Sometimes when I’m stressed I like to go down into my basement and play the drums. I’ve been playing them since I was 10, and one of the things I’ve always liked about them is that you can hit them as hard as you want. You’re supposed to hit them, in fact – that’s the…
The April 2025 issue of National Geographic featured an awards show of sorts – 33 individuals around the world whose work (at least according to National Geographic) is improving the world in some way. Many of them, as you might imagine, are doing things related to the environment. Several, however, were businesspeople, and two in…
Marketing. The very word has the potential to send shivers down the spine. Most of us just want to do whatever it is we do, not spend our lives telling people about it. And yes, I’m saying this despite the reality of social media, which is almost exclusively people telling other people about the stuff…
Since the title of this article is slightly ambiguous, let me elaborate. If your question is, “What’s the best way to win an argument – loud angry shouting, or calm reasoned discourse?” then I can answer that right now. Do the latter. Problem solved. But what we’re talking about here is the method by which…
I’m just coming off a very lovely few weeks with my family. We saw friends, went skiing, and spent 12 solid hours on Christmas day together in the living room playing with new toys and games. It has been great. And it has also been educational. Because sometime during all this family-ness I realized that…
At its most basic, effective leadership consists of two key components. One of them is the human element – that’s the part where you’re showing and telling the people who work for you that you’re glad they’re there. This is the piece of leadership that gets the most attention, because there are an endless number…
One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about my job is the opportunity to meet people living in places I would otherwise probably never go, doing things I know almost nothing about. It’s given me a chance to see a much broader cross-section of the world than I think most jobs allow for, and my…
By now you’ve heard the news – everyone is quitting every job everywhere. Nobody is actually employed anymore, and the great engine that runs our global society is grinding to a shuddering halt. In fact, it’s probably a good time to start stocking up again on toilet paper. Chances are the people who make it…
Last month I wrote an article about what to do when you have nothing to do. It was designed for individuals who were starting to get tired of walks around the neighborhood and board games and all the things we’ve spent five months doing waaaaay more of than usual. It was a great article, possibly…
I know that you probably don’t consider yourself to be in the profession of public speaking in the strictest sense. That’s because you, like most people, are smart enough that you’ve managed to accumulate skills you can’t pick up as an infant. I, on the other hand, learned how to talk and apparently decided that…