January 27, 2019
Why a Culture of Innovation is the Only Path to Sustainable Growth and Success
You've fine-tuned your
processes, extracted every drop of cost from the system, and are meeting basic
customer needs. In the previous era of business, strict managerial...
January 21, 2019
The 14 Rules of History-Making Teams
It's often been said that "culture eats strategy for breakfast." The notion is that the belief system - or core operating principles - of an organization are what matters most...
January 13, 2019
Lady Gaga's First Song; Picasso's First Painting
At the age of four, Lady Gaga wasn't bringing down the house for 30,000 roaring fans. In fact, Stefani Germanotta didn't even become the Gaga we know until she'd studied and...
December 30, 2018
Skip the Resolution; Go With a New Year's Theme instead
The last week of December marks the creation of uncountable New Year's resolutions. By the end of next month, however, the vast majority will be broken. So many of us resolve to...
December 16, 2018
The Tyranny of Good Enough
Your chicken salad sandwich wasn't bad, really. It was 'good enough.' The service wasn't speedy, but also wasn't horribly slow. It was just good enough. The environment was a...
December 02, 2018
The Power of Surprise and Delight
Following the polite knock on my hotel room door, I was stunned. "Just a little something to welcome you to our hotel," said the smiling and well-appointed young man as he...
November 25, 2018
Heads Down vs. Heads Up
We've all heard people in the business world proclaim that they are "heads down" on a project. Or that they are unable to explore new opportunities since they are "heads down in...
November 18, 2018
Setbacks: Game Over or Game On?
What do Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger, and Jeff Bezos have in common? They are all incredibly successful, true, but they also have each suffered more than their share of...
November 11, 2018
A Simple Approach to Boost the Appeal of Your Product or Service
If you have a burning headache, you'll do whatever it takes to subdue it. If it's 3:00 am on a cold, snowy night and you are out of pain killers, you'll bundle up, drive to a...
November 04, 2018
What's Your Firebird?
In 1953, a team of the most creative designers and engineers at General Motors set out to make history. Their task: invent the prototype car of the future. Unlike their...
October 22, 2018
Metrics That That Matter
With our national focus on productivity and financial gain, we carefully measure Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other metrics related to our economic outputs. Yet as our...
October 14, 2018
We've Been Banksy'd
The demure art world felt shockwaves over the last week as the dramatic news broke. The mysterious street artist known as Banksy made history when his painted work...