If You Think You Aren’t Biased, Think Again

Today’s Friday Fun Fact… Last week I had discussed the concept of confirmation bias and the impact that it has on innovation. In a nutshell, confirmation bias is our tendency to seek evidence that supports our existing beliefs and ignores or refutes evidence to the contrary.  While these biases can impact any area of our […]

Every Idea Can’t Be a Good Idea (transcription)

Here is the transcription for my Monday Morning Movie… The other day I was at Mohegan Sun, which is a casino about an hour and a half outside of Boston. And while I’m there I love to speak with the gamblers because each of them believe they have a system. They believe they have a […]

Every Gambler Can't Win

Today’s Monday Morning Movie… It seems like every gambler has a system that ensures they win more than they lose. Of course this can not be the case. The same is true with innovation. Everyone is convinced they have the next big idea and have all the evidence to support their belief. But most innovations […]

Innovate Where You Differentiate

This article originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum site, and is today’s Wednesday Work Wisdom… I subscribe to the 20/80/80 principle. The idea behind this concept is to focus your energies on the 20 percent of those activities that create 80 percent of the value. This can mean concentrating on the customers that […]

Voices of Experience Transcription

Here is the transcription of my interview with Theo Androus on the “Voices of Experience” CD, which is sent to professional speakers around the world. Alternatively you can listen to the audio recording. THEO ANDROUS: We kickoff this month’s edition of VoE with speaker, author, and innovation expert Steve Shapiro. Steve’s latest book is titled […]

Meander With Purpose (transcript)

Here is the transcription for my Monday Morning Movie… Back in 2003, I took a cross country trip that would forever change my life. On June 5th of that year I hopped into my car, and I drove 11,000 miles over the next 90 days without any plans at all. It was totally unscripted. I […]

What is Leverage…Really?

Today’s Wednesday Work Wisdom… I recently attended a training class where the instructor was telling professional speakers how they could leverage their content as a way of making money in their sleep. The reality is, the focus was really on how to make products, not how to make money. Let’s face it, at the end […]

Avoid Target Fixation (transcription)

Here is the transcription of my Monday Morning Movie… Although I’ve never been in the military, I’ve worked with military groups. There is a term that I believe they use called “Target Fixation.” Target Fixation basically means that if you focus too much on a target, you might end up hitting that target. If you […]

Avoid Target Fixation

Today’s Monday Morning Movie… The military knows the dangers of something called “target fixation.” This is where you overly focus on the enemy, and as a result you subconsciously end up crashing right into them. The same thing occurs in business. When we focus on the enemy (the competition) we subconsciously end up replicating what they […]

Are You Playing With a Full Deck?

Today’s Wednesday Work Wisdom… Personality Poker is a tool I developed for helping organizations play with a full deck; enabling them to have a good balance of complementary styles. Why? Because opposites don’t attract. As a result, organizations naturally homogenize around one particular style.  (See my article, “Your Organizations is a Cult” for more on […]