Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, but there has been an on-going debate on which is more important to an organization’s long term success: ideas or execution? Headquarter executives, strategy aficionados, and entrepreneurs often chime in on the side of creativity and ideas. Operational executives and line workers usually favor execution. Actually, debate might be too…
The parable of the Zen farmer reminds us to avoid hasty generalizations. In both life and in business, when an unexpected good or bad event happens, it’s common to quickly assess the situation and then jump to a conclusion. When things go well, we’re overjoyed. But when things don’t turn out as we’d hoped, we’re…
In the spirit of everything old is new again, I’m blogging the classic ‘give the frog a loan’ story since none of the 20-somethings I recently told it to had heard it before. Give the frog a loan is an example of a shaggy dog story; a longer joke full of seemingly irrelevant details with…
In the 50 years since 1970, the world’s population has doubled while the number of chickens we eat has increased nearly 7-fold, from 11 billion to 74 billion. So, why do we eat so much chicken? According to the National Chicken Council, it started with a mistake in 1923. Like many rural Americans, Cecile Steele…
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” On a recent video conference call, a speaker used the gift horse idiom, much to the confusion of many of the attendees. For those who may not be familiar with the expression, it suggests people should not find fault with something that has been received as a…
Q: What do you call a group of sharks?A: A shiver of sharks. Of course, because seeing Sharks make you shiver. Shiver is an example of a collective noun; the name for a group of things. As I’ve often used animal stories to help illustrate specific points, reinforce behaviors, or to provide colorful rallying cries,…
In the book Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there’s a vignette called ‘Beware of the Leopard’ which explains why it’s critical to provide convenient access to important information. The vignette is a useful way to explain information asymmetry, in which one person has relevant information not known by or available to the other person. Here’s…
When I first got into business, the HR manager asked me a series of informal questions which claimed to test my suitability for corporate life. As I recall, I didn’t do so well on the quiz but I’ve still managed to figure out the corporate gig. I recently came across the questions and started using…
Throughout my career, I’ve relied on story telling to reinforce abstract concepts or make announcements more memorable. Whether it’s oxen, elephants, monkeys, or camels, stories about animals are easy to remember and therefore more likely to be repeated. I’ve always want to tell a story which involved a platypus but I never really had a good rationale….
During my career I’ve often used animal stories to help illustrate specific points, reinforce behaviors, or to provide colorful rallying cries. Whether it’s elephants, monkeys, or camels, stories about animals are easy to remember and therefore more likely to be repeated. The heart of good communication is repetition. When I originally introduced the story of the…