Digital Transformation: In the late 70s and early 80s, we had lots of discussions about what the heck the internet was. My colleagues and I were all electronics engineers or software programmers, so we knew about the technology, but what was the real meaning of and use of the internet? What did it mean to society in general? There was …
The Past: If we spend most of our time living in the past, that can lead to depression. So history is, of course, important. But we can do nothing to change it. Of course, we can learn from history to avoid making the same errors, but even using the past for that purpose is problematic. Today’s situation can not, by …
An Engaging Story: General Electric (GE) was a significant brand as I grew up and not an insignificant player in my Electrical Engineering undergraduate course. So, I am interested in understanding how such a great company could have gone off the rails. Uncharacteristically, I chose to listen to the audio version rather than purchase the electronic version of this book. …
The Challenge: It’s been a while since I’ve done any significant plumbing work. Still, over my lifetime, I have done a fair amount of maintenance around our homes—carpentry (not good at it), electrical (good at it), and plumbing (I get it done). However, when it comes to plumbing, my mantra is, “never start a plumbing project unless the plumbing supply …
The Challenge: Well, aging is not for the faint of heart. About a year ago, I started noticing getting a lot of double letter strikes on my keyboard while typing. I do a great deal of typing, so this problem is not acceptable. So I spent time figuring out how to “de-bounce” the keys. Nothing seemed to work. I decided …
Beyond the PIG and the APE: Realizing success and true happiness, By Krishna Pendyala and Mike Vargo Backward: Authors Krishna Pendyala and Mike Vargo suggest we have things backward: Success may not make us happy. But, on the other hand, learning to be happy may well bring success! Further, he suggests that we are happy because we belong to life, …
Curiosity: One of the attributes of strong leaders is curiosity. But curiosity takes much work. And brain work takes energy—science tells us that the human brain consumes about 20% of our total body energy budget. That’s why another common trait for solid leaders is keeping themselves in good physical condition. They pay attention to their mental and physical health through …
It’s More Than Data: If we take the time and make an effort, we can find the stories hiding in our data. I began thinking about this when a friend presented me with some demographic data for our state (California). The data showed that there was negative population growth for the first time in many years.
Organizational Clarity: A couple of weeks ago, a client and I discussed some of the issues he had with his peers. He couldn’t understand why they didn’t go ahead and do the work when he assigned them a task. “Why,” my client asked, “won’t they do the work?” His manager asked him the same question he had just asked me.
When our children were young (it seems like yesterday!), we would often sing nursery rhymes while traveling in the car. One of them was, “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.” I won’t go through all the verses (if you’re interested, you can watch it on YouTube here: https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/there-was-old-lady/), suffice it to say that this mythical old lady somehow swallowed a fly, “I don’t know why she swallowed a fly—Perhaps she’ll die.” And then, to solve the fly problem, she, in turn, swallowed a spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, and finally, a horse. She died, of course.