The Carrot or Stick? Conventional Wisdom May be Wrong

Management gurus love to talk about the carrot vs the stick. Which works better, rewarding for positive behavior (the carrot) or penalizing for negative behavior (the stick)? The answer to this is not cut and dried. Both work in different situations.

Good Ideas, Bad Results

Throughout history, people have had seemingly good ideas that didn’t work out as planned. These were good intentions that resulted in less than stellar results. For example, imagine that you are tasked with reducing pickpocket rates in an area known for this crime. You have millions of tourists from all over the world visiting your […]

The Membership Business Model

Is it just me, or has every industry moved to a subscription/membership model for their services and products? This seems to be a new form of business model innovation, especially when it is married with online services. Of course the concept of memberships or subscriptions is not new. Gym and health club memberships have been around since the […]

Don’t Compare Me to a Bagel!

Professional speakers are always trying to justify their fees. Admittedly, it can be a substantial investment for a one-hour keynote. With that being said, for larger events, the cost of breakfast is often times more than the cost of the speech. While that may be true, some professional speakers have the crazy idea that it […]

What If You Worked 24/7?

Over the years I have been to a lot of conferences – either as an attendee or as a speaker. At most events, the formal education portions ends by 7pm, usually quite a bit earlier. A banquet or gathering in the bar typically follows. I recently attended a magic convention with 700 magicians. Unlike most […]

Find Someone Better Than You

In my last post entitled “When you are the best, you should be worried,” I talked about the importance of comparing yourself to the right people (or the right companies). The day after posting it, I saw this cartoon which advocates practicing (specifically for musicians, but it could apply to anyone).

When You Are the Best, You Should be Worried!

Back in 1993, I started speaking. At the time I was a consultant with Accenture (then Andersen Consulting). By the mid 90’s, I was speaking 50 to 100 times a year at company and client events around the world. Invariably, after a speech, people would line up to shower me with accolades and acknowledge my […]

2016 is Nothing New

On December 31 each year, instead of setting resolutions, I set a theme for the following year. And for 2016 it is nothing new. That’s my theme: “Nothing New.” This year I won’t be doing anything new. Some of you reading this might be thinking, “Huh??? I thought you were Mr. Innovation. Nothing new. Really?”

When Innovating, No Doesn’t Always Mean No

The other day I posted an article about innovation on LinkedIn. I was surprised to find a comment from someone I worked with at Accenture over 15 years ago. To paraphrase, he said… No offence, but I remember at a meeting in London trying to demonstrate to you how (a specific software platform) could be a […]

To Fee or Not To Fee…That is the Question

Should you ever give away your services (or products) for free? This has been an on-going discussion in the speaking community. And recently I found that the same debate is taking place in the magic community. There are some of my speaking colleagues who are adamant that no one should ever give a speech where […]