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 Andy Jassy. Amen. […]
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 people would have run. I said “Yes.” The Challenge The team was smart
Probably because of my outreach to legislators in connection with my advocacy for election reform, I get quite a few email newsletters from Maryland’s state delegates and senators and federal representatives and senators. (At the end of this post is a copy & paste of recent one from Maryland’s US Senator Alsobrooks.) The newsletters often
Current Events — Putting Some Metrics on Our Legislators? Read More »
I listened to a podcast today from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on AI. The participants were a BCG human moderator, a BCG human AI expert, and a BCG AI chatbot named GENE. You wouldn’t know the chatbot was a chatbot: it spoke naturally (albeit with a “computer” voice) and its answers and insights were thoughtful
Technology: BCG’s Advanced AI Chatbot GENE Read More »
I recently completed Lifeguard certification (American Red Cross) and a certificate course in AI & Career Empowerment (University of Maryland Smith School of Business) … and acted as venture capitalist in a mock pitch and funding competition (also at the Smith School). I posted about these on LinkedIn and Facebook. I got several comments basically
Life & Living: Widening my Lens — Lifeguard-ing, AI-ing, & Venture Capitalist-ing Read More »
While catching up on reading, I came across a brief but chilling article in Time titled: “New Lab Partner: Why AI Models Could Help Prevent – or Cause – the Next Pandemic.” The article cites a recent study where researchers asked AI models to troubleshoot highly complex lab procedures. The results? Ph.D.-level virologists scored just
Technology: Will AI be the death of us? Maybe. Read More »
Just to show that I’m not always buzzkill. So … Baltimore Heritage is a non-profit which is “dedicated to saving historic buildings and revitalizing neighborhoods … [and celebrating] the stories of our city’s people and places through tours and education.” Its director is Johns Hopkins, who, typical of Baltimore’s quirkiness, went to Yale. Anyway, Johns started doing “5
Life & Living: Baltimore Heritage 5 minute Videos Read More »
I am conflicted about this. I am skeptical that when push comes to shove, institutional investors will choose to invest in “no-layoff companies” that deliver lower growth and profitability over “layoff companies” with higher growth and profitability. I don’t like layoffs. They are a very real and heartbreaking tragedy for the people laid off and
The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner is a wonderful book about AT&T Bell Labs … and invention and innovation … at the world’s premier industrial R&D organization. The book is an easy read. For those who, like me, enjoy the human angle, there is lots to enjoy. Full disclosure: I loved Bell Labs. My kind
Business: If you’re into Innovation, you ought to read The Idea Factory. Read More »
