Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Want to know which buyers are getting a great deal--and, who's getting stiffed?

An employee's questionable Facebook post leaves one CEO wondering how to react.

So, do yourself, and your business, a favor: Abandon the corner office and slip into the shoes of your receptionist for a day. It's my belief that you can't truly understand your business unless you've experienced it from the ground up. While you may pore over profit-and-loss statements, immerse yourself in the interview process, and personally lead the sales and marketing efforts, you haven't done a damn thing if you haven't worked at your reception desk for a full day.

For American makers on the hunt, the landscape of funding is lean and treacherous. Here are some helpful ideas to take you to the next level.

Venture capitalists, corporations, private-equity firms, and more poured billions into private companies this year--a huge boon for titans like Facebook and Groupon. Here, the best of the rest starting 2012 with supersize bankrolls

How do you make everyone happy in a creative project with multiple constituencies? You can't. And trying to please everyone will result in a mediocre outcome.

The most successful owners, like the best athletes, know there's no reaching the top. There's only working harder and learning faster than the next guy. “Practice makes perfect” is not true

Breaking news on the innovation from, updated all day by Fast Company editors.

Some sales stars are master manipulators who can rack up big numbers--but at the cost of long-term growth. I recently read a blog post giving the following characteristics of “quota-crushing sales pros”: “They have no time for anything that is not their deal.” “Charming one minute, in-your-face the next, pros will use all emotional tools to win.” “They save the charm for the prospects and clients and the venom for your company.” “They’re never satisfied … ever.” This list was presented as if these were desirable characteristics, justified by the fact that such individuals could consistently “crush” their quotas, presumably making them more productive than their peers. Unfortunately, the presence of this kind of person on your sales team is generally a huge mistake

%excerpt% Original post: The Value of the Designer Who Codes

When you sell to people you truly can't stand, you make yourself less effective and hurt your sales growth. For the past week—the first I’ve had off since February 2007—I’ve been trying to decide how to best start out the new year

As 2011 winds to a close and 2012 begins, we do a little bit of Fast Company drumbeating. We predict a lot of stuff around here. Sometimes we're wrong.

We wrote about a lot of machines in 2011. Here are the best of our future (dancing!) robot overlords. Robo Profs One of the most impressive, and perhaps most challenging developments in robotics (because it treads very close indeed to sensitivities about artificial people) is demonstrated by the Geminoid line--a group of highly advanced puppets that have been designed to replicate their human model right down to hair color, eye movements, and shrugs

Media darlings and mavens of masterful storytelling who took center stage with aplomb in 2011. Welcome to Part 2 of my annual list of who’s been naughty and who's been nice as a speaker or communicator. This week, the winners

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day. Letter That Ousted HP CEO Now Public . The eight-page letter that accused Mark Hurd, then CEO of Hewlett-Packard, of sexually harassing an employee, is now public.