The mood I am finding these days is meh: it’s neither happy, nor sad; neither hopeful, nor hopeless; it’s not optimistic, but not entirely pessimistic either. I ask the people I know how are they doing and their answers are similar to those I get from strangers I meet, for…

You may have worked for a “peace and pay” manager at some point. They are the ones who never rock the boat, never take risks or chances; the ones that don’t want trouble and reject by default anything that isn’t tried and true. I can’t complain much about the supervisors…

In my workshops I talk about the SKF — Stephen King Factor — to discuss the emotional and mental strength that it takes to do good work of any kind. I watched King explain his commitment to his writing and the secret to his success: if you don’t succeed, get…

Problem solving is a practice, not a one-and-done deal. I don’t know who tricked us into accepting that if you set people to work on problems one time, they will get to the solutions that will change our organizations and institutions — or humanity, for that matter; if there are…

The word project comes from the Latin projectare, which means “to shed light onto a place that was in darkness before.” Shedding light has a double meaning: to illuminate — give meaning for the first time; and to clarify — align expectations to get to a shared understanding. This first…

Imagine a society where retirement would not exist because people would willingly work all the way through simply because the work they did would be so fulfilling, such an integral part of who they are, that they would not contemplate not working. Work is always work, no matter how much…

In the worst months of the COVID years I turned to drawing and sewing with the same discipline and joy a monk turns to meditation and chanting. When I woke up, I spent an hour drawing, before I started my work work; at COB, I plugged in my Singer and…

Years ago I met a jewelry artist who had worked in silver all his life and didn’t seem too curious about other materials or techniques. I asked him if he didn’t get bored and tired of working with the same material and why was he not interested in experimentation. “I…

Innovation is a big puzzle or, rather, a puzzle of big pieces. The piece of creating new knowledge that will propel an organization or government to innovate for the benefit of the people they serve, and their own (not always in that order). The piece of the transformational leaders, competent…