Thinking of situations from different points of view can be a humorous and empathy-building activity. It can also bring up good topics for your next barbeque.

Despite my disdain for bureaucracies, I'm a firm believer in leadership. So, I could only shake my head when I read a piece of utopian nonsense called, "Imagine a company with no leaders - I mean NO leaders!" I don't doubt the author is a good guy. And his post starts...

Physical, mental, financial, and emotional work goes into creating new life — the beauty and awe doesn’t come effortlessly.

In the first post on this topic, as indications of our growing dependency on being told what to do — and as evidence of the rampant proliferation of public nuisances who are only too happy to tell us what to do — I cited Exhibits A through C. As a public service, I...

We’ve been in conference season for a few months now. I’m sure if you spend any time on social media, you’ve likely read all of this year’s hashtags.

Because we work with a number of companies that sell software and services to the insurance industry, we hear all kinds of things. Some of them are understandable enough. They're fair, balanced, and reasonable. Some of the other things we hear? Not so much. They range...

When you think of the color blue, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it the smell of fresh linens blowing in the breeze? Perhaps the memory of your last visit to the beach, the blue water pulsing closer and closer with each incoming wave.

If you weren't paying attention during the last days of April, you missed much, most of which was a dizzying blur of inconsequential nonsense. This is just a random sampling of the gratuitous junk that made it into the headlines: North and South Korea met for some...

She picked out your clothes and loves bragging about your life’s accomplishments. But mom may not be the right person to consult about business endeavors.

There's a well-worn axiom, particularly in the worlds of business and politics, that goes like this: "Never believe anything until it's officially denied." I'd like to propose a corollary, pertaining to the predilection, particularly in the worlds of...

Memorial Day is a U.S. federal holiday for remembering the men and women who lost their lives during their military service. It’s not a holiday meant for celebration. It’s a holiday for remembrance. A holiday to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) would like you to know that, in the world of business, feelings are more important than results. That's right. In a world in which we award participation trophies just for showing up, it's more important to make sure people are happy,...

In a blog post I published a few weeks ago, I wrote this: Once the organization — any organization — is large enough, no one needs to care about anything. Executive functions (making policy) are separated from work (conducting the activities that generate the...

Whether you are trolling social media, sitting at the dinner table with your extended family, or trying to identify fault and resolution with a client or co-worker, you may find yourself dealing with an inevitable argument. Arguments can happen in every aspect of our lives, every day.

Given the esteemed stature and hallowed reputation of this publication (to say nothing of its author), I was granted an exclusive interview with Albert Murfwhiffle, chief technology officer (CTO) at OmniTotal Megasystems. Al (that's Al, short for Albert, not AI, short...

Social Media has been around for about 21 years. Most technological historians agree the first social media platform was Six Degrees in 1997. During its double-decade reign, social media has infiltrated our lives and changed the way we communicate.

A few months ago, my colleague and LinkedIn connection, Nick Sternberg, posted this: Genuinely afraid for the masses of workers who won't be able to find work in the next few years due to contracting economic conditions and more efficient and automated workforces. But...

More than 30 years ago, when I was but a newbie in what turned out to be my last corporate gig (thank God), I worked for one particularly inept Vice President in the proverbial Home Office. One of the VP's responsibilities was for the national sales organization,...

Have you ever participated in a conversation with a rambler? You know the lady – Becky Babbles – who can go from one topic to another without allowing others in the circle to speak. At times she poses valid theories and ideas. Sometimes she spews pure nonsense.

In January, a gentleman who's one of my LinkedIn connections and whose thinking I admire greatly, published an article that gave me pause. It was called, "4 Customer Experience Trends and Predictions for 2018". I wanted to take it at face value and believe every word...

Theory of Mind (ToM) is an ability that humans develop in their early lives that allows them to understand others and to fully function in our social society. Several cognitive skills are required to be able to be so fully functional.

Enough already with ageism. I may be insensitive. But I'm not young. And ageism is just another card played from the ever-growing deck of victimhood. It's another special interest. It's childish and irresponsible because this is its underlying message: It's not my...

I am sure you can understand the feeling — the first time you were given a key to close the building, dropping off a large cash deposit, logging into the back end of your website, or being left alone with your baby for the first time.

This past weekend, my wife and I had the opportunity to flee the confines of Connecticut for the pampering peace of the Woodstock Inn & Resort in Woodstock, Vermont. As we drove north on I-91 Friday afternoon, we encountered flourishing fusillades of flying...

