Strategic Partnerships In Uncertain Times     Just when we thought things were getting back on track with the waning of the COVID pandemic (fingers crossed), Vladmir Putin decided it was time to attempt to bring Ukraine back into the Russian sphere. As we know, that didn’t go according to plan. In fact, the failure of the Russian army to make quick work of the Ukrainian military is threatening the global order and sending shockwaves throughout the world, impacting pretty much everyone in one way or another.   The Russian invasion of Ukraine served to aggravate already shaky supply chains, which had a corresponding impact...

Your Business Is Seen As Lenticular     A little change in perspective can change everything. This is expressed very well in a Youtube video by Gaelen Abt, aka The Style Sherpa. In her recent Youtube video, “Making Quantum Leaps”, she spoke about how a shift in perspective need not be a giant quantum leap, but instead can simply be a small shift away from normal which yields a totally different perspective.   She gave the example of lenticulars. Although you may not be familiar with the word, you have definitely seen examples. It is a technology used in printing where lenticular lenses are used...

Succeed by Doing Nothing?     The year was 1665, and the Great Plague was raging through the city of London. Upwards of 15% of the population died from what we now know as the bubonic plague. Experts estimate that over 100,000 people perished.    Knowing this, who in their right mind would refer to these as the years of wonder? The answer is historians, specifically, biographers of Isaac Newton. Working from his home in Cambridge, to avoid the plague, Newton took the summer of 1665 through the spring of 1667 off from his studies and responsibilities at Trinity College. That’s right – Isaac was...

Success Through Deconstruction     The philosophy of deconstruction was developed in the 1960s by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, mainly for the examination and understanding of the relationship between text and meaning, and the fluidity of language.   And if you don’t understand that, neither do I. However, the act of deconstruction, whether in the physical realm or in our thoughts, ideas and imaginations, is a tool that can be applied to your business.   How often have we attempted to design a new product or service and run up against a brick wall? How often have we given this type of task to an employee or...

The Pursuit of Ignorance     As any business is aware, the more you know, and the more your employees know the better resource you can be to your clients and your fellow employees. In a 2013 TED TALK, a Neuroscientist at Columbia University, Stuart Firestein, praised the pursuit of ignorance. This probably goes against everything you were taught at school. Most likely all of you have spent a great deal of your life in the pursuit of knowledge. Always trying to know more. In his TED TALK, Dr. Firestein turned this on its head very succinctly by explaining that what it is we...