Of course the announcement of the beginning of Spring brings out all of that amorphous stuff about rebirth, awakening and new growth.  For me, after all of these springs, I'm sure that those touchy feelings also exist somewhere neatly filed in some dusty corner of my brain right alongside my desire to look for the first robin.  Not really !

Spring for me started last Friday late afternoon when, after 2.5 hours of 152 miles between Tufts and Vermont rarely letting the Outback run below 50 and more speeding along at 80, I came to the last 1.1 miles at the beginning of my dirt road.  Except there wasn't any real dirt left since it had been replaced with deep oozing, thicker-than-thick, tire-grabbing, Subaru-twisting, only-in-Vermont mud.  With the Outback bottoming out on the ruts when I could find a tiny landing strip of dirt from what used to be the road, we're not talkin' Boston or NYC "muddy" here! 

We're talkin'...

• ...might-be-better-to-just-leave-the-car-here-and-walk-Vermont mud
• ...30 minute trip for 1.1 miles Vermont mud
• ...blogging mud; it just don't get deeper than that!
  
  

I love the Spring!  I didn't need to wait until 5:38 PM EDT two days ago on the 20th!  Spring for me is not a time or a date.  It's just a wicked busy time layered up one activity on top of another with my own itching desire to jump into the NH gardens and root around in the dirt.  And, at some time in early May, when the lingering snow has finally burned out of the woods, I'll take the ATV up into my Vermont woodlot  to clean out the winta' debris and begin the annual task of cutting firewood for next season.  

This particular spring brings with it the excitement of...

• The Tufts $100K New Ventures Competition on April 5th.  After months reviewing a record number of applications and working through numerous judging and coaching events, 18 teams covering three tracks of General Technology, Social Impact and MedTech/Life Science will vie for six final awards.  The reality, of course, is that everyone is already a winner from the students, alums and professors who participate to the experienced coaches who provide guidance,  Our mission is to make sure that no one fails, and that we jump off the edge of the cliff together guiding these grassroots entrepreneurs with extraordinary ideas and vision through the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship!   If you decide to attend what is Tufts' biggest event on campus outside athletics and graduation, make sure that you hunt me down me and say hello !
•  The start of Q2 in our businesses is always for me the most important quarter of any year!  After working through Q1, we know the positives, and, in fact, the negatives of what works and what doesn't.  We've probably made the tough decisions to change out a couple of players on the team since we realize that if we don't do it now, nothing ever gets better by itself, and we have a business to run whether it's a for-profit corporation or a not-for-profit social enterprise.  
• Which brings us to the most important fundamental that needs to take place during this season of the spring, which is a strong commitment to ourselves as students, as entrepreneurs, as sales professionals and as business managers to take our current level of training, education and basic improvement in ourselves to the next level of learning and not get stuck in the mud.  Again, the fundamental rule that "Nothing ever gets better by itself" means that we need to push ourselves to move ahead.  
  
  1. In fact, that's what's happening in the Tufts $100K in a week, not just for the entrepreneurs, but for me and for all of the coaches who work with these hundreds of very bright, highly committed-but inexperienced-men and women and guide them, and ourselves, through new levels of awareness and learning.  
  
  2.  In fact, that's what happens with the reality of the Q1 metric scoring that is just taking place right now.  How did I and my team do against whatever?  Sales quota, development timelines, or hiring requirements since if we're not measuring our own performance and looking to improve, then we're trying to play tennis without a net.  Might just find ourselves out of breath and feel hot and sweaty, but the reality is that we just might be running around in circles.
  
  3.  In fact, that's what happens at our upcoming   Sales Management Productivity Boot Camp in mid-June!
  
  Between the end-of-the-day working dinner over case studies on June 16th and mid-afternoon on June 18th. Designed for sales managers at any level, this always-sold-out intense experience is specifically customized to maximize your and your team's performance so that you beat your 2020 Quota!
  Too many details to cover here plus most of the outline is on the site so just click on above.  Much better to just connect directly with me, at jack.derby@tufts.edu, and we can set up a 10-minute call to judge fit and answer all your questions. 
  After many years of doing this with now more than 1,000 sales managers, presidents and CEO's, we just simply guarantee results!

Enjoy what looks like a rainy day in the city and yet another 12 inches of snow in Vermont!

 Please stay connected!

Jack Derby, Director, TEC-Tufts Entrepreneurship Center
Cummings Family Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship
Spark-Incubate-Accelerate@Tufts
Come to our Events
Cell:  617-504-4222 jack.derby@tufts.edu  

Advisor, Derby Management, experts in-
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