You may have heard the expression “the problem is, you don’t know what you don’t know” used to describe how unknowns create risk in decisions. (You may also have heard the expression “too bad stupid doesn’t hurt”…but that’s just funny). In general though, when we hear someone speak “with authority” we assume they know what […]

On Wednesday, March 03, 2010, the ABC station in New York ran a report about a New York City police officer who went public about quotas. Apparently, the police are given specific targets to meet for arrests and summons. The complaint was that the quotas were being enforced blindly…so officers had no choice but to […]

In his book “The New Brain,” Richard Restak describes a study where scientists first taught a monkey how to move a cursor (to get food). Then, they implanted an electrode in such a way that, after some practice, allowed him to move the cursor only by thinking about it! He controlled a cursor on a […]

Once again, it is time for the annual ISPI international conference. San Francisco. I have a series of things to do on Wed. But I’m just an attendee on Tues and Thurs. The kick-off is usually the time to figure out the “big ideas” for the conference…hopefully, we will be focusing on more than just […]

In Tom Peters’ book “The Little Big Things,” he argues that cross-functional cooperation results in measurably better results. Not new but true. We’ve seen it. What’s different, is that Peters goes further in citing a number of seemingly little things that drive that effectiveness. For example, co-locating people. Using round conference room tables. (You can […]