A 2024 Guide for Discerning Voters Here’s the reality behind the 2024 elections: it’s not about gender, race, or the usual party lines—it’s about something far more basic and uncomfortable. As we inch closer to November, the polls suggest that Kamala Harris is struggling to win over Black and Latino voters, while Donald Trump remains […]
The Value of Values
Aligning Organizational and Individual Values: A Guide for Business Leaders, Part 1 Imagine you’re the founder or the CEO of a growing business. You’ve heard about the importance of company values, so you gather your team for a brainstorming session. After a few hours and several pizzas, you emerge with a list of inspiring words: […]
A Tale of Two Maps: Education and Politics in America
If Democrats are Bachelors, and Bachelors are Degree-Holders, are all Degree-Holders Democrats?
How Do I Know If I Like My Job?
Does the term “work-life balance” resonate with you? For many professionals, it represents the elusive goal of finding harmony between their careers and personal lives. However, a more winning approach is to make your work an integrated part of your life, not just something to counterbalance as the traditional view implies. To evaluate if you’ve […]
Is leadership better than management?
This is a popular question, but I find the entire “leadership vs. management” dichotomy to be misguided and unproductive. Comparing the two concepts along the better–worse axis is almost from the realm of apples vs oranges. Originally, management was viewed as a formal organizational role focused on planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling resources to […]
The Insidious Art of “Patter” – And How to Resist It
A Leadershit Lesson from Trump Have you ever felt mesmerized by a politician’s speech or a salesperson’s pitch, almost unconsciously being lulled into agreement? You may have experienced the powers of “patter” – an insidious technique of using strategic repetition and cadence to bypass rational thinking. At its core, patter involves the strategic use of […]
Tesla Brain Drain is Not “To” OpenAI but rather “From” Musk
Elon Musk’s success and wealth alone do not make him the smartest person alive. While he skillfully reframes Tesla’s brain drain as a sign of the company’s superiority, he fails to grasp that increasing pay is a temporary fix, not a permanent solution: A new baseline is set, which is inevitably followed by escalation. Tesla […]
A Hidden Benefit of 360-Degree Reviews
Ever wondered if there’s more to 360-degree reviews than meets the eye? In this article, we’ll uncover yet another A360 secret that could transform your team’s dynamics. We’ll explore real-life examples and offer practical insights that may change the way you view feedback and leadership development. In Part 1, I outlined the benefits of 360-degree […]
UVALDE, BOEING, COJONES, and Shared Values
It took the US JD 604 days to acknowledge the glaring truth: the police response to the May 24, 2022, deadly Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting was “a failure that should not have happened.” Well, duh!.. One year, seven months, and 25 days, and nearly 600 pages later, the report highlights “a sweeping array of […]
360-degree Assessment: Best Practices
Every New Year celebration comes with the burden of annual performance reviews. More often than not, the review includes a dreaded 360-degree assessment. I am not going to spend your time on the well-documented downsides of this tool. On the contrary, the tool may be essential for people development – if you follow these Assessment-360 […]