Blog

Adapt or die.  We’ve all heard that ultimatum before.  When the challenges that drive the need to adaptive are huge, systemic, pervasive, and quietly slow moving, such as an entire industry that [...]

This morning as I get ready to go to a Mother’s Day brunch with a friend who, also, did not have children, I’m thinking about a conversation at a bed and breakfast on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle a [...]

I’ve been thinking and writing about the Pervasive Leadership (PL) model for several years now.  It is one of the leadership models that can be useful in fostering organizational agility.  I’ve [...]

As I discussed in my last post, most people in organizational life these days find they live in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world.  This inspires people in both public [...]

On my desk today is a white paper from an internationally recognized coach and author for whom I have developed great respect.  I’m taking a class from her as part of my quest to understand the [...]

I was not raised in a family that flew.  My first flight was from Seattle to Frankfurt as a teen-aged exchange student.  I still remember looking out of the window over the north Atlantic and [...]

So, this is how the story goes, and I’ve told it a number of times now, so perhaps writing it here will result in telling it one time less. A couple of years ago I was meeting an editor for an [...]

A couple of months ago I was introduced to the notion of radical inclusivity by a colleague who was very concerned about diversity and inclusion.  When I asked for more explanation of what [...]

Everyone these days, it seems, is talking about leadership.  And, for good reason:  We are in desperate need of good leadership.  But what is good leadership? When I studied leadership theory as [...]

This topic was proposed by a colleague at a local monthly Sunday morning Lean Coffee I attend.  This Lean Coffee is held in a coffee shop in a garden like setting with lots of big windows.  The [...]

In June I previewed here that I was working on a forthcoming article on technical practices and consciousness.  It’s live now on InfoQ, and you can access it here:  [...]

The last couple of weeks, the topic of the value and risk of certifying professional practices and knowledge has been haunting me.  Perhaps this is because this coming Saturday I’m supposed to be [...]

I was thinking about the issue of trust—it’s nature, the breaking of it, and the rebuilding of it—the other day.  The occasion was likely my daily listening to the morning news.  It’s amazing how [...]

“I am the leader.  Your decisions are not final until ratified by me.  A decision made in my absence is not valid.” — Anonymous I sat next to a manager who was leading a failing project and [...]

At various points in my life, I have scented something in the wind around me and decided to follow my nose even when other people thought it was crazy to head toward what attracted me.  It works [...]

A great deal has been written about the importance of lifelong learning.  I remember in high school one of our instructors telling my class that ours would be the first generation for which [...]

I was attracted to the Agile movement through my interest not only in software but in conflict and collaboration.  I’ve had many fascinating experiences and met lots of smart, eccentric, warm, [...]

I’m sitting in a hotel room at the close of a conference where, for the last three days, the phrases “my team” and “your team” have come up repeatedly from speakers who are talking to roomsful of [...]

My good society will have strong individualism amidst community. – The Servant as Leader by Robert K. Greenleaf An interesting model of happiness (yes, there are models of what generates [...]

When I refer to integrity, I have something very simple and very specific in mind. Integrity, as I will use the term, requires three steps: (1) discerning what is right and what is wrong; (2) [...]