June 2008

Podcast: The Zen of a Messy Desk

The Zen of a Messy Disk Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1284)
Summary: Are you struggling to keep your desk clean because having a clean desk makes you happy or because you think you should have a clean desk? Is the simplicity of having a clean desk a need you have, or are you making someone else’s need your own? True wisdom is knowing what you [...]

Read the full article →

When Selling Gets in the Way of Sharing

There has historically been a bias against money-makers among intellectuals. Being an academic, I inherited this bias without really thinking about it. It’s only recently that I began thinking about it again – and as normal I got there via a weird route. I’ll spare a lot of the historical details, but I’m not saying [...]

Read the full article →

7 Ways To Stop The Internet From Making You Stupid

That’s right, folks – the Internet is making us stupid. It’s actually changing the way we think, and not for the better. Sure, anecdotal evidence is somewhat sketchy, but I’m sure many of you have felt the feeling that the many hours you’ve spent online has subjected you to more content but has made you [...]

Read the full article →

Redesigned Productivity Planners Available (For Free!)

I finally got unblocked and finished up the redesign of the Weekly Productivity Planner and the Daily Productivity Planner. Pick them up here: [Instead of updating this post every month, I'm sending you to the place where I keep all the planners up to date. The link will send you to the "Free Planners" page [...]

Read the full article →

4 Ways to Effectively Guide Your Team

In our last installment of this series, we discussed setting the vision for your organization and developing SOPs. At least, that’s what the series list says. When I started writing this series, it was more like unconnected braingoo than a series of linear thinking. I did some scaffold-assisted planning and saw that some structure would [...]

Read the full article →

Share Your Vision and Standardize Procedures For Effective Leadership

This post is a continuation of The Elements of Leadership series. Knowing your team is critical if you are to lead them, but knowing what you want them to do is just as paramount. Your job as the leader of your team is to effectively communicate your vision for the organization and to initiate and [...]

Read the full article →

Using Paper to Scaffold Your Productive Motion

I’ve read two great posts this week that I’m going to tie together with some other thoughts I’ve been having. Thus, I’m violating the “one post, one topic” blogging wisdom – but bear with me as the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts. I’ve mentioned before that I started writing about [...]

Read the full article →

To Lead Them, Know Them

This post is a continuation of The Elements of Leadership. To effectively lead people, you have to know who they are. I’m not talking about learning their names and positions. Where do they live? What’s their spouses’ and kids’ names? Who are their favorite musicians and sports teams? These are the types of questions that [...]

Read the full article →

The Elements of Leadership and Decision-Making

The art of leadership takes years to learn, mainly because knowing how to lead requires knowledge of yourself, knowledge of those you lead, and knowing how to get things done. Despite these variables, there are elements of leadership that will apply in any context. I’ve been in a leadership role in one shape or another [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries