Preamble:     I’ve had, to me, an interesting life.  I never expected, much less planned, its twists and turns.  There are 2 common threads:  1.) being close to diversely talented people who I genuinely liked, found interesting, and learned from … and 2.) finding myself in an...

In 1956, when most classrooms still had chalkboards and film projectors, our third-grade class in Hagerstown suddenly had a TV.   Not for cartoons — for school. We didn’t know it then, but we were part of one of the first experiments in digital learning. Before...

Thinking Out Loud here. As always, I’m inviting comments and perspectives.   2 totally unrelated items in the most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review (HBR, Jul-Aug 2025) caught my eye.   1.  “Speed Is a Leadership Decision” in an interview with Amazon’s...

5 years of revenue and profit decline. Terrible product quality. Customers openly unhappy. And the biggest competitor? Owned by our customers. That was the situation when I was asked to lead the turnaround of a 1,000-person business unit at AT&T Network Systems. Most...