I am more than “disappointed” by the overturn of Roe v. Wade this past week. I am enraged and full of grief for the women who will die. When I was in high school, before Roe was passed, several girls “got in trouble” (talk about blaming the victim). A couple of them had babies. They …
How Can You Use Your Influence and Power Instead of Hope and Prayer? Read More »
Imagine this scenario: You have an opportunity to keep your current salary and work for an organization of somewhat doubtful integrity. Or, you have an opportunity to make orders of magnitude more money—but that organization has a reputation for human rights abuses. What do you choose? More money creates more freedom in your life, for …
How Do You Choose Between What’s Right and Your Ability to Make Money? Read More »
(I can’t write about the shooting in Texas. My heart is too heavy. Instead, I’ll write about problems we can solve.) At a recent dinner, friends described this problem: “On a recent flight, we took off late. Many people on the plane had connecting flights. The flight attendants made the obligatory announcement about waiting for …
When Is a Small Application of Money the Right Tool to Solve This Problem? Read More »
Many of us search for our ability to “know” specific data. We want to know when the pandemic will end? When will the team finish their work? Or even when we will arrive at our destination? However, the farther out and the more specific we want that knowledge to be, the more it costs us …
In our daily lives, we manage all kinds of risks. We fill up our cars with gas so we get to where we’re going. In addition, I’ve learned to check the maps before I leave. That’s because the map in my head has pruned several non-local roads because I barely drove anywhere during the pandemic. …
How Do We Manage Risks Without Theater (the Illusion of Management)? Read More »
A client, Dave, explained his concerns and said, “I have no idea where to go from here.” He explained that he’d already gone through his reasonable problem-solving steps. He’d researched, asked the team to experiment, and asked his peers for help. Nothing was working. I asked, “Do you know about going “meta” on the problem?” …
How Can You Go Meta to Solve a Problem When You’re Stuck? Read More »
I learned something new this week, about falsifiable and non-falsifiable claims. When we use hypotheses to examine the world around us, we look for observations that can disprove that hypothesis. In other words, we want to see if we can make the experiment fail in some way, to understand more. As an example: Hypothesis: All …
How Can We Honor Other People’s Values and Move to Falsifiable Claims? Read More »
For years, I was a terrible photographer. When I took pictures of Mark and the children, I often cut off the top of Mark’s head. That was back in the days of film cameras and I never quite understood how to frame pictures. Until we developed those pictures, I didn’t realize how narrow my focus …
When Do You Choose to Narrow or Extend Your Focus? Read More »
During the pandemic, I chose to say, “Yes” to many speaking opportunities. Now, because I’m finishing books, it’s time for me to reconsider these requests so I can focus on the work I want to do more. (The more I speak, the less I write.) However, I’m lazy by nature. How can I choose to …
Which Forcing Functions Do You Choose as a Catalyst to Help You Change? Read More »
I stopped with resolutions years and years ago. Instead, up until now, I examined my systems and see where I might want to practice one small change. (See What’s the Smallest Change You Can Make? for one example.) That has worked well for me. This year, I’m experimenting with a suggestion via Daniel Steinberg’s Driving …
Stop Resolving: How Can You Challenge Yourself to Seize Each Day Next Year? Read More »