I was recently involved in a LinkedIn thread in which digital transformation was being discussed. Since I don't understand what digital transformation means — and since I didn't get the sense from any of the other comments in the thread that any of the other...

Specific colors can evoke specific feelings, just as specific words can evoke specific feelings. How does the word punch make you feel? Or herpetology? Or moist? Some words may even make you feel uncomfortable when they are meant as complimentary.

We have to wonder at the pandemic extent to which our gullibility is running rampant when even the Easter Bunny falls for the notion that we might actually celebrate Easter on April Fool's Day. We have to wonder. But we can't be surprised. Consider just two examples:...

Sales and marketing go hand in hand. Being on the marketing side of this equation, I have met members of many sales forces. For some of them, it’s difficult to take a step back and simplify their messages.

If you don't think the world is coming to an end soon — or, at the very least, that the world economy will be reduced to smoking rubble by automation — it's only because you haven't read this article in Harvard Business Review (HBR): "Why the Automation Boom Could Be...

This past October was a phenomenon known as an “Indian Summer”. Five months later, and we are experiencing another climatic episode. I’m going to call it an “Indian Winter”. We have officially begun spring and are experiencing a snow storm – the second one this month.

Today is the first day of Spring. But in case you've been away from The Weather Channel for a while, global warming has made it a rough year so far in New England. And we may get another six to twelve inches of heat wave dumped on us in the next 24 hours. Here in...

I often fantasize about being in the first meetings about things. The notion occurred to me originally when I took my inaugural drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. I imagined that first meeting in which the attendees tried to figure out a way to get cars...

It’s 2018. If you own a company, you should have a website. Being found on the internet is essential in the age of digitalization and mobile devices.

One of my LinkedIn connections shared an article over the weekend. Entitled, "What matters in advertising this year", it reminded me that it takes some people longer to see things coming than it takes others. Let's refer to such people as Group A. There's are other...

If the question is, “Will we thrive or will we collapse?” I am willing to bet on the former. We are a hearty bunch. Millennials are not the first generation that seemed to be screwed or overly lazy.

Wednesday of this week will mark the passing of a man, 11 years ago, about and from whom you likely know and have heard little. His name was Bill Chinnock. A product of the music scenes of Asbury Park, New Jersey; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Maine, Bill took...

No matter what type of campaign you are trying to run, your first question should always be: What is the objective? And if objective seems a pinch formal, let’s just ask: What do you want to achieve?

Green With Acronyms I don't lean toward tree-hugging. But I support and respect the architectural precepts of green building and sustainable reuse. Because I'm a human being with senses of observation and humor, I also love the preternaturally human propensity to make...

We all have the same basic brain tissue. But depending on about one hundred billion different things, the outcomes of our thinking is almost always different. No two humans are alike. We are motivated and demotivated differently. We make choices that may seem completely insane to other humans.

Last October, an article ran in Scientific American called, "Why Do Smart People Do Foolish Things?" It questioned the meanings of smart and intelligent, and it suggested we might be taken aback to learn something we likely already know: You may be surprised to learn...

Epidemic Surrogacy I grew up, quite happily, with one Mom, one Dad, and the naïve conviction that I was all set. Apparently, not so much. In fact, there seems to be a sociopolitical trend toward what retired Northwestern University professor, Joseph Epstein, labeled...

TOM, DICK, and HARRY Starting in the 1950s — the decade in which the discipline of strategic management was created as an alternative to happenstance, random occurrence, chaos, favoritism, nepotism, and blind luck — strategic management begat the operating model which...

Can Pit Bulls Be Trusted? The dog in the photo above is Eddie. I know that because he's mine. He can be trusted. I know that, too, because he's mine. In fact, he can be trusted so completely, the cat in the photo trusts him. The cat's name is Sammy. I know that...

Harvard Business Review (HBR) is at it again. That's right. It gives me no pleasure to report that its esteemed editors saw fit to run a piece of banal baloney called, "Robo-Advisers Are Coming to Consulting and Corporate Strategy". It resisted all attempts at charity...

Simulated Anesthesia I happened to see a posting the other day for a series of training sessions on Simulated Anesthesia. At first, I assumed the sessions were intended to teach the uninitiated and the still-interesting how to conduct corporate meetings, since the...

Gas Neutrality I'm absolutely livid. But before I tell you why, here's the back story: When I came back from Woodstock, I was appalled to realize how much money I'd spent on gas. Nobody made me go. And nobody made me spend the money. But I decided to tinker with the...