I’m not much of a gardener. The only green thumb I’ve ever been accused of having is when I’ve stuck it in pesto. I’ve noticed, however, that my efforts to have my lawn match my wife’s well cared for flowers are only rewarded when I combine the right amounts of enabling and prohibiting—the right conditions […]
“I have had lots of troubles in my life, most of which never happened.” —Mark Twain If I had a dollar for every time I worried about something that never occurred, I wouldn’t have Bill Gates’ fortune, but I might have a better wine cellar. It shouldn’t be surprising that a seasoned coach has his […]
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” —Richard Feynman, Nobel physicist I never took a physics class—not in high school or college or grad school. Hell, I couldn’t spell “physics”! So it’s amusing that I’m drawing lessons from people who work in quantum mechanics, nuclear fission, or […]
A commonly overlooked element of a highly functional team is shared fate. If you lose while I win, I can’t expect you to support my position. The objective may be clear (“Take that hill!”), but if I have a pile of money at the peak and you have a bag of rocks that you must […]
The strange dance between CEOs and their governing body (in my for-profit world, typically a board of directors) is interesting. Not quite swing, not quite polka — there’s often confusion about who’s leading, causing bruised toes. Over my many years of being on boards, working for boards as a CEO, coaching CEOs and working with […]
Do you have school age children? If not now, perhaps in the past? Do you remember those nights when your daughter or son—or perhaps both—had a boatload of homework, not just in one subject but in several on the same night? How did that work for you? If your household is anything like ours was […]
Satisfying needs is how you trade your stuff for money I’ve just scratched the surface in my quest to better understand Paul Romer’s insight into growth. Romer won the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences — shared the win, actually. One of Romer’s central themes is that resources are fixed and innovation is unlimited. […]
This is a picture of a monkey backpack my wife bought for one of our grandsons today at OfficeDepot. He’s not yet 1 year old, but as you can see, the backpack is quite small. It’ll probably hold a diaper or two and a tube of mushed pea baby food. It was on sale for […]
…the frightful rule of folly and chance.” –Nietzsche Nietzsche wrote this phrase while arguing for human “will” rather than happenstance or divine intervention to carry the day. Few would argue the notion that successful business requires good fortune, and many would argue that it benefits from divine intervention. I wouldn’t quarrel with either concept. One […]
It’s better to correct or prevent problems Organizational effectiveness doesn’t just show up in businesses. Driving across Wyoming on a recent vacation we saw a house that was held together with more bailing wire and braces than joists and concrete. You could almost see how it got that way. The porch started to sag so […]