Medical ethics begins with the principle primum non nocere, Do No Harm. It’s the first rule of management too. Not because harm caused may or may not be worse than harm not prevented. But because it is so common for managers to do more harm than good. A recent study by Nielsen Co. found that […]
I started this blog a year ago today, on April Fool’s Day (by coincidence, I think), with a post on Managing Creativity. I published 70 posts last year, and when I reread them, I’m generally proud. Here’s what I learned this year: 1. Join the conversation The Good: This site’s 1st and 3rd most popular […]
I usually avoid politics — why lose or offend readers who agree with me on the blog’s core ideas but disagree with me on politics? But as I come closer to articulating this blog’s core ideas (more on that in a future post), I’ll take my chances that you’ll stay with me despite knowing my […]
George Washington never got the same respect from many intellectuals as some of the other Founding Fathers, but that tells us more about those intellectuals than it does about Washington. Washington was the central figure of the American Revolution, and I’m not only referring to the war, but also the fifteen critical years that followed. […]
Friends (if you’re reading this, that includes you), can you help me out with this? For my birthday, my wife bought me a consulting package from Beyond Blogging. Step 1 is “Finding your passion.” They write: “It’s essential for long term success to find a topic that you’re passionate about. … Here’s a quick test: […]
I guess it’s appropriate that I work in the search industry, because as I turn 40 I’ve decided that the search is a big chunk of the meaning, and the beauty, of life. I was an insufferable know-it-all when I was 20. I had life all figured out and had no patience for hypocrisy or […]
The key difference between people who analyze data and people who don’t is that people who analyze data know that they’re wrong 90% of the time, and people who don’t analyze data incorrectly assume that they’re right. Ideally analyzing data makes us humbler, more realistic, and more tolerant about others’ mistakes. It can also help […]
Yom Kippur is the climax of a 40 day period of self-evaluation and repentance. The period kicks into high gear with Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year, nine days earlier. The process suffers from some of the same challenges that we face as managers with annual performance evaluations. I hate this period, and I know […]
Fantastic piece the other day by David Brooks (welcome back, David!) on humility and the lack thereof (High-Five Nation). The Joe Wilson / Serena Williams / Kanye West fiascos provided the opening to a piece that highlighted how our attitudes towards war and foreign policy changed since World War 2. WW2 ended with the US […]
First let me admit that I didn’t consider myself a fan of Seth Godin. Maybe not his fault, but I was just annoyed by a bunch of Godin groupies that I felt over-simplified his ideas. Maybe it was all in my mind, but I felt I kept hearing Godin groupies telling me to think outside […]