During the Cold War, America would fly spy planes over the Soviet Union to count how many bombers they had. Knowing exactly what the Americans were doing, the Soviets laid out hundreds of fake, wooden bombers to trick the Americans into thinking that they had a much bigger capability than...

There is a difference between giving directions and giving direction.

Direction is the far-away destination to which you are heading and directions are the route you will take to get to get there.

As leaders and managers, we often forget the distinction.  When we want to tell someone to do...

Republicans are completely befuddled by Obama’s “star power” and don’t seem to have a clear or effective strategy to compete. Though they are able to coordinate their messages better than Democrats, absent a leader who can clearly articulate a Republican vision for America, the only thing they can do is...

Most Sundays throughout the year,  the New York Road Runners organizes races in Central Park. They range in distance from a mile or two to distances just shy of half-marathon length.  Though there are medals for the winners, hundreds even thousands of New Yorkers take part simply for fun or...

As anyone who has every held a job can attest, at some point in one's career you will work for someone who clearly has less talent or ability than you do. On a regular basis you’ll ask yourself, “how is that guy my boss?” The answer has less to do...

Leadership is only part vision. The other part is the ability to communicate that vision. President Obama is failing to lead America into a new era of health care reform not for lack of vision, but because he's not talking about it properly. Worse, he's starting to sound like "just...

Offering CEOs big money to come and run companies does not guarantee great leadership. In fact, the practice may attract the wrong leaders altogether.

With banks failing, the auto-industry a mess and Steve Jobs returning to work after his secretive liver transplant, it's a good time to raise the subject...

"I'm homeless. I'm hungry. I've got 6 kids. I've got AIDS. Pleas help. God bless," reads the handwritten cardboard sign sitting in front of the homeless man. Sometimes we are drawn to give and sometimes we're not. Regardless of what you may think is happening that sign he are holding...

There were three words missing from Bill Gates' goodbye speech when he officially left Microsoft in July of this year. They are three words he probably doesn't even realize need to be there. Three little words: "I'll be back."

After abdicating his role as the head of Microsoft to Steve...

In Iraq, the Sunnis and the Shiites don't get along well enough to affect any sort of functional government. America implores them to get work together for the good of their own country.

In Palestine, Hamas and Fatah hate each other. America begs them to work together so they can...

It's 11:40am. A perfect summer's day. Not too much humidity. The streets are alive with people. I'm in a taxi, trying to get through New York City traffic to Penn Station to catch my train to Washington DC, which leaves at noon. My train leaves in 20 minutes and I'm...

It's 11:40am. A perfect summer's day. Not too much humidity. The streets are alive with people. I'm in a taxi, trying to get through New York City traffic to Penn Station to catch my train to Washington DC, which leaves at noon. My train leaves in 20 minutes and I'm...

For passion to survive it needs structure. But for structure to grow, it needs passion.

90% of all new businesses fail. And most of the companies that don't fail won't become billion dollar businesses or change the world. Why is that?

Ask those who didn't make it and the most...

Want to know what's going on with Starbucks? Like so many companies that achieve such levels of success, Why the company was founded in the first place has been forgotten. The cause that drove them to change American culture has now become something much less inspiring -- now, it's all...

Driving loyalty is very different from driving repeat sales. There are always reasons people will do business with you that have nothing to do with you -- timing, price, convenience, lesser of evils and force of habit are just a few. These things can help influence an initial sale and...

Clinton is the perfect candidate for the rich and Obama is the perfect candidate for the masses. That would be my conclusion if I were to audit their respective campaigns as if they were brands on a shelf. From their campaign strategies to their pitches, both candidates have carved out...

There is a difference between ambition and leadership.

This might explain why too many recent Presidential elections boiled down to the lesser of two evils. It may contribute to why Congressional approvals are so low. It factors into why too many CEOs of public companies across the...

We live in broken times. Our economy is fast forwarding into recession. Our currency is no longer the "mighty" dollar. Our enemies have moved from not trusting us to attacking us and our allies are the ones that simply tolerate us. Partisan bickering is at an all time high and...

On July 29 th, the Iraqi national soccer team became what any leader in Iraq has failed to be -- a symbol of cooperation and optimism. Their victory in the Asian Cup has, for a short moment, galvanized a people and reminded them of the idea that is Iraq. In...

Unless American companies dramatically change the way they do business, there will be no end to the alarming trends they are experiencing.

Since the economy went global, a flood of competition pushed American companies into the most complicated business conditions in history. In less than 30 years, so many of...