Imagine you worked for Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical specialist, and you discovered there was the raw material for 20,000 radioactive dirty bombs in civilians hands… spread throughout the United States, and you were in charge of finding them. What would you do? Quick Facts: Over 20,0000 “sealed-source ” radioactive “fit in your pocket” sized …
The end of a calendar year is a natural time for personal reflection. It’s a process I do every year, as a way to celebrate victories, examine lessons learned, and gear up for the year to come. Each year the format varies. This year I journaled the answers to seven questions, perhaps you will do …
Mark Twain reminds us that we should take our brains out once in a while and stomp on them up because they get all caked up. I’m a firm believer in the value of asking provocative questions each December to prepare for the next. Since this year is winding down, now is a great time …
“You want us to do what?!” That’s what the forty engineers and IT experts in my Reinvent Yourself and Thrive course at UCLA Extension’s Technical Management Program said when I gave them their out-of-class assignment. Their homework was to make an unusual, strange, or ridiculous request of a total stranger where the odds of rejection were …
I just finished teaching Strategic Thinking and Planning for Leaders at UCLA Extension’s Technical Management Program. I’ve now taught this esteemed one-week program twice a year for over 30 years. This time around, the smart geeks and leaders in my course challenged me to capture my key teaching points using the alphabet. These tips will …
I love lighting people up with fresh concepts that expand their capacity to accomplish great things. This month I’m teaching project managers in Seattle, Olympia, and Portland how to turn their best ideas into outstanding results. Thanks to these Project Management Institute chapters for inviting me to speak their members. My life purpose is to help smart people transform their …
Like home-baked bread, strategies deteriorate with time. Since they aren’t labeled with expiration dates, astute managers periodically review and update their strategies and plans to keep them fresh. To help you get started, I’ll share a simple model I’ve developed for my clients that reflect the -THINK-PLAN-ACT themes of the Association for Strategic Planning. Each theme …
A few years ago I served with several other strategy experts on the Association for Strategic Planning’s certification task force, which developed the first-ever program for certifying strategic planners. I was tasked with identifying the best strategic planning approach, along with Howard Rohm, president of the Balanced Scorecard Institute. There are many different approaches offered …
You are already working hard, here are some ways to work smarter. Know your big whys. Be clear about your life and business visions to keep you above the daily fray. Align your daily/weekly/monthly goals to your longer-term bigger picture goals and dreams. Set daily objectives. Setting targets for each day the night before boosts …
Among my life and work priorities, refrigerator management ranked low on the list. After all, a refrigerator was just a simple self-contained system to keep food cold. Food goes in, gets chilled, comes out, gets cooked and eaten. Never did I imagine that this big humming box of cold could offer life-changing lessons in the way it recently …
