May 6, 1954 was a cold and windy day in Oxford, England. It was far from ideal conditions for a race, but it was also the day Roger Banister broke a record. He wasn’t a professional athlete, but a medical student with a knack for running. He set out on a wet race track and […]

Apple made a great leap forward in communications and mobile computing in 2007 when it launched the iPhone. It couldn’t have done this by sticking to all the things that made it a pioneer in desktop computing. The company tried to launch the Newton handheld computer in 1993. The product failed and this setback stung. […]

Building a successful organization requires interpersonal skills as much as knowledge of finance or marketing strategies. Perhaps the most important tool in the relational toolbox is the tenacity to have tough talks that lead to the sort of necessary change that makes growth possible. Here, three individuals relate their most difficult conversations, revealing insights and […]

Former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward could have immediately and swiftly announced that the explosion of the British oil giant’s rig, Deepwater Horizon, had led to an environmental disaster that dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. But he didn’t. Over a 10-day period, Hayward would go from […]

Thanksgiving did not become an official national holiday until 1941, but it had roots that extended back to the founding of the first American colonies. The Plymouth colonists in 1621 did indeed have a thanksgiving harvest celebration with local Indians, and apparently ate eel and venison (but maybe not turkey) as part of the festivities. […]

This morning I had a list of four sizable items to accomplish. I knew it was an ambitious plan, but I tackled the day with confidence. I was determined to be a single-minded machine of efficiency, slaying tasks with unparalleled gusto. I started early, but it didn’t matter. As I write, it’s mid-afternoon and not […]

The journalist W. James “Jim” Antle III was pressed up against a deadline on a story. He had been working with the material long enough that he doubted he could look at it with fresh eyes any longer. So he sent what he had up the editorial chain with a note. The note said that […]

Legendary jazz composer Duke Ellington once said, “I don’t need time. I need a deadline.” If that was true for Sir Duke, it is also true for you. When you have set deadlines, you are more likely to stay on task, make the most of your time, and achieve success in every facet of your […]

Will this idea that you are considering lead to a product that sells? This is the hardest question you and your colleagues will ask yourselves every day. There isn’t always an easy answer. Certainly you can easily dismiss the most outlandish product concepts, say a restaurant chain selling freshly-prepared pizza that people then take and […]

I wouldn’t have wanted to be in Nintendo’s board meeting when they looked at the number of consoles Sony and Microsoft sold compared to the number of Nintendo Gamecubes sold. Sony alone sold over seven times more PlayStation 2s than Nintendo sold Gamecubes. The Xbox was a brand spanking new console and sold a few […]