Does Multi-Tasking Work?

Do you find yourself answering emails while on conference calls, and sometimes even when you're on the phone with one person? In meetings, do you pretend to take notes on your laptop but really surf the Web or order lunch? Do you eat lunch at your desk, or text while driving? Multi-tasking has been shown to lengthen the time to finish a task by an average of 25 percent.

The Hidden Costs of an iPad

Four additional deaths and 18 injuries at Foxconn, the Chinese company that builds iPhones, iPads and other electronic gadgets for Apple and other Western companies, have again shed a harsh light on working conditions there. But consumers worldwide keep clamoring for cheaper, better and faster tech gadgets. Is Apple right or wrong to produce in China?

Insigniam Recommendations for Davos Leadership

Insigniam Performance released a series of recommendations today for the leadership of the Davos World Economic Forum. The consulting firm believes the WEF has the opportunity to engage leaders in driving true transformation and crafting global initiatives for change that actually make a difference.

Lost in Translation

Have you heard this one? The bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation.

The lady sitting in front of them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following: 

Martin Luther King: Masterful Listener

As we remember the civil rights leader and Nobel Peace prize laureate Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday, his "I have a dream" oratory still rings in our ears. But few of us know that King was also a consummate listener; and that in fact his speech made history only once he let go of his scripted remarks, allowed himself to "listen to the listening," and gave voice to his audience's innermost desires. That makes for transcendent leadership.

Was Steve Jobs an Innovator or Just a Tweaker?

Malcolm Gladwell just published a piece in the New Yorker arguing that Steve Jobs did not really invent anything, but merely tweaked and repackaged existing products. Is Gladwell right? Or was Jobs a large-scale visionary and innovator?

What's Wrong With Machiavelli? Rebuilding Your Leadership from the Ground Up.

The current challenges affecting our organizations, economies, and nations are really symptoms: We are facing a leadership crisis. If we are serious about transforming the practice of leadership, we have to go back to its roots: to the hidden assumptions of the current, obsolete leadership model. In fact we have to go way back: 506 years.

TED talk: access to authentic leadership

There are over 70,000 leadership books on Amazon.com that describe and explain leadership. But do they give access to being a leader? I was honored to give a TED talk last month, entitled "Leading Through Language." It has just been uploaded on YouTube. 

"Culture Clash" at Lac Léman Communication Forum 2011

In case you haven't seen this yet...

Watch & Learn:

• An innovative method of mapping cultures across the globe along four fundamental cultural dimensions.
• Why knowing how to bow in Japan or whether to bring wine in Singapore has never lost a cross-border deal, but knowing the eight hidden dimensions of culture is the secret ingredient for success.
• How I prepared for working with the prime minister and cabinet of Kazakhstan (yes, that's right, Kazakhstan of Borat fame) and knew next to nothing about what made them tick; and how doing the right homework got me a standing ovation and customer intimacy.

Lost In Translation: The Hidden Drivers of Culture Clash

Have you heard this one? The bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation.

The lady sitting in front of them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following: