. Benefits

IV. How Does It Work?

V. Requirements for Entry

VI. Process for Joining

VII. Meeting Rules

VIII. Suggested Meeting Structure (Subject to Modification)

IX. Sample Meeting Topics

X. How to Exit

XI. Appendix 1: Ben Franklin's Junto Society

XII. Appendix 2: Thoughts on cooperation from George Lucas

XIII. About the Authors

I. Introduction

This is the draft operating Manual for "Junto 2.0", a MasterMind group based in the New York tri-state area.

David Teten and Kaushal B. Majmudar have been working together to create this new group.

Jo Condrill's definition of a Mastermind group: "A master-mind group consists of [a small team of] people who work together in absolute harmony to achieve diverse goals.

While these people work in harmony, they may be very different from each other.

The common element is that each draws something from the others, and each contributes freely to the group.

It is the focusing of each mind on a common issue that triggers thoughts not readily available to one mind.

Those in the group draw upon their unique experiences and specialized knowledge to help each other.

When many minds concentrate on a single point, the activity generates a power over and above the sum total of each of the individual minds.

It is as though an invisible force joins the group and provides additional insight.

Personally, I have used the master-mind concept with amazing results -- first to advance my career and later to lead a group of volunteers to achieve remarkable results, ranking number one in a worldwide organization, Toastmasters International. " (source) Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, is widely credited with popularizing the concept.

For more background, see also this summary from the "NYC Junto": http://www.nycjunto.com/whatisjunto.htm .

Our motivations in creating this group: primarily, to accelerate our success and personal efficacy in achieving our goals.

Anthony Robbins once remarked that only about 5% of his audiences actually acts to implement and benefit from any of his teachings on how to achieve personal and professional success.

Many books on success emphasize the value of creating a mastermind group (perhaps using some variant of the term). We decided to actually implement the idea that so many experts recommend.

We were also motivated by some bloggers who also are active in Mastermind groups, including the prolific Steve Rubel.

We are posting this manual on the Web in an attempt to gather constructive feedback and share the results of our brainstorming and collaboration with other likeminded individuals elsewhere in the world.

Everything herein is a work in process, and is thereby subject to discussion and modification as we receive feedback and as other members of the group provide input or suggestions.

II. Objectives

A. "Create access to advice, counsel, and personal cooperation of a group of people who are willing to lend each other wholehearted aid in a spirit of perfect harmony" (source: Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill)

B. Share best practices and resources

C. Work on self-awareness and self-improvement

D. Create synergies and new possibilities: "No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third invisible intangible force which may be likened to a third mind" (source)

III. Benefits

A. Accelerate your personal and professional progress

B. An instant and valuable support community of peers and friends

C. Give back to your peers and to society

IV. How Does It Work?

A. Monthly meeting to be held for 2 to 2.5 hours, typically over lunch or dinner

B. Absolute maximum of 10 members

C. Rotate facilitation -- each month has a new leader/note-taker for accountability

D. Occasional special training and learning sessions (possibly with invited speakers)

E. Group will meet in a mutually convenient place (can alternate geographically if to makes sense to do so)

F. Diversity of group is important. Strongly prefer representatives from diversity of occupations: entrepreneur, investment banker/asset manager, policy, legal, media, operating executive at large company, physician, politician, academic. We also strongly prefer diversity across race, religion, etc.

G. Use confidential Yahoo! Group for online communication

H. Democratic Process: everything about the group is subject to scrutiny, discussion and modification by vote of majority of members in the group.

V. Requirements for Entry

A. Nominated by existing member.

B. Within driving or commuting distance of group meeting locations (in our case in the New York Tri-state area).

C. Has a compatible current level of career and professional achievements and aspirations.

Some evidence of being a significant achiever in chosen field. Potential to be at the top of their chosen profession or business.

D. Thoughtful and analytical.

E. Has the desire and inspiration to make this year, decade, and life extraordinary. Has an "internal locus of control": knows  he/she  is ultimately responsible for his/her own success. Ready to let their desire to be passionate about their life and work overcome their fear of change.

F. Is an active listener. Responds well to, and acts on, feedback. Open-minded.

G. Wants to win based on values; has a greater purpose.

Cares about and wants to give back to their community and society

H. Realizes that cooperation is far more powerful than competition, i.e., people who are committed to helping others succeed.

Has an abundance mentality.

Understands and cares about what drives his/her partners' businesses.

I. Ideally, not working in the same industry as any current member, and with a significantly different personal background than every other current member.

