My Father's Role in My Success

Today is my father’s birthday.  To celebrate, today’s blog entry is dedicated to him, and one of the (many) ways he helped me be more successful.  This is the third in my series of blog entries on success. From an early age, my father always said, “Everything happens for a reason.” He didn’t mean it in a […]

Sliding Doors Success

This is the 2nd in a series of articles on different paths to success… In the movie “Sliding Doors,” Gwyneth Paltrow runs to catch a train.  If she misses it, she will miss an important meeting. The movie continues down two different paths: She just makes the train and attends her meeting. The doors close just […]

Creating Success via Luck

Much has been written about success, most of it gives the same advice: set goal, learn from the masters, work hard, reap the rewards. But what if there is a different path to success?  What if “luck” plays a critical role? What if you can create luck? Creativity/innovation and luck go hand-in-hand. Creativity is about […]

Book in Dutch

I just received my copy of “Best Practices Are Stupid” in Dutch.  More translations are on their way!

Think Around The Box

I’m working on a TV show.  As we were fleshing out the concept the other day, the agent said something brilliant… “Don’t think OUTSIDE the box.  Think AROUND the box.”  He was suggesting that in some cases, innovation is best when it is an extension of something people already know and love.  Studios will be […]

Books in Chinese

I’m please to announce that both Personality Poker and Best Practices Are Stupid  are now available in Chinese.  I love the cover designs, especially the cat on the Best Practices Are Stupid book.

Crowdsourcing Content

On July 19th, 2012, I will be keynoting at the inaugural Crowdopolis event being held July 19th in Los Angeles. You don’t want to miss this event!  I can assure you it will be incredible.  And at the bottom of this article there is a link which will give you a discount. I asked Crowdopolis […]

Stop Calling it Innovation!

A potential client asked, “What is the best way to create a culture of innovation?” My response: “Stop calling it innovation!” Innovation has become the word du jour.  Is it important?  Of course.  But the term has been used and abused by so many people that it means nothing. I am seeing a backlash against […]

Expectation Creates Dissatisfaction (and what to do about it…)

While on vacation recently, I thought to myself, “This is perfect.”  The weather was nice.  We had a great hotel room.  The food was wonderful. Was it really perfect? Were there nicer rooms, better food, and warmer climates?  Indeed. Comparatively speaking, it was not truly perfect. But perfection in such matters is a state of […]

Exception Handling Continued

In my AMEX OPEN Forum article, “Design Your Business to Handle the Exception, Not for the Exception,” someone commented that simplification is a better strategy than segmentation.  And I wholeheartedly agree. Car manufacturers do this when they use common parts and reduce the number of configurations to reduce costs and complexity. Having said that, if […]