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Stop Acting Stupid and Change Your Mind
As humans, we have a unique superpower. That superpower is our ability to convince ourselves that something is true — when it’s not. We act stupidly. Sometimes stupidity makes people act against their own best interests. When their belief in what is true is challenged by contradictory evidence, stu
Innovation in Education: What’s Old and What’s New
The world our kids will need to compete in is radically different from the world ten years ago. The old adage about education that “what was good enough for you when you were a kid is good enough for today” gives comfort and justification that everything is fine. Everything is not fine. Our schools
The Power of Human Ingenuity
“What are you going to do about it?” My grandmother was chastising me for whining about how life wasn’t fair – or some other perceived injustice. What could I do about it! I was only a kid. It’s someone else’s job to fix it! Or at least I thought so. Instead of letting me pass […]
An Ethics Crisis in 2020 – Here Is To A Better 2021
Given the esteem and trust we grant scientists and innovators, how could this happen? How could research fraud, falsified data, and unproven conclusions result in 1,800 papers in leading journals and peer review articles being retracted in 2020? And this is not an anomaly. [1] Two decades ago, jour
I Have a Question…
“Dad – what’s that?” My daughter, 4 or 5, was in her car seat as we were running errands. She grew impatient with my delay in answering her question. “That!” she said as she pointed out her window at the curb. “It’s called a curb,” I explained. “What’s it made of?” “Cement.” “What’s cement?” I […]
A Job Worth Doing…
I looked up and saw that look of disappointment. My 8-year-old self was staring into the face of my father. I had badgered him for weeks to let me cut the grass to earn the same allowance my older brother got for the same chore. My early activism in equal pay for equal work. His […]
Effectiveness
No matter how much the boss or the customers yelled or threatened, the locomotive pulling freight and passenger cars refused to move. They were dead in the water. The day started out as planned, but then went from good to bad. The train lurched to a stop without warning. Upon investigation, the eng
Success comes from creating jaw dropping new products and not by restructuring the organization
It seems obvious, but it’s not. Many senior executives have the mistaken impression that what is needed is restructuring the organization in order to come up with that new killer product idea. Rather than focusing on structure, focus on creating and nurturing a corporate culture that invests in skil
You can’t keep having success if you don’t risk success. Being conservative has no place in successful organizations.
Avoiding risk is the quickest way to end up failing. Getting comfortable to risk success is a key first step to innovation success.
