I caught up with an old friend one evening while I was on a business trip in southern California earlier this week.  After spending most of her career in larger companies with mature processes, she had recently joined a company still in the start-up phase.  While she has learned to appreciate that “putting steel in […]

Last week Bloomberg published an article about Cisco Systems that made me sad.  It describes the effects of a management process put in place shortly after I left the company.  According to the article, it has slowed down the company, led to executive resignations and damaged the predictability of quarterly results.  For those of you […]

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wished everyone on your team was more like you?  Communication would be so much easier and everyone would just get along all the time.  Or so we think.  What about creativity and innovation?  Aren’t diverse teams better for coming up with novel ideas?  I am […]

“What is your biggest failure and what did you do about it?”  That was one of the questions I was asked following my presentation at ITESM.  I wasn’t prepared to answer that, so the only thing that came to mind are the handful of spectacular communication failures that have occurred in my career.  Busted!  While […]

When I was invited to speak at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I knew the Guadalajara campus is the 2nd largest of the largest technical university in Mexico and they offer multimedia, technical/engineering and business programs.  So I expected a large, fairly modern campus with […]

I just got back from Guadalajara, Mexico where I gave a presentation at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, the 2nd largest campus of the largest technical university in Mexico.  The reception from the faculty, students and local industry was wonderful.  Much to my surprise, the auditorium was packed!  Interactive presentations are a […]