Leadership

To Generate Innovation Ideas, Questions Are The Answer

Where do innovation ideas come from? Conventional wisdom says organizations must look outside to innovate. Innovative ideas exist out there, not in here. Not where everyone is too vested in the status quo. Too risk averse and change resistant. But wisdom isn’t conventional and innovative ideas aren’t rare gems to be found. Innovation is aRead… Read more »

Impostor – What If You Feel Like It’s You?

Imagine knowing that you are not the person that others seem to think you are. A true impostor. Like Ravi Desai, who persuaded Slate.com via e-mail that he was actually “Robert Klingler”, “North American head of BMW”. Slate published two articles by “Klingler” before alert readers pointed out that they could find no references toRead… Read more »

An Inside View of President’s Meeting with SES

This guest post was written by Dan Chenok, executive director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government. This week, John Kamensky and I were privileged to attend the meeting of Senior Executives at the Washington Hilton, at which President Obama spoke as well as several agency heads. The event helped to frame whyRead… Read more »

A Beautiful Woman

She was standing at the head of the line, irritating all of us. What the heck is taking so long?  I thought it and felt ashamed. Here I am at Caffeine Anonymous: am coffee junkie. The guy in front of me was doing a strange, nervous dance. His toddler was impatient too, and he wasRead… Read more »

Who Will Be the Next “Mayor of the Pentagon?”

The selection of the next Secretary of Defense is in the headlines. But there’s a new senior-level Defense position that will be important in coming years, and who is appointed will matter. Years ago, career executive David O. “Doc” Cooke was informally called the “Mayor of the Pentagon.” He was responsible for the internal administrationRead… Read more »