Humble Questions Before Setting Direction
I've long been a fan of Ed Schein, and his book Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling is one of my favorite leadership books…
The Stabilizing Foundation of Values
We're living through some crazy times and dealing with issues that were not anticipated during planning sessions. Every day we're confronted…
Leveraging the Solitude of Leadership
I've long relished intentional periods of solitude to reflect and renew. I'll often take advantage of the six mile stretch of beach between M…
Metrics from the Perspective of the Customer
A core concept of lean is that value is defined from the perspective of the customer, and therefore waste is as well. We are familiar with both types…
Question Yourself
One of my favorite websites, Brain Pickings, recently turned 13. The reason it's a favorite is because it offers content that is challenging intel…
The Wisdom of Humility
Lately I've been reflecting 0n the impact of mistakes on leadership, and how important humility becomes to learning from those mistakes. An artic…
Herb Kelleher: Creating Economic Value Based on Human Values
A legendary CEO, Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, passed away last week. Many articles have already been written memorializing him, including thi…
Midnight at the Gemba
In the late 1990s I was working in the Silicon Valley for a Fortune-50 medical device company, responsible for a drug infusion pump manufacturing oper…