We expect a lot from our politicians. We demand that they simultaneously prepare for the future while preserving our heritage; protect the vulnerable while enabling the strongest among us to excel; and build tomorrow’s cities and countries while balancing today’s budgets. With challenges like that, success can only come when

Promotions, raises, pats on the back and even just the regular paycheck are among the ways organizations show their employees that they are valued and their contributions are recognized. But it’s not that uncommon for organizational rewards to be out of sync with the behaviors employees are told are valued.

A Chinese proverb warns us to be careful of our habits, for they shall become our character. It’s a concept that I think captures the importance of routine in developing us into the people we become. If we habitually condition ourselves to reject the untried, the unknown or the unusual,

The business world doesn’t expend much energy on problem finding. It’s an uncomfortable and often untidy process. And while many leaders consider themselves to be good problem solvers, most seem to find the idea of searching for new problems to be counter-intuitive. The “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,”

Few organizational challenges are within the scope of a single individual to solve. Moving innovation from insight to idea to implementation usually requires a number of people, ideally working together within a well-functioning team. Most of us, at one time or another, have worked in team environments that are frustratingly

Some of today’s most perplexing problems involve the need to improve processes. Around the globe, governmental organizations are struggling to make efficient use of scarce tax dollars in an environment of outdated, expensive and overly bureaucratic processes. Non-profit and corporate organizations are typically more nimble and capable of change-making, but