How to make requests that don’t frustrate people

Rotary dial telephone

I was talking with a client the other day about how to send emails to potential advisors, investors, etc. I think the natural tendency is to lead up to the “ask” because you are nervous about asking someone for their money, time, or connections. You feel like you have to tell the story and make…

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What stops you from taking action in your life?

Boy blocked by fence pointing at distant rainbow

How to overcome the biggest barrier to adopting successful habits How many times have you shared advice with someone only to have them say, “Pssht, is that all? Everyone knows that. It’s common sense.” But, I’m sure you’ve noticed that common sense does not naturally translate into common practice. During my decades-long career, I can’t…

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Designing for Love and Money – Fluxible 2013

Virtuous cycle of love and money

In this talk, Larry explores the battle between love and money as it applies to products, organizations, and even our own careers. Over the past 20 years, Larry has developed strategies to deal with this problem, both as an individual contributor and as an organizational leader. Regardless of where you happen to work, or in what context, it’s an unavoidable issue that every designer must face and resolve.

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Recap of Panel: Learn How to Sustainably Innovate or Be Left Behind

I moderated a great panel discussion on Sustainable Innovation yesterday on Focus. It was quite enlightening to hear insights from people who’ve been at larger companies like Facebook, Linkedin, eBay, and Yahoo; but have also been at smaller startups too. I raised the concept of “Compound Innovation” and wrote up some of my thoughts on…

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Why Do Businesses Fail to Successfully Adapt to Change?

Interesting infographic on GigaOM on why businesses are failing to successfully deal with disruption, competition, and change. Many of the reported causal factors will be quite familiar to anyone who has worked in a larger corporation. Although this highlights some of those factors, there isn’t much offered in terms of potential solutions to overcome these issues. Some…

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Developing Your Creativity and Innovation

Creativity lightbulb

I answered an interesting question on Quora today about creativity and innovative thinking. I’ve encountered this question in its many forms several times over in my lifetime. I remember one of the earliest being when I was in high school. The principal and a few teachers formed a very small research committee that included 5…

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Another Facebook Privacy Breach Today

Update: Special thanks to the folks over at Facebook. I talked with a couple of people there who looked into the issue. Turns out that this case was actually not a privacy bug. Rather it most likely a case of an unintentional “reply all” and some sort of synching fluke, so that a threaded conversation…

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