Collaboration — the ability to co-labor — towards a shared goal is a purposeful way of engaging many people and their ideas to achieve a shared vision.
Any time I have a chance to share my story to a good listener, I get to reinterpret the narrative thread that ties it all together. The story I would have told you of, say my Apple work experiences at age 25 would be different than the stories I will pull out now after nearly [...]
I was recently flying Virgin America on my way home from NYC. I usually check my watch just as the gates are about to close, to see if we’re leaving on time and the next phase countdown for the journey. In this instance, as I looked down, there was no watch. This watch was the [...]
In his most recent book Les McKeown mentioned that work teams needed to include the three different roles of visionary, operator, and processor. I was struck by this set of definitions and how useful they are. In my own experience of working with teams, it seems that almost everyone values the role of visionary when [...]
Most people think that ideas change the world. That’s not true. Ideas in our head do not create change. Ideas, co-created with others, fueled by the conviction of our hearts to do better, and then manifested in the real world – that is what creates change. We all have innumerable ideas. Some, of course are [...]
The Synergist A business book meant for the real-working leader, Les McKeown gives an intuitive model to allow anyone to lead. The notion is that every team needs a blend of visionary, an operator, and a processor. And the often invisible but crucial role that blends all these 3 is a synergist, able to find [...]
The last few weeks I’ve been as limp as a lettuce leaf that had stayed a few weeks too long in the fridge. This is not unusual. It is what happens if / when I do back to back events / workshops/ etc. I end up putting so much energy into the world to be [...]
We create a huge tax on everything we do when we insist on meeting more, later. Send stuff out that is best read so we don’t have to spend time slowly processing, together. Expect people to do that work on their own. They’ll thank you when they get 50% of their calendar back after you [...]
This year, I got asked to co-create the TEDbookstore with fellow TEDsters. I mentioned in an earlier post, it was a bit of a “sophie’s choice” moment because I felt like I could have done another theme and direction and chosen another 10 amazing body of work. There are two threads that unites these. Certainly [...]
This is part II of a series on how the social era affects every business model, from how we organize, what we produce, and what we sell. (Part I, the foundational rules of the social era can be found here.) Do let me know what you think.. and especially what you want to see addressed [...]
Vision is crucial. It is utterly irreplaceable. No amount of execution or financial success can replace vision. Why? Because, vision can lead the creative work of an entire tribe. (Not just of a few people who think about it all the time, but for everyone.) Vision is the art of seeing things invisible, Jonathan Swift [...]
