Bernardo Provenzano, Sicilian Mafia boss, arriving at a police station in Palermo. Photograph: Reuters.

Ok, something different from the surfing efforts of our videographer extraordinaire Ben Z. Cooper. While we certainly don’t endorse doing business like the mafia, their management approach is effective and How to do business like the Mafia does make interesting reading here.

Another interesting resource that Ben dug up was Mathew Makai’s blog with a number of interesting blogs and links on entrepreneurship. Best of all, Mathew quotes the following inspirational passage for those stuck in their dayjobs.

“One day you realize that you only have x days on this earth and y of them are already gone.

You don’t want to waste any more of your remaining (x-y) days refactoring the same poorly written crap for the eighth time, answering the same 84 inane emails, drinking the same lousy coffee, looking at your watch through another pointless walk-through meeting, and listening to the idiotic pontifications of a boss who you would never talk to in a million years if you weren’t here.

You know you can do better. You know you have it in you. You know you can make a difference. Then you know you have to. So you get out your calculator, work your finances, and when you have it all figured out, you turn in your notice and enjoy the best day of your life.“

- edw519 at YCombinator Hacker News

In January 2006, Mike Desjardins Driver of ViRTUS, was the recipient of the BIV Top Forty Under 40 Award. This makes him well qualified to offer us three points to assess our leadership skills.

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Cori Maedel believes in superabundance and that is what inspired her to call her company, Jouta.

The Jouta Performance Group has two primary offerings: HR and leadership training. Jouta will become your HR department, and give you access to all levels of experience and expertise. Their goal is to bring out the best in a company by bringing out the best in its employees. The leadership training program is called Kokoro(e). Cori developed it to tap into all the potential you and your organization have buried. One of the core values touts that personal growth translates into professional growth.

In Cori’s interview she discusses the principles of respect and how this leads you to success oh. . . and there is a funny little story about rubber duckies.

See another interview with Cori about image and going pro.

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Our own Shannon Kaplun has sourced out a number of resources aimed specifically at women. Here’s a taste of what she’s recommended thus far.

There’s A Business in Every Woman: A 7-Step Guide to Discovering, Starting and Building the Business of Your Dreams, by Ann M. Holmes.

Ladies Who Launch: Embracing Entrepreneurship and Creativity as a Lifestyle, by Victoria Colligan, et al.

Women’s Portal