For anyone who has anything to do with corporate meetings…

tactics

Find a window…and another window

August 19, 2011
cling

Of the many critical things I was taught as a fireman that I have since applied to just about every other aspect of my life, this one ranks pretty high. Here it is: always have a second way out of the room. In the case of fighting a fire, there is no guarantee that the [...]

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For THAT? Give ‘em THIS.

August 12, 2011
ideas

Frans Johansson wrote an incredible book called, The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts and Cultures. The point that he makes excruciatingly clear is that, quite often, inspired ideas come from the unlikeliest of places. Here’s an example from Johansson: “Volvo has delved into a new, fascinating, and intersectional, initiative.  The [...]

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There’s more than one way to skin a…

July 22, 2011
lego

Note: I am fascinated by LEGO® products . Always have been. And I recently learned some things that took the WOW factor up several notches. * There is a proprietary software used by LEGO Group that takes any image and transforms it into a 3-D image…a blueprint of LEGO bricks, layer by layer. This took [...]

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When it doesn’t matter where it goes

July 12, 2011
medium agnostic

Imagine you’re a newspaper reporter…and you’re on assignment to write the article of the century—front page, above the fold, breaking news. It’s going to take at least a year to research and write the story. But the newspaper world is a bit, shall we say, shaky…and your editor honestly can’t tell you where your final [...]

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The tip of technology

July 8, 2011
tip

I had horrible service the other night at a restaurant. My gut reaction was to not leave a tip, but in the end I couldn’t do it. Why? Because tipping—waiters, cab drivers, hair dressers—has become part of our culture. It’s what we do. Which is funny and so wrong. T.I.P. actually stands for ‘To Improve [...]

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Choices: the guts of ‘invention’

June 24, 2011
ingredients

A songwriter can write an original song, but she doesn’t invent new notes. A painter can paint an original painting, but he doesn’t invent the colors. A writer can write an original story, but she doesn’t invent new letters. A chef can cook an original dish, but he doesn’t invent new food. What these artists [...]

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Beyond the stretch interlude

April 29, 2011
move

After a long hiatus (and by ‘long’ I mean: since high school) from moving legs quickly for any reason other than work or catching trains, I have recently taken up running.  And besides the obvious benefits here: health and fitness; I’ve noticed a reward that I didn’t see coming when I laced up my Nike [...]

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If you build it…

April 1, 2011
BerryLemonade-H412-new

…they’ll still come, but they might not own it. I’m wondering if you’ve heard of Jones Soda. Here’s a micro-brewing soda company that was competing against Coke and Pepsi because it had to, because they’re there, huge and not likely to go away any time soon. So, Jones Soda had to do something that would [...]

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Message extenders: Music

February 2, 2011
sound

Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Bryan Adams Heaven comes on the radio and in an instant you’re back in junior high, dancing with your crush. You can smell the unmistakable aroma of the school gym. You can feel the way the button-down shirt clings so tight you can’t breathe. And [...]

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