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Randomness and Flukes: Changing the Course of History

Randomness and Flukes: Changing the Course of History Issue 145, February 1, 2024 Hindsight is foresight, yet we may be better equipped to predict the future with the benefit of so much emerging tech. But what AI and ML don’t anticipate is the random moments that change the course of history. What’s frustrating is that you rarely see those moments in real-time. We suggest the reason is that we are looking for the wrong thing, making those random occurrences nearly…

Vulnerability as an Asset

Vulnerability as an Asset Issue 144, January 25, 2024 We’ve all heard about EQ as the skill and management strategy transcending IQ. Emotional Quotient is defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions (Wiki) and the ability to manage one’s own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict (HelpGuide). Any way you define it, it’s an essential leadership approach in today’s culture that is increasingly fraught…

The Risk of Certainty

The Risk of Certainty Issue 143, January 18, 2024 Human nature, at its deepest core, reinforces our longing for certainty and the prospect of security and stability. We don’t want things around us to change. We want assurance that what we know is true and real. We want certainty that we made the right decisions and choices so that outputs and outcomes will be what we expect. Ambiguity creates anxiety and insecurity and makes us defensive. Ambiguity makes most of…

What is Normal?

What is Normal? Issue 142, January 11, 2024 How many times have we heard, “the new normal.” Or conversely, the longing to return to what was normal. Or an optimistic claim to create a modern normal. Well, guess what, there is no normal. Nor was there ever one. We have operated in a disruptive, asymmetrical marketplace for over a century of continuous change. The difference today is the speed of communications that transmit the market conditions that we face 24/7…

Is This Us?

Is This Us? Issue 141, January 4, 2024 If you just landed on the planet from elsewhere, or you are a student of modern media, you might believe that America is polarized, disappointed, angry, mentally ill, always dancing in front of its mobile phones, and with a chip on its shoulder. Is this really us? Is this who we are? The issue is whether our actions, beliefs, and values are representative of who’ve always been. Or in the current fractious…

2023’s Reader’s Choice: The 5 Most Popular Issues of 2040 Ideas and Innovations

2023’s Reader’s Choice: The 5 Most Popular Issues of 2040 Ideas and Innovations Issue 140, December 21, 2023 2023 is wrapping up and we’re doing a reader’s choice this week. After all, we preach customer centrism and make it a practice with our clients. So, what’s interesting when we look at the top five newsletters we have published over 2023, which we sent to you and posted on LinkedIn, Medium, our website, and our Substack Newsletter, it says as much…

When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp

When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp Issue 139, December 14, 2023 Here’s a question for you as we wrap up 2023: Why have so many organizations reset themselves by dramatically cutting back on their staff and operations? Why did their aspirations seem so out of line with their new reality? Whatever happened to foresight? This syndrome makes us think of two quotes from two distinctly different individuals. Poet Robert Browning said, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s…

Inspiration for Commitment, Redefinition, and Reinvention

Inspiration for Commitment, Redefinition, and Reinvention Issue 138, December 7, 2023 What We Can Learn From Others For many of us, this year has been one of surprises and some unexpected gifts. Global events have become 24/7 headlines on our newsfeeds and most of the news is troubling. 2023 is the hottest year on record for the planet. Two wars are being waged simultaneously at great costs. Inflation remains a persistent worry despite improving economic data. The vision of an…

Bias Revisited

Bias Revisited Issue 137, November 30, 2023 If you have been following our newsletters, you know that we have a fascination about bias. In fact, from our observations about workplace dysfunction, leadership disconnect, market orientation dislocation, and digital transformation gone awry, conscious, or subconscious bias is usually at the root of the problem. It may sound simplistic, but what we don’t know we don’t know can shortstop the best of intentions and the most optimistic plans. When we think of…

Belonging Matters

Belonging Matters Issue 136, November 23, 2023 The most fundamental motivation among the human species is to belong. Belonging is implicit in sharing trust, affinity and caring about someone or something bigger than yourself. Renown philosopher Dan Dennett in a TED talk in 2006 encouraged everyone to dedicate and devote themselves to something more important than themselves to find meaning and purpose in their lives. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions whether the audience of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and…