When to cut your losses

The $1.7 million trap started with a promise. A successful restaurateur, educated at Wharton, gave away her empire piece by piece. Not to a sophisticated con artist, but to an obvious fraudster who couldn’t even keep his story straight. The gravitational pull of...

The art of deliberate practice

The paradox of perfection “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle The perfect loaf of bread doesn’t exist. Neither does the perfect presentation, strategy, or product launch. What exists is the...

See what you want?

We all do it. Cherry-pick data that supports our beliefs. Dismiss evidence that challenges our views. It’s not just human nature – it’s confirmation bias in action. The Stakes Are Real A Yale study found that 76% of business decisions are influenced...

The Crux

Every mountain has its crux – that make-or-break moment where success or failure hangs in the balance. Identifying your crux is the difference between breakthroughs and breakdowns in business and life. Richard Rumelt explains in “The Crux” that we...

Death of status meetings

The dreaded Monday morning status meeting: Teams robotically report updates, minds drifting to cold coffee and unanswered emails. It’s not just boring—it’s toxic. Keith Ferrazzi’s research shows that traditional report-out meetings reinforce silos...

Double standard trap

It’s fascinating how our standards morph when roles reverse. We demand excellence from others yet grant ourselves generous wiggle room. Studies have found that over 75% of managers hold their teams to higher standards than they hold themselves. Maya Angelou...