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The Art of Yak Shaving Revisited
A while ago, my son Teague introduced me to the concept of “yak shaving.” If you do a web search you get a few definitions which are variations on a theme. They boil down to something like “activities you find yourself doing which appear unrelated to the objective you started out with but which, in fact, are…
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Two Strategies for Enjoying the World Beyond Broadcast Television
We bought a TiVo with a lifetime subscription the day they went on the market 15 years ago. When friends asked how we liked it, I said, “we are spending a lot less time watching a lot more good television.” There were no more missed episodes of family favorites. We became experts at fast forwarding…
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The Power of Experiencing What Your Customers Are Experiencing
Do you know what your customers are experiencing when they use your product or service? If you had the same experience they were having, you could be knowledgeable, empathetic, and encouraging – you could be really helpful! Our kitchen faucet was about seven years old and the bracket under the counter had rusted out so the…
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Being Smart About Being Smart: Invite Others Into a Shared Thought Process
Arne Lewis, was my Art History professor and advisor. He combined a soft-spoken style with an intense curiosity about how people learn. I still remember his critique of my draft of my first chapter of what would be a hundred-page senior thesis. “There are a lot of provocative ideas here,” he said, “but I am…
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Three Secrets to Making an Impact: Pipelines, Timing and Exploring the “Adjacent Possible”
1. Prepare your pipeline of possible projects. I had a colleague once who explained to me that every year her boss told her that the organization’s priorities for funding had changed and that they would be looking for projects in other parts of the business to develop and promote. She should scale back her program. She smiled…
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Time You Made the Move to a Mac? What I Learned in the First Two Weeks
I finally have made the move from my PC desktop to a MacBook Air. I have been primarily using MSDOS and Windows PCs since the beginning (and CPM machines before that), so let’s just say “a long time.” I have even enjoyed customizing and repairing them on occasion. I have a sizeable knowledge investment in PCs,…
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Three Secrets to Becoming Your Own Tech Support – Your Children Will Thank You
According to family legend, my great-uncle Edwin said before he got into his first car, “Anyone who can drive a horse and buggy can certainly drive a car.” At which point, he got behind the wheel, put the car in gear and drove across the front lawn through the neighbor’s picket fence and finally came…