Our new house has a breakfast bar just after you walk in the front door, tempting you to drop anything you're carrying as you enter the house. Since a mess of keys, magazines and toys there is visible, ugly, and in the path of spray from the kitchen sink, it...

So I'm sitting here at SXSWedu, waiting to hear Bill Gates deliver the closing keynote and pondering a question my wife asked me this morning: Are you going to talk to him afterward?

My first instinct was to say no. I know he'll be barraged with fans after...

If my writing has been a bit sparse lately, it's because I've just completed an interstate move. Predictably, a bit of chaos ensued as I transitioned office, home and family from Albuquerque, N.M. to Austin, Texas. My active client roster at the office and our infant at home -- sources...

Engaged employees work harder, produce more, lead happier and more fulfilled lives, and create better societies. They thrive at work, at home, and in life. Lucky for your employees, you're sophisticated enough to grasp this, and evolved enough to want to create it for them.

Actually, that may not...

You're a complex, intelligent individual who stands at the forefront of an extraordinary change in our civilization. Your daily choices have an unprecedented level of influence over how members of our society will interact with each other over the decades to come. You're in position as one of the constructors...

Have you ever wondered why digital speed limit displays work? I'm talking about the ones that flash your current speed in lights on a sign. If you think about it, they really shouldn't make a difference. They don't do anything to make you slow down, and they don't tell you...

I swear I read something recently about a recession, but I must be mistaken. Based upon my experiences over the last few weeks, I can only conclude that we're right in the middle of boom times.

I'm not looking at economic indicators, unemployment rates, or trade balances, mind you. My...

I'm at the airport, nearly alone. I'm between the last group of flights out and the next one, so I've landed in the calm between: No airplanes grace the gates, no harried passengers bump each other in line, no agents scramble to complete boarding processes on time. If it weren't...

Politics has a way of coming up in conversation. Ordinarily, I welcome a little friendly dialogue about the candidates, the issues, and the ads. The problem is, discussions lately seem a lot less friendly, and a lot less like dialogue. And they're not just coming up. More and more...

I tried mightily to avoid the Internet video of the guy shooting his kid's computer, but it went viral and I was doomed. I'm won't post a link, for reasons outlined here, but you can find it easily. It's become equally impossible to avoid the follow-up comments posted...

One of my favorite ways to open a keynote speech is to talk about how, in today's workplace, it's possible to be so busy that you never actually do anything. I bring it up jokingly: if we're all so busy that we can't do everything we should, and if we...

I was both amused and mortified by a recent blog post -- not on Huffington, mind you -- explaining how to secretly become pregnant while feigning the use of contraceptives. The author (no link provided, for reasons that will become obvious) rambled for paragraph after poorly written paragraph -- intermingling...

I can make lasagna from scratch. Chicken parmigiana too, and several other complex dishes. But I can't tell you how; I don't know until I begin. That's because my parents taught me to cook without teaching me.

My parents, you see, are talented chefs. And for the better part of...

I'm not a political commentator -- far from it. But I recently wrote an article lamenting our leaders' handling of the national budget. I was bold enough to include a few improvement suggestions, speaking not as a political pundit but as an expert in group interaction. According to...

In the mid 1980s, the owners of some taxis and commercial vehicles tried something new: they supplemented the two traditional brake lights on the rear corners of their vehicles with a third one, positioned high in the center of the rear. The results were astonishing -- a 35-percent reduction in...

I know I'm not alone in my frustration with our elected leaders' recent struggles with... well, with leadership. The fact that they created a financial disaster for our nation, and then failed to fix it in any permanent way, troubles me.

I'm not a close follower of the intricacies...

I recently read some new statistics about how terribly disengaged the workforce is today. Well, the article was new, anyway. The conclusion, on the other hand -- the fact that a huge percentage of the workforce is either trying to quit, waiting to quit or has already mentally...

Co-authored with Tony Deblauwe

Some people just "have it." They say the right things, hang around the right people, and get all the breaks. You're sure you're the best person for that promotion, but it goes to the "golden child" instead. Why not you? Is it random chance, bad luck...

Last year I got married, and my life changed in innumerable, positive ways. Among the many changes accompanying the evaporation of my bachelorhood, one in particular stands out: I now watch "American Idol."

Well, that one stands out to me, anyway. Until this season, I'd never viewed a minute of...

This may sound strange, but I don't think I've fully considered the ramifications of economic recovery.

Don't get me wrong, I've spent the past few years pondering it in the abstract. I've thought about how to best position my business for when things turn around. I've thought about what...