Are You Playing with a Full Deck?
Most of us, in fact nearly all of us, are not playing with a full deck. What do I mean by that? No one succeeds on their own. We all need the perspectives of others. For example, I am creative yet scattered. I generate a lot of ideas. Some are good. Many are not. Creativity […]
Happy New Year!
Wishing you a 2026 where everyone is playing with a full deck. Happy New Year!
Article in SHRM Magazine
Most teams don’t struggle because they lack talent. They struggle because they surround themselves with people who think the same way. This was my message to 800 leaders at the SHRM Linkage Institute, where we played Personality Poker. After the event, Olivia Gebreamlak did a great job of capturing the essence of what we explored […]
The Power of Keeping an Open Mind
Two months ago, I set out to transform my 60,000-word Personality Poker book into a Reader’s Digest version—15,000 to 20,000 words with short chapters and detailed action steps. The content was already there. I just needed to update it, cut it down, and make it more actionable. It sounded easy, but it turned out to […]
Beta Readers Wanted for my Next Book
I swore I was not going to write another book, at least not for a long time. But I couldn’t help myself. I have the first draft done for book #8: You’re Not Playing with a Full Deck: Bust Silos, Drive Collaboration, and Double Down on Growth by Creating a Culture that Turns Differences Into […]
Please Tell Me Who I Am: Supertramp’s The Logical Song
The other day, I posted about how children start life as red cards: creative, playful, connected. But as we age and learn to fit in and be successful, we start to collect black cards: logical, organized, systematic. The question I posed was: Who are we really? Here’s a link to the blog post. Driving home […]
A Brand is Not Your Colors or Logo
Many years ago, I was friends with Tom Peters’ brand manager. I asked him for his definition of a brand. He gave me six simple words: “What your customers say it is.” It’s not your logo. It’s not your colors. Those things change. Your brand is the promise you make to your customers, and how […]
Who Are We Really?
Somewhere along the way, most of us stop being who we really are. After my Personality Poker session last night, I spoke with an attendee in his 60s, a semi-retired grandfather. He picked mostly red cards, the ones about people, creativity, and play. Then he told me, “If I had played this game 20 years […]
PEOPLE POKER – The Game Show Chuck Barris Couldn’t Sell to ABC
Chuck Barris, the creator and host of The Gong Show, was one of my childhood heroes. I always wanted to be like him, a game show host with big, quirky ideas. Although my TV career never happened, I do get to play game show host every time I run my Personality Poker experience on stage. […]
Maybe I’m Not Playing with a Full Deck
Have you lost your mind? That’s what people were saying when I posted about writing another book. I suspect people will lose their minds when I tell them they can’t buy the new book—now or ever. Yes, I’m still in the writing and editing stage, and that will take a while. But even when it’s […]