Here’s what we’re thinking about

In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, he talks about the “reality distortion field” that Jobs was able to create around him. This was a phenomenon that colleagues of Jobs talked about, where he was able to convince both himself and those around him of almost anything, through a combination of charisma, the ability to […]

Here’s a tip for leaders who are too busy to read the news: The Economist Magazine has an audio (MP3) version that you can listen to while you drive (or workout, or whatever:  http://www.economist.com/audio-edition). In fact, many publications offer audiocast options that are easy to download over the weekend so that you have something interesting […]

Clearly, I have talent on the brain. Partly this was spurred by my own search for talent for some branding and marketing activities within my own business. But it was further spurred by Marissa Mayer, the new CEO of Yahoo.  Word on the street is that she has adopted the long-standing tradition of the co-founders […]

I recently hired a video producer for some multi-media I am working on.  We had a great initial conversation, I told him what I was looking for, and then after just a few hours of work, he sent me a video that was so far beyond what I expected, it actually shifted what I think […]

In the article “Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership,” Bruce J. Avolio and William L. Gardner give an in-depth background and overview of authentic leadership development theory. Here are a few of their ideas that I found helpful: The idea of authenticity has a rich history in the fields […]

I have a new rule for myself about exercise:  I only have to work out for 5 minutes.  In fact, the real rule is that I don’t have to exercise at all.  What I commit to doing however, is putting on my exercise clothes.  If I’m going running, I put on my running clothes.  If […]

Earlier this year I published a post or two about technology and productivity tools.  Here is an update based on some additional experience: Shoeboxed.com is terrific.  Shoeboxed.com is a subscription service that lets you snail-mail business cards, receipts or other documents using prepaid envelopes.  Their system then scans these documents, reads the printed text, does […]

Yesterday I saw the film “The Hunger Games,” and I was struck by how well it conveys what it takes to be an authentic, successful public speaker. In the movie the heroine Katniss is pulled from her humble life hunting game in the woods for her little sister and mother, and is thrust into the […]

This thoughtful book would be of special interest to leaders who are struggling with the ethics and risks of “speaking truth to power.”  It also provides motivation from highly credible experts for leading in a way that models transparency even when that’s very hard to do.  The authors argue that openness leads to positive social […]