Reed Harrison

This is a wonderful program on Bloomberg TV.  Apparently I’m not alone in liking it; it’s now in Season 8. For 30 minutes, Rubenstein interviews leaders, roughly from business, government, and philanthropy circles.  Examples:  Novartis, John Kerry, Amazon, World Bank, BET, Federal Reserve, Chevron, Coinbase, and Sylvester Stallone. He teases out his interviewee’s background (where […]

#Leadership. You’ll often see me cite stuff from the Harvard Business School.  Why?  Over the years, I’ve come to trust them.  Their ideas and recommendations are timely, practical, and most important to me, based on real-world research … hard facts not “fuzz.” So, from the Harvard Business Review, Mar-Apr 2023.  “… Do the best leaders

I’m often asked for advice on getting promoted.  There’s no silver bullet.  There are no guarantees.  It may not be ”fair.”  I’ve seen a lot of people who deserved a promotion and didn’t get one … and a few people who got promoted and flamed out. At some point, we all stop getting promoted.  End

Sheila Dixon was Baltimore City’s Mayor (for 3 years) after being City Council President (for 7 years) in the 2000 to 2010 timeframe. She appears to be a young 70-year old; she does good sound bites. In 2009, she was charged with a 12 felonies and misdemeanors:  4 counts of perjury, 2 of misconduct, 3

Some statistics on different countries’ “pledges” of military aid to Ukraine flashed by my consciousness.  I wondered if the US was shouldering more than its fair share of the load.  The answer is no. How much of a country’s wealth do they commit to Ukraine?  I found a neat table with aid to Ukraine (financial,

How do you deal with a volatile, unpredictable world?  How do you futureproof your institution?  In part, by becoming uber resilient.  (I say “in part” because becoming more adaptable is also important.  But that’s not what I am thinking-out-loud about here.  I am focusing on risk and risk mitigation.) Why become uber resilient?  Well, if

  This thinking-out-loud was triggered by an article in the September 2023 IEEE Spectrum: “Europe and China Solidify AI Regulation … Meanwhile the U.S. toys with nonbinding blueprints.”    Global technical standards are commonplace and have proved beneficial.  Why not the same for regulations in the tech world, specifically data privacy, reducing AI risk, and

  The Spirit of Service:    At its peak, the Bell System employed a million people.  Our job was providing telephone service and keeping it working.  We believed we were providing a public service.  Telephone service was vitally important to the well-being of our Customers:  calling the fire department, an ambulance, or the police, for

  On too many days, our world seems to be nothing but bad stuff.  COVID-19 pandemic death and illness and disruption … the war in Ukraine and the Middle East … mass killing of innocents getting their groceries, going to school, worshipping their God … inflation.  How can you not be bummed out?    And

I’m 37 and working at AT&T Network Systems, leading strategic planning.  Network Systems was AT&T’s then $10B networking equipment and software business.  We’re exploring some deal with Fujitsu.  It’s right before Xmas. 14 hours non-stop in a sawed off 747 from Kennedy to Narita.  I have 5 lasting memories: Who said everything in the Bell