Clarity Break Time

Everyone needs a break now and then. Even me. Even you. A real break. Completely out of touch. Or, per Lucy Kellaway, Memo: don't look at messages on holiday.

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Show Up

Last posting I had just returned to Birchrunville from a few days in Chile. When you received the missive I was already traveling again although just driving to Washington DC for a 2 day visit. I'm pleased to report that as you read this I am in the middle of a...

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Koudelka Time

I just returned from a brief trip to Chile. During my visit I met with the CEOs of a number of companies ranging in size from a few billion dollars with international reach to market leaders in Chile with little business across borders. In each case I was there to discuss projects...

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Less is More

Have a minute? Of course you don't. None of us do. We've become obsessed with knowing more, doing more, having more. The internet, smart phones, 24 hour everything, and the ability to know exactly what is happening in the smallest village in the most remote place have all conspired...

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Licking Your Fingers?

The July 12 issue of The Economist includes an article with an interesting perspective on the rampant corruption and venal behavior practiced by so many who get into positions of political power. In "Because we're worth it" they speculate on the reasons leaders can present themselves as representing moralistic causes and ethical leadership while simultaneously...

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Kanju

Work takes me to Africa quite a bit. Mostly I spent my time in places that aren't on the tourist trail: Uganda where it joins South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin just about anywhere, Ghana, rural villages in South Africa, Katatura - the township that butts up to Windhoek Namibia, Rwanda,...

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Stereotype Threat

Words affect performance. What you say and how you say it can lead to someone performing at their best or failing to achieve their potential. Performance tends to conform to the expectations you set for it. Stereotype Threat: when you're told that expectations for someone like you are low, you...

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Spaces

Spend a very long flight in the front of the plane followed by a much shorter flight in steerage and you can't help thinking about the way spaces affect you. My recent twelve hour flight to Doha in Business was somehow much shorter than my one hour flight from there to Dubai...

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