The phrase ‘fiscal cliff’ was clearly trending in 2012. I’ve been meaning to renew my annual practice of blogging about LSSU‘s list of banished words but I guess I kicked the can down the road. Since I’m passionate about the subject, I doubled down on a recent flight. Fueled by boneless wings (my Superfood of…
The science of subtle signals suggests what you say is less important than how you say it. Mark Buchanan is a theoretical physicist who writes about how physics can be used to understand biology, economics, psychology and other social sciences. His book, “The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught and Your…
Are people happier in California? Almost everywhere I’ve visited, I’ve encountered the belief that people are happier in California. When pressed for an explanation, the most common response is the good weather. As studies have shown sunlight positively influences mood, perhaps everyone should move to California. That might make the world a happier place. Practicality aside, it turns…
If I was a millennial, I would be annoyed with popular media. Whether they are called Millennials, Digital Natives, or Generation Y, people under the age of 30 are typically portrayed as having unrealistically high expectations for their career and over-inflated sense of their abilities. They are lazy, lack emotional intelligence, and don’t take criticism well. But they…
Possibly because my mantra is ‘words matter’ or that I’ve been writing continuously for many years, I get asked for tips on better writing. For years, I quoted George Orwell’s advice on how to be simple and clear, including my personal favorite: If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out….
The English word upset has multiple definitions. The most common implies an anxious uneasiness; as in “I am too upset to say anything.” This emotional version also has a physical equivalent; “My stomach is too upset to eat anything.” In sports and in politics, an upset is to defeat a seemingly better opponent. My favorite…
I know this will be an unpopular point of view but I’m just going to say it: Brainstorming is a bad idea that usually doesn’t work. Brainstorming advocates claim groups of people are more likely to find solutions to problems than individuals working alone. The idea was popularized in the 1950’s by advertising executive Alex…
Next week I’ll be in China for our second annual customer meeting. One of the things that makes this event special is we didn’t try to export the US version to China but rather built an event ground up for China. As Chinese consumers gain affluence, we expect them to act like Westerners and are…
There is both an art and science to timing decisions. In the book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell argued we should trust our snap judgments to make decision. He used examples from science, advertising, medicine and music to show that spontaneous decisions were as good as, and often better than, carefully considered ones. While Blink became a…
I prefer one-on-one instruction or small group trainings to learning from books. This might be because I went to a very small high school with a graduating class of 13 or because I like to explore topics by asking questions. Given my background, I’ve always believed that smaller classes are more effective; more individualized interactions…