Many scoff at Larry Lessig. They say he is an optimist, out of touch with reality. But what is it that is said about the people who ultimately change the world? “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”- Ghandi Larry Lessig, if you don’t already know [...]
Author Archive | Nilofer Merchant
Watching HP Board Situation is Like Watching a Slow Bleed-Out
The New York Times Saturday quotes Patrick McGurn, special counsel for Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), who states that “shareholder efforts to remove directors in uncontested elections rarely succeed or come close, even in egregious circumstances.” In 2012, there were elections for 17,081 director nominees at U.S. corporations. According to ISS, just 61 of those nominees [...]
Visible Through Onlyness
Last week, Ellen McGirt (of Fast Company fame) and Susan McPherson (exec at Fenton and expert in CSR) and I co-hosted a Salon to discuss Onlyness, key to #socialera. Onlyness is that thing that only YOU can bring to a situation. As you see yourself, others can see you and the value you bring.
Google@Authors Talk
The most simple truths have deep implications. Today, the average person has access to information that, 20 years ago, only the richest billionaire did. I remember when as an analyst at Apple doing pricing and market research work, my job was to read the ($500K/year subscription) Gartner and IDC reports and get the nuggets out [...]
Savor This Moment
It is so easy to keep push, push, pushing. Well, not easy, really. Maybe the better word is conditioned. Through each achievement (or like, or tweet), there’s a rush of dopamine in the human system, that signals, “things are good”. Which creates a biofeedback loop to keep doing more of the same. As in, as [...]
Lessons from when TED Lost Control of Its Crowd:
Today, Harvard Business Review’s (the premier management magazine in the world) magazine for April was released. (Check out the upper corner, because this is fun news to share!) One of the featured 3,000-word articles is on Leading in the Social Era. It’s entitled, When TED Lost Control of it’s Crowd. In this article, I discuss [...]
Why We Can’t Solve Big Problems
The way we think about things is the reason why we can’t solve big problems. Not a reason, but the reason. For example, in charitable work, the success of non-profits is measured in how little money they spend in overhead, limiting who they can recruit, whether they can ask more people to be involved, which [...]
Feed the Eagles, Starve the Turkeys
A long, long time ago, a boss of mine at Apple, John Osborne, taught me 2 things that I swear have guided hundreds of decisions since. One was about when to fire someone and when to coach and such. And the other was on how to stop doing more (cause there will always be more) [...]
Thoughts (personal and professional) on Sandberg’s New Book, Lean In
I’m not one for book reviews in general, but I chased down an early preview of the Lean In book from Sandberg’s publisher so I could have a perspective on it, before it released. I have two. One is my professional take, and one is more personal. Let me share both, below. +++ 3 Reasons [...]
WalknTalks are Catching On
Hello friends – I haven’t been writing that much on the Yes & Know blog partially because I am still recovering from the adrenaline rush that I got from speaking on the TED2013 stage. (almost over it now) Since sharing the press that came right out of the event, 3 new bits worth sharing. First, [...]