“What do you do here.” That is one of my favourite questions I often ask people in companies. It is interesting to hear people describe their roles, their jobs, their sets of tasks. Some people are self-limiting, I do administration, I’m the PA, some people are even proud of their limitations “I only do this,…

The subtle beauty about initiative is that it is not given, you just take it.  Unlike taking an apple or my spatlho, there is no loss to the rest of us. After you take it, we all benefit. You don't need permission, in fact you already have permission. You have permission to create, to speak…

The reason why people don't start things is because they are afraid they will fail. The reason they are afraid to fail is because they will be laughed at, shamed and shunned. This is how we have been indoctrinated from a young age that we laugh and shame at those who fail because we are…

Of course, the challenge of being the initiator, someone who starts somethings, someone who picks herself is that you will be wrong. You will pick the wrong thing, you will initiate something that will fail and you will waste time, you will be blamed. This is why being an initiator is valuable. Most people shy…

One of the best honors one can be afforded is the opportunity to write a book, but even more is the opportunity to review a raw, naked manuscript and contribute to the revieing and editing  of a book. My greatest pleasure and joy is to see people around me share their thoughts through blogging and writing.…

Sooner or later, the ones who told you that this is not the way it is done, the ones who found time to sneer, they will find someone else to criticise, ridicule and shame. Sooner or later, critics stop pointing out how much pride you have, how you are not entitled to make a new…

Wouldn't it be great to be gifted? Don't you wish you were born talented: In fact… It turns out that: - choices lead to habits; - Habits become talents; - Talents are labeled gifts. When Aristotle says "We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act but a habit" It means we were…

Working on the hard part is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you would rather not deal with: Fear of failure; Fear of standing out; and Fear of rejection. Doing the hard part of your work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through…

Every time I read a management or self-help book, I find myself saying, “That is fine, but that was not really the hard thing about the situation.” The hard thing is not setting a big, hairy, audacious goal. The hard thing is retrenching people when the company is going down.  The hard thing is look…

In an industrial setting, the obvious plan is to seek out the easy work. You are more likely to get it done with less effort and then move on. The easy customer, the easy gig, the easy assembly line. Today, though, it is the difficult work that is worth doing. It is worth doing because…

I don't think winners beat the competition because they work harder. And it is not even clear that they win because they have more creativity. The secret, I think, is in understanding what matters. It is not obvious, and it changes. It changes by culture, by buyer, by product and even by the day of…

.... admitting when you are wrong. It is easy to hide, to ignore, to say you didn't do that or didn't say, or to say you said even when evidence proves you are wrong. Admitting that you are wrong is rare, which makes it more valuable than hiding. There is no better test to a…