Ignore All Advice
I decided to get with the 21st century. Starting today, in addition to my regular writing, I will be recording videos for this blog. Today’s video is a rant about a topic that has been on my mind lately. Although, this covers content from earlier blog entries, I am going into a bit more detail […]
Study Failures, Not Successes
I recently attended a meeting where we were going to be taught the secrets of becoming a “7-figure” professional speaker. That is, we would learn how to make $1,000,000 a year. The presenter is part of an elite group of speakers who earn at least this much every year. His presentation was based on the […]
Reframe Tedious Experiences
I have now spoken in 43 countries (#44 coming soon). As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time in airports and going through security. TSA Pre is amazing, and has sped up how quickly I get through the lines. One of the (many) nice things about TSA Pre is that you don’t have […]
Focus on Usefulness, Not Validity
About 10 years ago, I developed the Personality Poker® system. Since then, I gathered a mountain of anecdotal evidence supporting its value. But one question remained in my mind: Is Personality Poker truly valid? That is, do the words actually measure what they are supposed to measure? Or is it just a fun game? To help assess […]
7 Ways to Outsmart Your Brain And Be More Innovative
You are alive today. You were alive yesterday. You were alive the day before that. This is good news from a survival perspective. Unfortunately it is bad news from an innovation perspective. Your brain is wired to keep you alive. Your brain makes the assumption that because you were alive yesterday, what you did previously is […]
What is Your Deep Structure?
The other day I was speaking with a CEO who wanted me to help facilitate a conversation around the crafting of the company’s purpose statement. I asked her, “Why do you want to do this?” She explained that she wanted everyone on her team to fully understand and be aligned behind the purpose of the […]
Beyond the 4-Hour Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek (by Tim Ferris) is the ultimate book title. Who doesn’t want to work only 4 hours a week?* I was hooked by the title, but disappointed by the premise. In a nutshell, the book suggests that if you work 50 hours a week, you should outsource 46 hours, leaving only 4 hours of […]
TopCoder is Tops
TopCoder is one of the best-kept secrets in open innovation. I had the pleasure of spending time with them. They are a fun bunch that is passionate about what they do. After a full-day deep dive in their Connecticut offices, I traveled to Orlando to spend two days at their “TopCoder Open,” a competition they […]
SUCCESS Magazine – Innovate or Die
The October issue of SUCCESS Magazine recently hit the news stands. The cover story – Innovate or Die – is 3 pages dedicated my perspectives on how to innovate more effectively. If you get the physical copy (with CD), you will also find a 23 minute audio interview with me and the publisher, Darren Hardy. In […]
3 Steps for Creating Leverage in Your Business
“Work smarter not harder.” This dreadfully overused phrase is meant to address the apparent lack of time, money and resources we experience in our work and personal lives. But how do we translate these words into something actionable? Here are three methods I have used in my business to accomplish this: 1. Focus on what […]