Two ideas are pinging around in my head these days: First, a deep concern that we in the United States no longer have a clear social compact that unites us. No shared values, no clear mission. Joe Nocera sums up the American climate perfectly in a recent op ed, in which he describes the German [...]
Continue Reading →
On Saturday I had the fortune to go down to Zuccoti Park with Jeff Sachs, his daughter, Hannah, and a couple of his staff from the Earth Institute. I had been wanting to get down there for weeks, but I’m on crutches with a bad femoral stress fracture and haven’t wanted to risk going alone, getting [...]
Continue Reading →
Around the country there will be barbecues, fireworks and mid-summer revelry. At Coney Island, 20 prodigious eaters – 10 men and for the first time 10 women (a dubious indicator of gender equality) – will vie for the coveted mustard-yellow international belt at Nathan’s 96th annual hotdog eating contest. Nathan’s will atone for its annual [...]
Continue Reading →
Astute change management and communications professionals have long recognized the need to engage social networks in any major change project. Social networks came long before Web 2.0. The best discussion of social networks in the analog world comes from Everett Rogers’ classic book, Diffusion of Innovations. Everett uses concrete examples of change – condom use [...]
Continue Reading →
No discussion about improving the quality of political leadership can omit the critical role of followers or constituents who, inevitably, affect even an autocratic leader’s behavior. As John Gardner observed, “Leaders are almost never as much in charge as they are pictured to be, followers almost never as submissive as one might imagine” (On [...]
Continue Reading →
In the corporate world, leadership development programs are standard fare. Such programs often include well-defined competencies and performance metrics, as well as regularly scheduled feedback and mentoring sessions, especially for those employees designated “high potential” performers.
Not so in the public sphere. There are no defined career paths or standardized training curricula for heads of [...]
Continue Reading →
Here’s an interesting tidbit: Pew did a global survey asking citizens of many countries around the world if their country was heading in the right direction. In only one case did a significant majority of those polled say yes, their country was heading in the right direction: China (87% positive). Fifty percent of Brazilians answered [...]
Continue Reading →
All the frenzied commentary about Sarah Palin’s video gives her more credit than she deserves. You barely had to understand English to know what was wrong with her presentation. It was so completely devoid of authenticity, it really didn’t matter what she said: the rhythm, syntax, tone of voice and body language lacked what [...]
Continue Reading →
Oh boy. Eliot Spitzer? What gets into people’s heads?
Back in the old days, when these politicians and movie stars – all these high-profile types – were starting out, I’m guessing they never considered going to a pro for sex. They were busy working, growing, hitting personal and professional milestones.
So what makes these risky [...]
Continue Reading →
