The 1950s were not as perfect as people with red hats like to think they were,…
The Most Important Productivity Lesson I Ever Learned
Back in 2003, right after university, I read a book that completely upleveled…
The Holy Trinity of Air Travel Convenience
If you’re a US Citizen who flies a decent amount, there are three things…
Examples of Bad Metrics
There are myriad books and websites describing the Top N Metrics in a particular…
The Difference Between Goals, Strategies, Metrics, OKRs, KPIs, and KRIs
Anyone who’s been in business for a while has had the conversation about…
How Technology Increases Production Without the Need for Humans
Over the last several years I’ve been reading extraordinary amounts about…
The Future of Work is Everyone Running the “Work” App
Let me propose one potential future to you—a future where most everything…
Companies Are Relaxing Their Degree Requirements to Find Top Talent
Glassdoor just compiled a list of top companies that are dropping college degree…
The Future of Content Destroys the Middleman
I think the content creation ecosystem—especially around blogging—will…
The Algorithmic Learning Series: Leadership
Art by Dan Tepfer This is an experimental series where I attempt to put Algorithmic…
Format Painter in Apple Pages
I mostly use Microsoft Word for documents because Office is the platform of business,…
One Answer to Failing Advertising is Customized Product Discovery
Everyone hates bad advertising, which is why the industry is in a freefall. But…
The Difference Between Precision and Accuracy
People tend to confuse precision and accuracy, and many of the definitions out…
How to Download Your LinkedIn Profile as a Resume
For some reason I get a lot of questions about how to create a resume from a LinkedIn…
The Mea Culpa Meta Game
I love the psychology that goes into post-outage write-ups. Amazon just had a…
Companies Exist to Serve Customers, Not to Employ People
I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the American history…
You Should Have Two Different Kinds of Hiring Interview
Most companies and managers today are making a fundamental mistake in their hiring…
How to Raise an Employee’s IQ by 10 Points in 2 Minutes
Everyone wants to get more from their employees, but there’s a simple trick…
Amazon Go Gets Shopping Right by Reducing Friction
Amazon Go is a new kind of store with no checkout required. We created the world’s…
Why You Should Hire Using Evolution vs. Design Thinking
Design Thinking, regardless of arena, has one or few people at the top dispensing…
The Future of Automated Value Exchange for Online Content Creators
The way online content creators currently make money is through ads. The value…
How AI Will Improve Human Customer Service (Right Before It Kills It)
One of the best things that came out of Uber was that it made cab drivers nicer.…
Desired Outcome Management (DOM)
For the last few years I’ve been working on a system that can abstractly…
Propagating Mission Language Throughout an Organization
I’ve been courting an idea lately, but have not been able to capture it…
The Paradox of Corporate Innovation
But Gerber faced the internal pressure of its organization, the need to operate…
On Pricing
I don’t think anyone at Netflix expects people to actually pay £8.99 for a…
Why You Should Treat C-Players like A-Players
When I was in my 20’s and early 30’s I wasn’t nearly as smart…
A Simplified Explanation for Why Oil Prices Are So Low
There are many theories and conspiracies for why oil prices continue to to drop.…
When Interviewing, Make it Clear That You’re Vetting Them As Well
But how do you figure out the culture of a company you’ve never worked for?…
Marc Benioff on What Companies Should Be Focusing On
Where do your ideas come from?I like to be around creative people. That’s a…
On Curation and Quality
Apple has always had a poor reputation among hardcore Android and other high-choice…
The Best Interview Question
I’m somewhat obsessed with how to find good people to do things. I’ve…
How Mobile Changes Everything
This is a powerful presentation by Andreessen Horowitz about how much mobile is…
Subway Getting Out-Subway’d
With 43,945 sandwich shops in 110 countries, Subway has become the world’s most…
You Should Write Email Like the BBC Writes News Stories
The text above is from a story on the main BBC website. Notice anything interesting…
Is the Investment Advice Industry a Scam?
The reason it is legal to open a palm reading shop is that the public understands…
Manage What Matters, Not What’s Measurable
There’s a simple formula for effectively managing something using metrics.…
For Metrics, Less is Often More
Metrics are like power and authority—once you’ve tasted them you think…
The Three Tiers of Competitive Advantage
My friend Andrew just came up with a brilliant concept that we’re calling…
How To Safely Get Interviewed by a Journalist
I recently did a class on how to handle journalists, and I wanted to capture some…
A World Without Middlemen
I’m fascinated by a trend that’s been accelerating over the last several…
It’s Not About Your Features; It’s About How Well You Implement Them
Last week’s WWDC conference in San Francisco got me thinking about what…
The Future of Work
The job economy is about to get Ubered. If you’re not familiar with Uber,…
Why We Have Abysmal Broadband in the U.S.
What bothers me about the U.S. broadband situation isn’t how bad it is,…
Replace To-do Lists With Calendar Placeholders
image from innovativelyorganized.com The alternative to the feckless to-do list…
Prison Privatization FTW
An American judge known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom manner was jailed…
Insurance Companies Make U.S. Healthcare Expensive
Because insurers are paid a fixed percentage of the claims they administer, they…
Three Types of Employees
Typically, organizations tend toward a MacLeod hierarchy with three tiers: the…
Business Owners Don’t Create Demand; Consumers With Money Do
I think conservatives are fundamentally incorrect about what creates demand for…
Consulting Tip: Three Ways to Breeze Through Airport Security
As a security consultant I do quite a bit of travel for my job. It’s something…