Dig Deeper.
Articles, book reviews and thoughts on executive coaching, communications and the world of business.
What went wrong with the Nano?
Denise Yohn interviews me about what went wrong with the Nano. Why have they only sold about 250,000 when everyone was predicting (including us) that they could sell twice that every year? "Fast forward today, [...]
The Korean Edition of Nanovation Just Arrived
I came home from New York yesterday and found this waiting on my desk. None of us had any idea our publisher had sold the Korean rights. Can China be far behind? And is there [...]
On Purpose and Watching Paint Dry
(Continuing live blogging my next business book!) Companies like BlueBell and USAA make purpose easy to understand because it’s such a strong and clear purpose. Who wouldn’t be moved by thinking that your purpose is [...]
On Purpose in the Face of Tragedy and Death
(Continuing live blogging my next business book!) Maybe it’s easier to grasp the purpose of a business when your job is to sell moments of joy and delight. What would it be like if your [...]
A Second Art
Recently, the Financial Times ran an article by the Scottish novelist Andrew O’Hagan about novelists and the other art forms to which they feel drawn. Norman Mailer felt he could be a good actor; Vladimir [...]
On Ice Cream and the Pursuit of Happiness
Branded to the Bone -- Part One: Purpose (Continuing live blogging my next business book!) The first time I walked in the front door of Dunkin’ Brands headquarters in the leafy Boston suburb of Canton, [...]
Branded to the Bone — A Preface
I'm going to let you in on a secret: as I write my new business book this summer, I'm going to post most of it here, in the raw, first draft form. If you've got [...]
Apple and the Tyranny of Mediocre Ideas
“The fundamental problem with most businesses is that they're governed by mediocre ideas,” said Bill O’Brien, the former CEO of Hanover Insurance, quoted in the astonishing book, Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the [...]
Sleep Deprived? Learn from the Larks
I've been a morning person all my life and it turns out that's a good thing, according to sleep researcher Till Roenneberg, author of Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So [...]
You Are What You Read #1
Know Yourself, Forget Yourself: Five Truths to Transform Your Work, Relationships and Everyday Life by Marc Lesser In my coaching work, I'm often asked what books I might recommend for leaders seeking to deepen their [...]
Missing the Gorilla in the Midst of Your Work
Great article from NPR about a study done at the Harvard Medical School Visual Attention Lab. Curious about how focusing on one thing can lead you to miss other, equally important things, they created a [...]
Yahoo Ropes in Remote Workers
Yahoo's new CEO, Marissa Mayer, has shaken up the company with a memo announcing that as of this June, all remote workers will be required to start working out of the office. This has created [...]
The Downside of Up — A Comic Novel of Outrageous Fortune
Sneak Preview! Just got the cover art for my new book, The Downside of Up, due out in May from the new media publishing house, Net Minds. It's a comic novel about a corporate speechwriter [...]
Service with a Smile: What’s It Good For?
A long time ago, when I lived in Washington, D.C. and nobody much expected good service anywhere, I stopped in every morning on my way to work to get coffee at the convenience store on [...]
The Fortune Telling Leader
It occurred to me recently that a good leader should be able to do well as a fortune teller and I said so at a dinner party the other night. “That’s terrible,” said the nice [...]