Commentaries

Surprising truths about human motivation

January 5, 2013

In DRiVE, Daniel Pink reveals what he characterizes as “the surprising truth about what motivates us.” For example, he examines “the mismatch between what science knows and what business does. The gap is wide. Its existence is alarming. And though…

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My Favorite Lily Tomlin Quotations

January 4, 2013

Lily Tomlin is a comedienne, actress, and writer. She was born on September 1, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan. Over the years, she has made people laugh with her humorous characters from the child Edith Ann to the snarky operator Ernestine.…

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Martin Lindstrom on sensory branding

January 4, 2013

In Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy, Martin Lindstrom notes that “the effects of sensory branding are astounding. Yes, it’s possible to create a truly spectacular commercial or an advertising jingle you can’t get out of your…

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How to Motivate Disgruntled Employees

January 3, 2013

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here. * * * No one likes to manage unhappy employees. They can be…

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How cognitive computing works

January 3, 2013

While exploring the resources at the IBM website, I came upon several videos that you can check out by visiting YouTube. In these videos, IBM’s SyNAPSE team explains the hardware, software and science that form the foundation of their cognitive…

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Make haste slowly in January

January 2, 2013

There is no shortage of business advice about how to get off to a fast start during the New Year. Not so fast. The Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, is generally credited with offering this advice to his generals: “Festina lente.”…

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The power of collective integrity

January 2, 2013

In The Economics of Integrity: From Dairy Farmers to Toyota, How Wealth Is Built on Trust & What That Means for Our Future published by harperstudio/HarperCollins, Anna Bernasek provides “a tool kit for creating more integrity anywhere in the economy. When policymakers are thinking about changing health…

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The power of allophilia

January 2, 2013

In the Introduction to Crossing the Divide, published by Harvard University Press (2009), Todd L. Pittinsky explains that allophilia is “a term for positive feelings of kinship, comfort, affection, engagement, and enthusiasm concerning members of a group different from one’s…

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Who is Ernest Becker and what is his relevance to today’s business world?

January 1, 2013

Ernest Becker (1924-1974) was a cultural anthropologist and interdisciplinary scientific thinker and writer. He is probably most famous for one of his nine books, Denial of Death, published in 1973 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 (for general non-fiction)…

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My Favorite Picasso Quotations

January 1, 2013

Although Picasso (Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, 1881-1973) was in several respects a dreadful human being, he was nonetheless one of the great artists during the past century and remarkably quotable. These are among my personal favorites: Action is the foundational…

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