As a college student, I was a volunteer on Joe Biden’s initial race for U.S. Senate. I recalled him saying something like, “If I’m elected, come see me in Washington.” Twenty or so years later I did just that. I put Biden to the test. It was after a speaking engagement in Washington, D.C. I was about to head to…
I used to think summer vacations should be a time to not think. Turn off the brain, tune out and drop off the map was the idea. Read a mystery novel or biography. Take a dip in a different pool. And above all, don’t follow the news cycle or get tethered to the goings on back at the office. Some…
In 2009, after a speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Summit (Russia’s Davos), I wandered into a panel discussion on the topic of trade wars, led by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. My thought was: “why this topic?” Trade wars were not on most people’s radar, certainly not mine. But the question is: should they have been? I’ve been ruminating of late about this…
Several years ago, when my nephew enrolled in business school at the University of Southern California, I asked him to ping me whenever the topic of innovation came up. He pinged very little. As an innovation speaker and expert, I’ve long been frustrated with the lack of innovation in the teaching of this increasingly vital topic. The one course he took…
On a recent adventure tour of Morocco with seven dear friends and a super country guide (pictured on my right), my goal was to disconnect and not think about innovation. Not possible! For 30 years, I’ve studied innovation and lectured on the subject and it continues to engage me. Yet on this trip, what emerged was an appreciation for qualities…
