I started the quiz team at my high school. Alas, I didn’t do so well at the tryouts, so I ended up as the coach, but we still made it to the finals. It took me thirty years to figure out the secret of getting in ahead of the others who also knew the…Read moreRead more
project management tips
How is your buzz management..??
Abandoning perfection..
It’s possible you work in an industry built on perfect. That you’re a scrub nurse in the Operation Room, or an air traffic controller or even in charge of compliance at a nuclear power plant. The rest of us, though, are rewarded for breaking things. Our job, the reason we have time to read…Read moreRead more
Pain,Money and B2B selling…
When you sell to someone at a business, it’s worth remembering that the pain their problem is causing belongs to them, while the money they have to spend, doesn’t. Any time you can cure their pain in exchange for their boss’s (or the shareholder’s) money, that’s a compelling offer. The challenge is actually being…Read moreRead more
The crowd will call you a fool…
When you do work that matters, the crowd will call you a fool If you do something remarkable, something new and something important, not everyone will understand it (at first). Your work is for someone, not everyone. Unless you’re surrounded only by someones, you will almost certainly encounter everyone. And when you do, they will…Read moreRead more
How to go faster….
How do you get to market faster than the competition? How do you become more efficient without violating the laws of physics? How do you save time, money and frustration? It all comes down to decision hygiene: 1. Make decisions faster. You rarely need more time. Mostly, you must merely choose to decide. The…Read moreRead more
To overcome an irrational fear…
replace it with a habit. If you’re afraid to write, write a little, every day. Start with an anonymous blog, start with a sentence. Every day, drip, drip, drip, a habit. If you’re afraid to speak up, speak up a little, every day. Not to the board of directors, but to someone. A little…Read moreRead more
Two heads or one…?
As a company gets bigger, there’s an inevitable split between the people who market what gets made and the people who design what gets made. At some organizations, it’s likely that these two people work in different buildings, and don’t spend much time together. One of the most important decisions made in the early days…Read moreRead more
Active listening…..
The kind of listening we’re trained to do in school and at work is passive listening. Sit still. Get through it. Figure out what’s going to be on the test and ignore the rest. Your eyes can glaze over, but don’t let it show. Try not to nod off. People are talking, and they’d like…Read moreRead more
What is the difference between commitment and technique…?
We spend way too much time teaching people technique. Teaching people to be good at flute, or C++ or soccer. It’s a waste because the fact is, most people can learn to be good at something, if they only choose to be, if they choose to make the leap and put in the effort and…Read moreRead more
The enemy of creativity…..
is fear. We’re all born creative, it takes a little while to become afraid. A surprising insight: an enemy of fear is creativity. Acting in a creative way generates action, and action persuades the fear to lighten up.