Monthly Archives: February 2011

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren’t sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when … Continue reading →

Serendipity has been voted one of the most popular words in the English language. It is also one of the hardest to translate. Conversationally, it is used as tantamount to luck, providence or chance. It has brought us Aspirin, the … Continue reading →

Innovation is not simple, but there are simple ways to get better at it. One of my favorite techniques is to remember a game that many of you probably played in your childhood — musical chairs. For the uninitiated, it’s … Continue reading →

Editor’s note: This post is part of a three-week series examining innovation in health care, published in partnership with the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. By the time I saw Mr. Johnson (not his real name), he had received … Continue reading →

This post was co-authored with Melinda Marshall. In real life, as in the film Black Swan, Natalie Portman wants to win not only the leading role, but also its attendant accolades. And on February 27, she may well fulfill her … Continue reading →

Featured Guest: Bernd Vogel, assistant professor of leadership and organizational behavior at the Henley Business School and coauthor of Fully Charged: How Great Leaders Boost Their Organization’s Energy and Ignite High Performance. Download this podcast

When my wife Eleanor was a little girl, maybe nine or ten years old, she needed new shoes. So she told her mother and they agreed to go shoe shopping the following Saturday morning. But when Saturday rolled around, Eleanor’s … Continue reading →

Editor’s note: This post is one in an occasional series on Vijay Govindarajan’s and Christian Sarkar’s idea to create a scalable housing solution for the world’s poor. Each post will examine the challenge from a different perspective, including design, technology, … Continue reading →

Managing and leading — the two sides of being the boss — are difficult and growing even harder. You must get the best from your people in a tough environment, meet the ever rising expectations of your organization, satisfy increasing … Continue reading →