It is 5.30pm and three of us exit the elevator on the 11th floor looking both ways like a group of spies who have just infiltrated the enemy’s headquarters at night. The security doors to our left and right are propped open with Steelcaes file drawers. Beyond them a dark Read more…
The holidays. Our annual two week long battery recharge. Fittingly, I read an Associated Press article yesterday reflecting on information overload. Citing a Basex study, the article stated that almost $1 trillion per year is lost in worker productivity due to unnecessary email and interruptions at work. The largest figure I could find on-line was more like $600 million, but who’s Read more…
Last week at a social media conference, an expert was bragging over lunch about how he always gets what he wants from big companies when he is having difficulties. He has a formula. First, he tweets and posts about the poor service he is getting. Next, he goes right to Read more…
Looking for the right kind of help is challenging. I swore when I left the corporate giant that I would only work with people I liked, and who wanted to be around me. I am a pretty likeable guy, but I definitely have opinions on how I like to see things done Read more…
As a middle manager I was excited about spending a week with my Sales VP, Loni. Not only would it be good exposure, I would have a chance to show off my leaning and leadership skills. We had been randomly selected to participate in a pilot training course that headquarters was rolling Read more…
Social Selling is Like Learning a New Language Learning a new language is much more difficult once you reach adulthood. It seems the cerebral cortex becomes less elastic over time making it harder to learn a foreign tongue. But then, on my last flight home – pushed to desperation – Read more…
After watching a half dozen upsets in the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament over the past couple of weeks, it is impossible to dismiss the power of having ‘nothing to lose.’ It is true that any team entering this tournament knows how to win big games, but why is Read more…
Stranded on the west coast last week, I came into contact with Alaska Airlines for the first time. I was wandering through the departure hall and bumped into a friendly face wearing a Seahawks jersey and carrying a clipboard. “Do you work here?” I asked. Everyone was wearing green and Read more…
Under my Christmas tree this year was a copy of Michael Lewis’ “The New New Thing.” This 2001 account of serial entrepreneur and dotcom billionaire Jim Clark takes you on wild ride that has you alternately reaching for my pad to scratch down ideas, and for a barf bag. Published well before the ultimate Wall Street Read more…
I just returned from a strange land. Mobile devices were curiously absent, newspapers were being read and people were (gasp!) talking to one another in coffee shops and bars. This is the retro world of Washington D.C., where some government buildings even forbid mobile devices for security reasons. The amazing Read more…