Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’
Read All About It
I had the pleasure of attending the Lyric production of “Newsies” Saturday night. Loosely based on the New York City Newsboys’ Strike of 1899, Newsies tells the story of young newspaper sellers who are exploited beyond reason by their bosses and set out to enact change. After forming a “union” and calling a strike, the…
Read MoreWhite Water
We just got back from our annual trek to Colorado. For me, the time we spend there each year is an important opportunity to unplug from my responsibilities at work. I love the mountains and being there helps me recharge so I can come back refreshed. As leaders, it is vital that we take time…
Read MoreIs A Puzzlement!
My favorite form of entertainment is musical theatre. I love to see musicals live, but also enjoy the movie versions. Near the top of my list of favorites is The King and I. The ever prim and proper Anna Leonowens has come to Siam to be the governess of the children of King Mongkut. The…
Read MoreDon’t Panic
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy tells us that “A towel is just about the most massively useful thing any interstellar hitchhiker can carry. Partly it has great practical value…. more importantly, a towel has immense psychological value.” We just got new towels. New towels are marvelous things. They are soft, fluffy and luxurious. The…
Read MoreThe Oldest Story In The World
I recently had breakfast with a good friend, Ken Parker, who is the Founder and CEO of NextThought. Ken brought breakfast tacos to the office and we sat in a conference room and ate as we talked. I love talking to Ken. He tells stories. On this particular morning he was telling me the story…
Read MoreI Doubt It
There is a pervasive untruth that is foisted upon us early in life and then reinforced at every turn. We hear it when we try-out for sports or take tests to get into school. We hear it when we interview for our first, or second, or twentieth job. We hear it every time we make…
Read MoreNatural Born Leader
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. Ralph Nader I used to tell people that I was born to be an engineer. It seemed to me that the ease with which I learned math and mechanics, my ability to visualize and design, and the speed at which I could do…
Read MoreWhen Will We Learn?
I watched a very interesting documentary recently. “Lesson Plan” (2011) is about a one-week experiment in a high school class at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, in 1967. The teacher, Ron Jones, decided to answer the question, “How could the people in Germany go along with the holocaust?” in a very unique way.…
Read MoreLimits of Power
I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “David & Goliath.” I know, it came out several years ago. So, I’m a little behind on my reading pile. Nevertheless, I found the book fascinating. Gladwell knits together several stories about very different people and circumstances to define a thesis: there is an inverted curve function when it…
Read MoreNot My Problem
The story of the Good Samaritan is fairly well known, but in case you don’t know it let me recap. Dude makes decision to cut through bad part of town, alone, with valuable things on his person. Predictably, he is rolled by the bad guys and left for dead. Several people pass by him without…
Read More