Category: Leadership
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The Danger of Creating Contracts
Photo Credit: Nicholas A. Tonelli via Compfight My dad negotiated an exciting opportunity with one of his customers. It took only 6 pages to outline the basic structure of the deal. The prospect of moving forward together excited everyone. We all know the excited glow of a new relationship and new possibilities. They turned it…
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Building a Resilient Process
Over the last week, we’ve been moving into a new place — unpacking boxes so meticulously packed only a few weeks ago. We’ve collected boxes from various places over our moves and these two boxes tell us a story about process. U-Haul, the box on the right, has recently taken to stating that their box…
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Being A Trail Blazer
The glory of young men is their strength, And the splendor of old men is their gray head. -Proverbs 20:29 (NKJV) During my senior year of high school, I competed in the national qualifying tournament for debate. My partner and I were one of four remaining teams in the tournament, only two qualified. We really only had to win…
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The Power of Responsibility
The book Influencer tells the story of Delancy Street Foundation, a halfway house for people who are just out of jail that operates in the San Francisco Area. They have one of best success rates in helping violent offenders find more productive lives.They have several key techniques but one of the most important is that everyone…
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Work Theater
Meetings, the practical alternative to work This quote was on my boss’ mug that he made sure to bring to every meeting he attended. These kinds of silent protests worked well when we all sat in the same conference room to have a meeting, but as we’ve become more global, we call into all conference…
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The Quest for Something Concrete
Recently, I watched a rerun of The West Wing that showed the president right after his daughter had been kidnapped and safely returned. Shaken by the uncertainty of life, the President faces a number of ambiguous challenges, balancing complex relationships between a number of nations. In the midst of this, a series of tornadoes strikes…
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Bullsh*t vs. The 5th Amendment
Nothing has been scientifically proven to be more effective for headaches. – TV commercial Sure sounds better than reality: No scientific studies have ever compared this product to any other product. Modern marketing and politics play fancy free and foot loose with the truth. Spin is king. Harry G. Frankfurt wrote a small treatise on…
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Learning Empathy
“If you’re a 40-yr old mother who likes to run and also knows how to code well, please come talk to me after this discussion because I want to hire you.” Cheryl Kellond, founder of Bia, made the above appeal during a panel session last night titled Geeks vs. Suits. She explained that she highly doubted a…
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The Trails of Life
Everyday is like a hike – most of the time we stay on the trail, occasionally we forge new ones. The trails represent the how of living: paths that we have either created or were taught by those who came before us. But unlike the trails on the mountain, many of our own patterns of…
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Bending The Golden Rule
Sometimes we need to bend the golden rule — we should NOT treat others as we would want to be treated by them. The Golden Rule provides a simple heuristic for empathy. Our actions affect others usually in the same way that the action would affect us. This rule of thumb usually works pretty well,…