There was a striking headline the other day: "Customer dies, but refund for ticket refused".  At first I thought this was an odd and eye catching lead in to something completely different...so I read on.  To my amazement, it was the story of a true situation by Christopher Elliott, ombudsman for National...

Part of my UN charge in Nairobi was to discuss leadership.  As I thought about it I realized how few real leaders there are.  We have lots of people who think of themselves as leaders but who actually rule by position or wealth or power or luck of birth. ...

Oddly, when the last posting, Group Think, came out I was at a United Nations meeting outside Nairobi.  I say oddly, since it was about as opposite an experience from group think as you can imagine.  There I was, the only US citizen...and one of only four white people...among a...

Last post I was thinking about blindered worldview and the way it cuts you off from most of the world, and the negative effective of this insularity. Then I happened to see an article in the Wall Street Journal by Neil Strauss, The Insidious Evils of 'Like' Culture.  Strauss writes...

One of the most important attributes of a successful leader is the ability to understand a wide variety of often competing and incompatible ideas...and people...and incorporate this knowledge into decisions.  Even more difficult is actually managing to gather a wide variety of ideas and meet a wide variety of people in the first place. ...

Many of you know that I spend quite a bit of time in Africa.  I find it a fascinating place, so much opportunity but so much that hinders grabbing the opportunities...not unlike many companies I know. Perhaps because of all the strife and ongoing tribal issues, there is a wealth...

My travels take me around the world to visit clients, speak at meetings, meet with government officials, and generally get to see the way things operate in different cultures.  Due to the kinds of things I do, I have the added benefit of speaking with people from all walks of life and...

While flying back from Paris a few days ago I paged through the US Airways magazine.  My eyes were immediately caught by the title of a short article, "Multitasking 101",  since I have written and spoken quite a bit about the ways in which multitasking leads to poorer performance. I...