One of the most underused and undervalued tools in a leader's toolkit is the element of surprise. It is fun, really; you can lie in wait in your office with the lights out, and when someone walks in, yell, "BOO!" All kidding aside, the idea of surprise can often be used not just as a culture builder but as a robust tool for building unique and effective relationships inside and outside your organization.

Organizational challenges are undeniable realities. They can be negative, such as declining profits, or they can be positive, such as lack of focus during a hyper-growth period. Regardless of what they are...

We all have 99 problems, but solving them should not be one.

Because, you know, clichés exist for a reason - they, after all, are based in truth (or at the very least describe reality). If that is the case, then why do so many writers/bloggers/pundits out there do so much to speak out against the use of clichés (simply do a search for the word cliché, and you will see as many posts about avoiding them as anything else)?

That is not to say that I have never been there before (well, I do not mean to brag, but it is a regular thing for me). It has taken me years to perfect this method (see my post on how I get things done). So the method that I have produced is very simple and very compelling. In fact, I can guarantee that my method will work for anybody.

As a matter of course, everyone, every day, is faced with a series of decisions. A constant onslaught of decision points interweaves the fabric of our lives. It starts at the first dawn of consciousness and ends with its last flicker. The very moment we experience lucidity is the very moment we have to make a decision.

Sometimes, when we look at competing ideologies of organizations, we can easily fall into the trap of considering those ideologies as absolute or a binary construct. If we like one, we can’t like the other. So, let’s dive into two of the more critical voices in organizational culture: Edgar Schein and Peter Drucker, the heavyweight champs (as it were).

I have been on a never-ending quest to be more personally productive. From using note capture services to pen-to-digital tools to creating my own format for daily notes to using Obsidian, I am constantly tinkering with things.