This past Labor Day, I couldn’t help but reflect on what I’ve discovered while becoming acquainted with the ‘biotechnology belt’ just north of San Diego, home to a a cluster of approximately 500 companies that are now busy developing some unique innovations in  health care, energy and food production. Since my introduction to some of

While on a recent flight from São Paulo, Brazil to Montevideo Uruguay, I found myself reflecting on how important sleep is to revitalizing your body. This was undoubtedly due to the very packed schedule I had been on that had caused my head to spin every night for two whole weeks, resulting in a profound

“The last mile is always the hardest,” goes an old adage.  Well, that’s never been more true than where sustainability is concerned. In telecommunications, the “last mile” refers to the point where all of the infrastructure built by networks finally connects with the retail customer. (Examples offered by Wikipedia include copper wire subscriber lines, coaxial

Wanting to unwind a bit after a recent meeting, I joined a friend and a colleague for a little informal get-together. Over glasses of wine, the three of us spent some time discussing relationships, people and life in general — no business talk, no agendas, no drama, just pleasant, interesting conversation. The next day my

Had any “casual collisions” recently? I was fortunate enough to have experienced one not long ago. By “casual collision,” I don’t mean a parking-lot fender bender that you would hope to steer clear of. I’m rather referring to the kind of serendipitous encounter  made famous by a couple of employees at Google headquarters who became

Sometimes, we give advice to other people, only to end up taking it ourselves. A recent example is the way in which I was reminded of the importance of  properly “framing” whatever you are talking or thinking about – that is, presenting it in a context that generates a more positive spin. It came about

In a recent blog, I offered some advice to anyone suffering from a “sinking feeling” that was given to me many years ago: to “always be cork.”  While I have utilized this analogy for many years, I never  quite realized just how amazing this resilient tree bark really is until I happened on an article

Among several upcoming forums on innovation and entrepreneurship, one in particular caught my eye since it’s expected to draw some 1,500 attendees to New York City next month. This got me to thinking about how anxious people are these days to learn the secrets of coming up with marketable and potentially lucrative new ideas –

Those of us in the cutthroat world of business might all do well to borrow a leaf from George Washington’s book.  Or, to put it more precisely,  we might do well to borrow the benevolent spirit found in a note he wrote to one of his key rivals. It was in October of 1777 just

In a previous blog, I wrote about the positive effect that extending a small courtesy or accommodation to one’s customers can have in any business, noting how a woman attendant at a gas station had made my day by allowing me inside its convenience store before opening time to brew a cup of tea. But