Here’s what we’re thinking about

I’m just returning from a few weeks of intense client work and travel, and wanted to share my favorite new productivity tool. For some months I have been looking for a good hands-free device for my mobile phone.  Options I had tried either hurt my ear after long use, or had bad sound quality on […]

I recently finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs.  Terrific read!  One of the themes that is so remarkable in the book (and also in Jobs’ life) is the power of an outstanding product.  Jobs was so passionate, so obsessive about the most minute details of a product, to help ensure its excellence.  He was […]

In my martial arts class recently, it occurred to me that being uncomfortable can be a good thing.  Somewhere between push-ups, jumping jacks and my own exhaustion-induced nausea the thought crept into my mind:  “This is really hard.  This feels really bad.  I don’t actually want to be doing this anymore.  I’m not having fun.  […]

Last night I saved someone from choking to death. I was in San Jose.  I had just finished up meeting with a potential client, and I was driving to another meeting.  I saw a little strip mall with a few restaurants just on my route, so I spontaneously pulled in for dinner.  I had never […]

How to Become an Authentic Leader It turns out the concept of “authentic leadership” is a pretty new one.  A recent review of academic articles on authentic leadership found fewer than 100 of them, and most were published within the past decade (see Leadership Quarterly, October 2011).  What’s more there is no single agreed-upon definition […]

Review of How to Speak Like a CEO, by Suzanne Bates This is a good overview of leadership communication skills.  It emphasizes authenticity, and it covers a broad range of communication topics such as speech / presentation preparation, question and answer sessions, leading meetings, working with the media, and having 1-1 conversations.  It doesn’t go […]

If you’re serious about getting something substantial done in 2012, you probably do a lot of planning, dreaming and strategizing around this time of year.  In my own planning for the New Year, one of my focus areas is to leverage technology to reduce wasted time and time spent on lower-priority tasks.  Here are some […]

This is a terrific book.  More than a primer on creating slides, it really is an introduction to visual design, and how to think like a visual designer.  It doesn’t provide technical guidance about how to operate Powerpoint; it’s all about how to communicate using visual images and words in Powerpoint.  It also practices what […]

I’m currently reading Brain Rules by John Medina.  It’s one of a number of popular books on brain science that have striking relevance to leadership, and to modern life.  Here are a few ideas that really struck me: Research shows that people perform better cognitively when they exercise on a regular basis.  There is a […]