"We tried that and it didn't work?"
"We've already tried something like that and it does not work." One of the most difficult challenges of innovation is knowing when to discard an idea or hypothesis because "it does not work." Sometimes, a change in the external environment, such as the launch of Apple's iPhone Apps Store, can cause a piece of software suddenly become valuable.  And sometimes, the addition of what is seemingly a

Sign me up as Chief Talent Officer
The modern economy puts an increasing premium on human talent over physical resources. Well-run companies, organizations, and universities are always on the lookout for talent. I know more than one CEO who argues that if you find someone good, hire them right away, and then figure out how to best deploy them. Talent is scarce, they say, so grab it while you can. Why doesn't the same applies

Anatomy of a cash-squeeze bankruptcy
I recently had a heartbreaking conversation with a small business man who started producing a new type of fruit juice a few years ago. His family business was his "dream come true," he told me. He was thriving. This past month, he had to file for bankruptcy even though he was making money. Here is how it happened. He was doing well, growing his business by getting distribution in large

Effective scientists are like wandering ants
Science is basically a bunch of little steps. Many little experiments that explore cause-effect space. If you find a new example of cause and effect, the payoff is unpredictably large. Scientists don’t like thinking of themselves as wandering ants. But that’s how they are most effective. This goes against human psychology because wandering (Nassim Taleb calls it “tinkering”) is low status and

"I found it hard to give away what I had earned"
Yesterday I blogged about Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion, an attempt to rally both the interfaith and secular communities around a unifying concept.  Today I want to talk about an extraordinary book that builds on the same concept and  links it to generosity in action.  The book is Being Generous, by Ted Malloch. Malloch, who comes from the Christian faith, describes how generosity