There’s this company based not too far from me in downtown Seattle that routinely makes the Top 10 lists of Most Innovative Companies. You might have heard of it.
It’s called Amazon.
Amazon is run by the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos. Bezos took the crown away from the previous richest man, Bill Gates (who also lives relatively close to me, albeit in a slightly more upscale neighborhood).
So Jeff Bezos is one ...
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You have a choice.
Right now.
You have a choice over how you will spend this unique moment in history.
Right now, most of us are in some version of a quarantine, self-isolation, or stay-at-home mandate. Like me, you have a choice over what you will do with this extraordinary block of time. And your choice is this:
Will you shut down, or will you ramp up?
You can use this unique moment in history as an opportunity to relax, chill out, and binge watch ...
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There’s a good chance that the coronavirus — COVID-19 — is disrupting your business and your life. It’s certainly disrupting mine. As a keynote speaker on innovation, I work in the meetings industry. In other words, I work in an industry that is predicated on large numbers of people gathering together in a single place. And we all know how that’s going right now.
The disruption might be different in your world. Perhaps you’ve been affected by supply chain issues. If ...
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John Hypothetical has a big exam coming up, and there’s a lot riding on the outcome. He prepares well for the exam, but he’s understandably nervous. When the big day arrives, he can feel his heart beating fast. Despite all his preparation, John chokes.
Emily Imaginary has the same big exam coming up, with the same consequences riding on the outcome. She also prepares well and is also understandably nervous. When the big day arrives, she can feel her heart beating ...
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70% of all change initiatives fail.
That’s a pretty startling statistic. Especially when you consider how important change is. I mean, we all acknowledge this, right? There aren’t many organizations out there saying, “You know what we need to do? We need to maintain the status quo, and we need to do it now!”
Every breakthrough involves change. Every innovation involves change. Every new product, policy, or service that moves you ahead of the competition involves change.
So change is vitally important—and yet ...
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Producing great results consistently is hard. Producing great results consistently—and under pressure—is harder. It takes a great deal of confidence to pull it off successfully.
But confidence, it turns out, is only half of the equation.
In a previous article, I talked about the importance of confidence when producing under pressure. And it’s true. Confidence is a vital attribute when you’re leading a team (even if that team has only one member—you) through a high-pressure situation.
Confidence, however, is no guarantee of ...
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I used to work 100 hour weeks.
I still do, on rare occasions. But back when I was first producing my weekly comedy TV show Almost Live!, they were routine.
And most of those 100 hours, especially the final 24, were in panic mode. I spent much of those 24 hours trying to hide the panic from my staff.
So why was I in such a panic? Because the pressure was overwhelming, and I didn’t know how to handle it.
Each week, we had ...
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Do you regularly find yourself in high-pressure situations? If you’re a leader (or a lion tamer), the answer is probably yes. And if that’s true, then it’s also true that you’re expected to produce under these high-pressure situations, right? In fact, that expectation to produce only adds to the pressure!
And that actually increases the chance that you’ll choke.
So how do you do it? How do you keep from choking in the big moments—the ones that really count?
There are few things more challenging to a leader than having to lead your team through a major change. You hear all the usual whining from your team:
Honestly, they sometimes sound like babies, don’t they?
Fine then. Let’s talk about babies. Specifically, let’s talk about birth.
A little over a week ago, I was on a stage in Vancouver, BC, giving a TEDx talk about creativity to 2,700 people. The video will soon be available online, where it could be seen by (fingers crossed!) millions.
The road to a TEDx talk—whether it’s seen by millions or just dozens—is a long one. At this point, of course, I don’t know whether my talk will hit millions of views, dozens, or somewhere in between. But I do know two ...
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