“This idea about how things are changing is not new. Things have always been changing.”

So I heard in a Thinkers50 gathering with Howard Yu and Mark Greeven of IMD business school sharing their research on “future-fit” companies.

The difference now is the speed of change....

Wow - already October and after a weekend in China without access to email and social media I feel both behind and sadly aware of my addiction to my email and social media! 

I have a bone to pick about how we let our disdain for people not like us get in the way of better ways to work,...

This thought letter about future proofing life and work is now 100 letters old. Launched as a gift of ideas and conversation that was 100% opt-in, completely free and covering a range of topics and mindsets around creating better futures for yourself, your organizations and the planet. 

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The first summer I worked for a European company, my little American psyche was blown away.

“We’ll follow the Karakoram highway into Pakistan. It’s hot that time of year but you really need a month to do it properly so we’re going in August since everyone is on holiday...

Last week I shared a post on LinkedIn about the Zoom “back to work” announcement which generated a landslide of passionate comments. 

Having seen Zoom’s agility at the beginning of the pandemic when others were slow, there's for sure the possibility of schadenfreude, a...

The slower days of August are a perfect time to catch up with the big, juicy peach-like ideas in life.

While the fiber-filling red apples of Fall are just around the corner, right now there is a bit of space to read and listen and dream and make the weird connections that deliver insights and...

How has your summer gone so far? 

I just sweated through four weeks, two countries, six cities, a handful of mostly uninspiring hotels (beige as far as the eye can see), 13 college visits, family reunions and more fast food than I ever thought I would eat. 

(no, chicken fingers covered...

My route to board service has been more like a game of hopscotch. In my early 20s I was a nominee director on several of the startup boards our venture capital firm invested in. I had zero training and, in retrospect, provided little value beyond my executive role helping the companies with their...

When a company finds itself in crisis, what is the role of the board and its directors? 

We discussed a recent company snafu in a previous blog and I make a regular study of companies which make the headlines due to their poor governance (Theranos, Wirecard, Wells Fargo, Toshiba) as...

When I read the tragic tale of the Titan Submersible which imploded a week ago, killing all five people aboard, I had a familiar sinking feeling. 

“Where was the board?”

Like in the collapse of Theranos, WeWork, Weinstein & Co, Wirecard….where was the board?

My...