Friday Afternoon Musings From Boston

What I love about travel is that it not only gives you time to reflect on your life, but also it enhances your sense of observation. You really see things that normally you wouldn't. Things that perhaps are better unseen. And you appreciate the complexities, challenges and obstacles that life sometimes throws at you. If there is one thing I love about being a nomad its the opportunity to reflect and observe things that you normally wouldn't in your day to day life.

Are You Sure You Want To Follow Today’s Executives?: Guest Post

Anyone who has tried to sell anything to corporations, and specifically the decision makers inside corporations, will appreciate the fallacy of proof. I remember some years back when I was working on a strategic project with a client in the UK who was looking at outsourcing a part of their operations worldwide. In a meeting with the COO of the company it was clear that leadership wanted to do this because of the perceived value, but implementation was going to be the biggest challenge to making it happen. To ensure success we embarked on a lengthy crusade to 'sell' the concept inside the company and win over the key stakeholders who would be impacted by this change.

Change The World NOW!

I wanted to share with you an incredible vision statement from a start-up I am privileged to sit on the Board of. At this time I am not able to name the company or the founders of this incredible venture, but you will hear about them in the near future, both on this site and around the world. But the words in their business plan blew me away. And they reminded me of the essence of this blog - the power of the individual and the different each of us - YOU - can make in this short life.

Killing Me Softly

I was scanning through articles like I do every day and came across a very disturbing piece in the UK's Daily Mail today. A Manhattan-based artist named Sally Davies bought a Happy Meal from McDonald's on April 10th and photographed it on her shelf in her apartment. She proceeded to photograph the happy meal every day in order to capture the daily decay, a kind of 'art' project I guess. The only trouble was 6 months later the Happy Meal has barely decayed. It looks almost like it did on the day she bought it.

Why Fearing China Is A Mistake

One of the unfortunate repercussions of the weak economy and politics in the West is the growing animosity towards China. I have heard uninformed people blame China for everything from the high rate of unemployment (its all those outsourced jobs) to the high cost of gas (they are using more and more energy!). This anti-China beat is still in "politically correct" tones, however as elections loom and we continue to fail in turning our economy around, this narrow view of a Chinese threat beating us will no doubt grow louder. This is a mistake and a missed opportunity in the making in my view. 

Government 2.0: Guest Post

In 1990 I was privileged to attend the 50th Anniversary dinner for Bruce Lee in Los Angeles. He would have been 50 had he not tragically passed away in 1973. It was a wonderful evening, lots of stories from his family (wife, son Brandon and daughter Shannon all in attendance), as well as Ip Man, the grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and Bruce Lee's Master, who is the subject of the highly rated Chinese film Ip Man, a must see for avid foreign film lovers. That night I learnt an amazing lesson that has stayed with me 20 years on, and holds so true in today's complex world.

Balancing It All: Guest Post

Some of the best people I have worked with were women. In fact, of the top five people I have had work for me, 2 of them were female. If I think of the top ten colleagues I have had under me then 5 of the 10 were women. Most were wives and mothers, balancing life at home as well as at work. Yet they performed at the highest levels for me, outperforming their male colleagues in an apples to apples comparison. And let me be clear, my management style is all about accountability so I don't see a difference between male and female team members, old and young or experienced and inexperienced. You are either in the role or not.