There was a great post yesterday on the HBR Blog about how leaders can become chemically addicted to being right, and the dangers that poses.  When we’re in a tense meeting and trying to make a decision, or deal with opposing points of view in some way, our higher...

In an article out today in the MIT Sloan Management Review (subscription required), authors Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux discuss the importance of self-awareness among business leaders.    The article cites a survey of 75 members of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council that rated self-awareness as...

I’ve always thought that a quick nap during the day could help perk me up, but rarely felt comfortable trying to take a nap.  Where to go?  Head down on the desk?  What if someone walks in?  It was always too difficult, and not the norm.  Now a variety...

I read a fascinating piece in the New York Times magazine section yesterday about research into why some kids handle academic pressure well, and others crumble.  The article had all kinds of fascinating nuggets about genetic testing, and the two variants of the gene responsible for the enzyme that...

So my team lost in the Super Bowl on Sunday, but I’m not disappointed.  Thanks to the blackout, the 49ers took a breath, regrouped, and came back and made it a close game, led by a young quarterback starting only his tenth NFL game.  I’m often not a big...

Yesterday I attended one of my favorite annual events in San Francisco – the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Luncheon of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the...

What is action?  That question was posed at last week’s gathering of the San Francisco Bay Area Coaches   chapter of the International Coach Federation, where we were privileged to hear from Bob Dunham, who leads the Coaching Excellence in Organizations program at Newfield Network. So what’s the answer...

I’m delighted  that President Obama has nominated the fabulous Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Mary Jo is not only an incredibly talented and accomplished attorney — having put away mob boss John Gotti and the WTC bombers back in the ’90s, among others —...

With the beginning of a new year, defense giant General Dynamics’ new CEO, Phebe Novakovic, became the 21st woman Fortune 500 CEO, a first. Novakovic, along with Marilyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin’s recently appointed CEO, are the first women to lead the two defense firms. Three other notable tech companies...

I’m down in Marco Island, Florida, for the American Bar Association Litigation Section’s Winter Leadership meeting, one of 275 attorneys here that have been appointed to various leadership positions within the 60,000 member section. The ABA is one of the largest voluntary professional membership associations in the world, with...