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China, Black Holes, and Trump Supporters
As I reflected on my own challenges with adaptability, I started to understand something about Trump supporters that has eluded me. Read more
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Influence Aikido
The purpose of Aikido is to reconcile disharmony. The purpose of boxing is to overpower your opponent. Which practice most closely matches your assumptions about influence? Read more
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Who Needs What?
In October of 1962, through a series of backchannel negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cuban Missile Crisis came to an end when Attorney General Robert Kennedy met with Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin to broker a deal involving the removal of US missiles in Turkey. The US… Read more
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A Customer, a Client, and a Consumer Walk into a Bar…
The consumer said to the customer, “I could really use a cognac.” The customer told the client, “I can only afford a beer.” The client asked the bartender, “What do you have that tastes like a cognac for the price of a beer?” If, like the bartender you sell solutions (sorry), some off-the-shelf and some… Read more
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Gives and Gets; The Road to Disengagement
It’s that time of year when goals are set and performance contracts renewed. The official corporate clipboard awaits this year’s scorecard. Santa is not the only one who keeps a list. Consider your most important relationships: family, life-long friends, partner or spouse. It would be bizarre to judge the relationship based on a scorecard that… Read more
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Invite a Philosopher to your next Meeting
The story goes that my parents met with my sixth grade science teacher during a school open house and when they asked him how I was doing in class, he told them, “Well, you know what we say about Jay; often wrong, but never in doubt.” I will never know for sure what happened during… Read more