For some time I've told people that my theory on punching time clocks is that in companies with an engaged, enthusiastic, passionate workforce you need them to make sure people leave. At a big meeting recently someone repeated the thought a business owner shared with him: "If you need an alarm clock...

Ever since I spent time in Houston consulting to the energy industry I have worn Lucchese boots. After visiting the CEO of a large pipeline company a few times he decided he needed to buy me a pair of boots and took me over to a store that sold...

Some leaders set the stage for everyone to do their best work while others consistently make it harder for their folks to do their best. According to research by Kannan Ramaswamy and William Youngdahl  "your employees are more likely to view you as an obstacle to their effectiveness than...

Microsoft has a new CEO. Oddly, at the same time the Microsoft Founder and first CEO, Bill Gates, has given up his Chairman seat to become something called 'technology advisor' to Nadella. I say oddly because it seems that Gates is descending from the mount of Chairman to the trenches...

As the extreme damage is repaired from the most recent storm that hit where I live, I've been listening to the pronouncements about return of electricity and such from PECO, my local electric company. It has been a mastery of nice sounding words devoid of information about what people...

Today where I sit writing this, we're having another snowstorm. There have been an unending series of them leading to all kinds of difficult situations.  Closed schools and businesses, tens of thousands of cancelled flights, people stranded everywhere or even worse...in accidents and injured or killed. The cost to...

How is it that the most incompetent so often think they are experts? How can their self assessment of their knowledge and expertise be so at variance with the reality of their incompetence? According to the research of Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, as reported in Pacific...

I just returned from a project in Benin and Rwanda with a bit of time in Ethiopia. During my 10 day trip we interviewed dozens of people ranging from Ministers and executives to people with booths in the local markets. While there I was able to get out into the rural areas and...