Lessons of Pawn Stars

Yes, you read that correctly.  PAWN Stars. This reality television show on The History Channel chronicles a pawn shop outside of Las Vegas.  I enjoy the show because of the history associated with the pieces that are brought in for sale.  In addition to rifles from the revolutionary war and antique political documents, people bring […]

One Small Step for Your Business, One Giant Leap for Success

Quite a few books and studies recently have touted the power of incremental change. Small actions can have a huge impact on long-term business growth. The appropriate degree of change needed for innovating within organizations is, in general, a 45-degree change, consistent but not too radical. That tends to be more effective than a 5-degree change (purely […]

You Don’t Hear Your Customers

The other day, I asked my business manager to follow up with a client about an unpaid invoice.  She contacted the company’s accounts payable department and was told that the invoice was paid on June 1st, 2012. (italics added for emphasis) OK, I have some pretty talented clients, but I don’t think any have mastered […]

Are You Asking the Right Question?

For many years, I was a loyal BlackBerry fan.  More accurately I was a CrackBerry addict. A year ago a got a MacBook Pro and six month layer I acquired an iPad.  It felt like I should switch to the iPhone.  But I was not ready for two reasons: I wanted a Verizon phone that could […]

Why Brainstorming is Stupid

I was recently interviewed for an article on Inc.com.  Due to length restrictions, only part of my interview was included in the article.  Therefore I am giving you the other half here.  But be sure to read the their article first as it sets the stage. I was asked by Inc.com why brainstorming, as usually practiced, is ineffective. […]

Ideas, Ideas Everywhere…

There’s an old tale that goes… Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. Inside of organizations, there’s a corollary… Ideas, ideas every where, Nor any one can think. Um, ok, I should stick to my day job.  But the point is, organizations are drowning in a sea of ideas, yet they never take the […]

Southwest Airlines Magazine Article

Last month (November), Best Practices Are Stupid, was featured in Southwest Airline’s Spirit Magazine.  Now that it is no longer on planes and can’t be found on the internet, I figured it was time to share the article with the readers of this blog.  They did such a nice job, I feel as though their […]

Making Connections

One of my favorite topics is to discuss how breakthroughs are generated by looking for someone who has solved a similar problem in a different space. Some examples I talk about in my “Best Practices Are Stupid” books are: A company developed a new type of whitening toothpaste by studying the way non-bleach laundry detergent […]

Ask a Different Question, Get a Different Answer

Today I want to test your mental muscle with an activity I conduct with my clients. If you are a college sports fan, you will most likely be familiar with the NCAA basketball playoffs. 65 teams in total compete. The games are organized into brackets like the one illustrated here. Teams compete with the hope […]

I Won't Work for Money

The other day I was asked to speak for a company that had a limited amount of money and could pay me only 15% of my speaking fee. Today I was asked to speak at a company in exchange for my receiving bicycle in lieu of cash (as you may guess, they manufacture bicycles).  The […]