J. Enthusiastic about participating with intent to actively participate in the group and attend meetings in person (commits to provide advanced notice to other members in case absence is unavoidable in a given instance)

VI. Process for Joining

A. Nominated by existing member of the group

B. Submit resume and statement of personal goals (1, 5, and 20 years)

C. Interview and approval by all existing group members

VII. Meeting Rules

A. Better to give than to receive (but the law of reciprocity works give that which you would like to get)

B. Try to emphasize solutions, encouragement and pointing out possibilities vs. focusing on problems, criticism, and pointing out hurdles

C. Share time, ideas, and best practices, but don't dominate

D. Listen actively and intently with a desire to understand. "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

(Source: Steven  Covey)

E. Maintain confidentiality.

No one outside the group (not even life partners/spouses) should have access to any information about what is discussed by other members of the group, particularly the personal information of individual members.

It is OK to share best practices and ideas that you have learned with others.

F. No putting down, arguing with, or directly contradicting other speakers. All discussions should be conducted "without fondness for dispute or desire of victory."

"All expressions of positiveness of opinion or direct contradiction are prohibited."(Source: Ben Franklin).

G. Mutual respect and supportive environment to be maintained at all times

VIII. Suggested Meeting Structure (Subject to Modification)

A. Brief (one to three minutes) check-in by each member.

Start with the best/most positive thing to happen since last meeting.

B. Book report by one member - distribute 1-2 page summary of book and lead discussion (15 to 20 minutes)

C. Person I admire report by one member distribute 1-2 page summary of person's life and what can be learned from him/her (15 to 20 minutes)

D. Update and ask.

Each person must state a goal they will have accomplished by the next month's meeting and review how they did on last month's goal.

Members can also share issues/problems they are currently grappling with and ask for help/suggestions from the group to unlock strategies, resources, etc. that might be helpful in overcoming these obstacles.

(5 minutes each) E. Free discussion time discuss one question or topic of the day (e.g. see questions below) (30 to 40 minutes)

F. Distribute notes/highlights from the meeting to those (rare members) not in attendance, but who are committed members of this group

IX. Sample Meeting Topics

A. What is the function by which we should measure our life's actions? Proposed formula: Maximize: (Power * Money * Health * Spiritual Growth * Community Impact * Family Strength * Friend Strength) / Age, subject to constraints of: ethics, law, and resources

B. Accountability Sessions (potentially a recurring topic): Each person to ask and answer the following questions: What are my most cherished goals for this coming decade, year, and month? What concrete steps have I taken to realize these goals? What are the steps that I should take, but have not yet done so to advance in the direction of my goals? Why have I not taken these steps and when do I commit to start? - group participants to ask and HONESTLY answer these questions once in a while in front of the entire group to encourage each of them to realize and take corrective action, but in a more self empowering and positive way than if it were to come in the form of critique from others.

C. Play the Game, a success technology developed by Sarano Kelley. D. Learning about Thinking Sessions/Thinking Partners (See book: Time to Think by Nancy Klein).

X. How to Exit

A. Member no longer wants to be a part of the group (voluntary exit).

B. Member fails to attend 2 meetings in a row without advance notice AND good cause.

C. Consistent failure to participate in or contribute to the group, as noted by one or more current members.

D. If there is a consensus among more than 66% of the members that you should not remain in the group for any reason.

XI. Appendix 1: Ben Franklin's Junto Society

Source: Ben Franklin's biography, by Walter Isaacson

"Ben Franklin was the consummate networker.

He liked to mix his civic life with his social one, and he merrily leveraged both to further his business life.

This approach was displayed when he formed a club of young workingmen in the fall of 1727, shortly after his return to Philadelphia that was commonly called the Leather Apron Club and officially dubbed The Junto.

Franklin's small club was composed of enterprising tradesmen and artisans, rather than the social elite who had their own fancier gentlemen's clubs.

At first the members went to a local tavern for their Friday evening meetings, but soon they were able to rent a house of their own.

There they discussed issues of the day, debated philosophical topics, devised schemes for self-improvement, and formed a network for the furtherance of their own careers.

Franklin's Junto initially had 12 young members.

Besides being amiable club mates, the Junto members often proved helpful to one another personally and professionally.

The tone Franklin set for Junto meetings was earnest.

Initiates were required to stand, lay their hand on their breast and answer properly four questions:

1.) Do you have disrespect for any current member?

2.) Do you love mankind in general regardless of religion or profession? (Editor: add race, for the modern context)

3.) Do you feel people should ever be punished because of their opinions?

4.) Do you love and pursue truth for its own sake? The pursuit of topics through soft Socratic inquiry became the preferred style of Junto meetings. Discussions were to be conducted without fondness for dispute or desire of victory.'

All expressions of positiveness of opinion or direct contradiction were prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.

Though the youngest member, Franklin was by dint of his intellectual charisma and conversational charm not only its founder but  driving force.

The topics discussed ranged from the scientific to the metaphysical.

E.g. Did importing indentured servants make America more prosperous? What is wisdom? In addition to such topics of debate, In Franklin's original Junto, the members used as a guide a series of 24 questions, such as:

1. Have you met with anything in the author you last read, remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the Junto, particularly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?

