When you write online, no one checks to see if you have a journalism degree before they start to read. If you experience an earthquake and want to report on its danger or safety, no one asks your credentials before you report to Ushahidi. And if you were interested a creating a new company, you [...]
Tag Archives | Personal Story
Advice to Writers
When I was in grad school, I had this habit to clean the house to avoid the act of studying. I would study with some amount of focus for 20 minutes, and then go scrub the tub and so on. Someone could have created a barometer of sorts for how near it was to Test [...]
Upside Down, Shake It Up
About 18 months ago, I was sitting teary-eyed and fatigued with my peer CEO group, explaining that I was going to give up. I felt like such a failure. While there were many good things, a bunch of stuff in my life wasn’t working. As I tried to fix each thing at a time, I [...]
Steve Jobs’ Legacy: Design Your Own Life
While there are many things worth celebrating of Steve Jobs’ life, the greatest gift Steve gave us is a way to design our own lives. Steve Jobs was known for being a design god who sweated experience, and pixels and, well, everything. “Design,” he once said, “is a funny word. Some people think design means [...]
What Steve Jobs Taught Me About Growth
Finding that first market — a few customers willing to pay for your early product – is hard enough. But there’s one thing that may be even harder. And that’s finding the second market. Especially because companies are often so focused on protecting what they already have. In 1996 when Steve Jobs first returned to [...]
Infected with Comparisonitis
I got infected with a terrible disease this week. I didn’t realize it for a bit, but the diagnosis is now complete. I almost don’t want to tell you about it, especially in the gory detail, because it is hideous. It is equally raw, and ugly, and festering. I fear you will find me hideous [...]
And, Who Are You?
The quiet and art-filled office space overlooking majestic oak trees, the joy of working with Mike Mace, the significant source of income for our family. These were things I thought of when I thought of what I was losing when shutting down Rubicon. What I didn’t think of until it happened was this: when you [...]
Lesson from the Precipice
More than once I have stood at the very edge of a precipice before a grand vista, and each time has given me an unforgettable experience. The Grand Canyon, Yosemite’s Half Dome and the top of the Eiffel Tower can all thrill me like nothing else. Or they can terrify me, setting my knees aquiver, [...]
The Snot Factory Story
People say that their faith is tested during tough times of job loss or divorce. But, I’m not so sure I had much faith to test. You likely know my story of getting fired because it was shared in Harvard Business Review’s forum on failure. That is the secular part of the story. I have [...]
Being Imperfectly Ourselves
I sometimes wish I was a Harvard graduate, that I was a 4.0 type student, that I could still do a mean regression analysis, that I had been a CEO of a major corporate company, and was already being called as a corporate director on boards like Nike, Nordstrom, or Amazon. But I’m not. I [...]
Subscribe
Sparks. Right there for the taking. Do it.
About Nilofer…
-
And, Who Are You?
-
What Replaces Marketing
-
What’s Your ScoreBoard?
-
Rogues, Misfits Or Heroines?
- Is TED Elite?
-
Just How Powerful Are You?
-
Resilient Organizations & Open Networks
-
Advice to Writers
-
The Synergist; Valuing All the Roles
-
What defines scale?
-
Michele Tilander: This identifies many of us who know that while oth...
- The dilemma of ‘free’ | Journeys towards Justice: [...] a taste of the amazing: Nilofer Merchant rec...
-
Nilofer Merchant: I really like slide 7 because of the full Wizard o...
- Can Women Leaders Truly Succeed In Your Organization? - Carge77.com: [...] chosen professions, regardless of gender, cr...
-
Susan: Enjoy your posts. This one struck a chord. The so...
Author of “The New How”
Recent Comments