Your scary future, Part 5; the necessity of a prepared mind
The future is about change; both dangerous discontinuity and positive permutation. The future is very complicated. The whole of it is greater than the sum [...]
Your scary future, Part 3: sense and sensibility
Listen for a word: absolutely (and its kin: exactly, precisely, of course, no doubt, without question, totally, undoubtedly, clearly, utterly). How often do you hear [...]
Your scary future, Part 2: what kind of problem do you have?
You have had problems. You currently have problems and you will have problems. Our world has always been characterized by some degree of uncertainty and [...]
Please, no more grandiose plans or ideas
I can hear you thinking (those of you who know me), "What about BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals) and 'big thinking' and even 'big ideas' [...]
How to use context for better decision making
A dear friend and mentor once told me, “Being a manager is easy: you make decisions. If you make a bad decision, you correct it [...]
Focus – just say no
Steve Jobs' biographer, Walter Issacson, tells how when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 the company was producing a "random array of computers computers and [...]
One question you should ask about next year
Have you noticed that things take time? Great things seem to take even longer. Nine months to get a child. Four years (+/-) to get [...]
Which questions best describe your view of customers?
Superficially, customer insight is "the collection, deployment and interpretation of information that allows a business to acquire, develop and retain their customers." "Superficially?" Yes. The pursuit [...]
Not much has changed
Recently, I reconnected with an old friend. A mutual friend had told me of the strife our friend had experienced over the past few years [...]
The Organizational Hunger Games
In the movie, The Hunger Games, North America has been destroyed by some unknown apocalyptic event and the nation of Panem exists in its place. [...]