2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?

3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?

4. Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, and by what means?

5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?

6. Do you know of any fellow citizen who has lately done a worthy action deserving praise and imitation?

7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately heard; of imprudence, of passion, or of any other folly or vice? What happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of moderation, or of any other virtue?

8. Do you think of anything at present in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind?

9. Have you any weighty affairs in hand in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service? In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist of in any of your honorable designs?

10. What is the most interesting or unusual thing you have read, seen, or heard about in the last month? What is the most potentially dangerous or harmful? The most beneficial? The most significant for the people here today?

11. What can we learn from world events today? Has there been any notable failure or success, financial, political, or otherwise, from which we can gain insight and understanding?

12. Can a man or woman arrive at perfection in this life? What is the proper balance between idealism and pragmatism in our existence? (Franklin's own question)

13. How can we judge the goodness of art, music, drama or literature?

14. Is science compatible with religion? What is the appropriate role of religion in our lives, if any?

15. What is the most important political issue facing this country in the next five years?

16. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country of which it would be proper to move the legislature for an amendment?

17. Has anybody attacked your reputation lately and what can the Junto do toward securing it?

18. Is there any man whose friendship you want and which the Junto or any of them can procure for you?

19. Whom do you respect most? Why?

20. In what manner can the Junto or any of them assist you in any of your honorable designs?" Franklin was in turn influenced by Daniel Dafoe's essay "Friendly Societies" and John Locke's "Rules of a Society which Met Once A Week for the Improvement of Useful Knowledge"

XII. Appendix 2: Thoughts on cooperation from George Lucas

Source: interview at Academy of Achievement at www.achievement.org, in response to the following question: "You mentioned the words "communal" and "connecting."

Your generation of the top film makers all seem to be friends.

How did you band together in a field that is so competitive?" George Lucas: "I think that's the advantage that my generation has. When we were in film school and we were starting in the film business, the door was absolutely locked.

There was a very, very high wall, and nobody got in. All of us beggars and scroungers down at the front gate decided that if we didn't band together, we wouldn't survive.

If one could make it, that one would help all the others make it.

And we would continue to help each other.

So we banded together.

That's how the cavemen figured it out.

Any society starts that way.

Any society begins by realizing that together, by helping each other, you can survive better than if you fight each other and  compete with each other.

Farming cultures started this way, and the first hunting cultures started this way.

Everything started in city-states.

We have a tendency to lose it when we forget that, as a group, we are stronger than we are as individuals.

We start to think we want everything for ourselves and we don't want to help anybody else.

We want to succeed, but we don't want anybody else to succeed, because we want to be the winner.

Once you get that mentality -- which is unfortunately the way a lot of the society operates -- you lose.

You can't possibly win that way.

Part of the reason my friends and I became successful is that we were always helping each other.

If I got a job, I would help somebody else get a job.

If somebody got more successful than me, it was partly my success.

My success wasn't based on how I could push down everyone around me.

My success was based on how much I could push everybody up.

And eventually their success was the same way.

And in the process they pushed me up, and I pushed them up, and we kept doing that, and we still do that.

Even though we all have, in essence, competing companies, if my friends succeed, then everybody succeeds.

So that's the key to it, to have everybody succeed, not to gloat over somebody else's failure.

We continue to do that, and we do it with younger filmmakers.

There's no way of getting through any kind of endeavor without help from friends. And trying to be the number one person,  ultimately, is a losing proposition.

You need peers, you need people who are at the same level you are.

You never know in life when you're going to need help, and you never know who you're going to need it from.

One of the basic motifs in fairy tales is that you find the poor and unfortunate along the side of the road, and when they beg for help, if you give it to them, you end up succeeding.

If you don't give it to them, you end up being turned into a frog or something.

It's a concept that's been around for thousands of years.

It is even more necessary today, when people are more into their own aggrandizement than they are in helping other people.

I don't think there's anyone who's become successful who doesn't understand how important it is to be part of a larger community, to help other people in larger communities, to give back to the community."

XIII. About the Authors

David Teten is CEO of Nitron Advisors, an independent research firm that provides institutional investors with access to frontline industry experts.  He is coauthor of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online, the first mass market book on online networks and social software.   He runs TheVirtualHandshake.com resource site, co-writes a column for FastCompany.com, and writes a personal blog, Brain Food. David holds a Harvard MBA and a Yale BA.

Kaushal Majmudar, JD, CFA Kaushal is President and Portfolio Manager of The Ridgewood Group, a value oriented money management firm based in Short Hills, NJ, that runs managed accounts and hedge fund investments for individuals and institutions.  Kaushal was previously an investment banker at Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. He is co-author of "Create the Business Breakthrough You Want: Secrets and Strategies from the World's Greatest Mentors" and is working on his second book.Kaushal holds a JD with honors from Harvard Law School and a BS from Columbia University.