Leadership, teamwork, democratic workplace
Sometime ago, the Media Lab at MIT worked on something called the Jerk-O-Meter app. No, it was not something to alert American tourists talking too loudly, or to set off an electric alarm when someone’s smoking a cigar in an elevator . No, too bad, nothing like that. Rather the J-O-M was to listen in…
“WHENE’ER companions don’t agree,They work without accord; And naught but trouble doth result, Although they all work hard. One day a swan, a pike, a crab, Resolved a load to haul; All three were harnessed to the cart, And pulled together all. But though they pulled with all their might, The cart-load on the bank…
Democracy in the workplace has long been a theme in my research, teaching and writing, and for that matter, in my style of leadership. Typing Democratic Workplace in the search page for the blog’s archive, will get you to several mentions of the topic. Many workplaces, we are told daily, are incorporating AI Robots, or…
On Riga city streets – which is where I am right now – it’s easy to glimpse many faces, young and old, bemused or blank. Waiting to cross the street, I scan the faces assembled on the other side. When the green light goes on, we cross and get a closer, if surreptitious, look….
My blog on a star performer( in my eyes) who morphed into an alienated follower (AF), has me reflecting on how that happened. How did someone I valued and relied upon turn into an oppositional follower? Answering that question took me back to my “I quit!” blog of a few years ago.* Was it me…
A week ago, a friend invited my wife and me to a Czech pub, Sveiks, Švejk! Ads proclaim the restaurant is inspired by the ‘Good Soldier Šveik’, the not so “simple”, good-humored, hero of the epic novel, The Adventures Of Švejk. That restaurant inspired me to revisit and then revise extensively my 2015 blog…
Three times now I’ve seen the Oscar and Golden Globe winning film, the enigmatic Flow/Straume. The last was an exceptional event with a full symphonic orchestra! Caption: At the Riga Arena, May 23, 2026, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra performed the film’s score, composed and conducted by Rihards Zaļupe. Since I’m always on the lookout…
“A stupid question deserves no answer”, that’s the surprising. ill-tempered rejection I got from a staff member. She was a “top hand,” as they say out in cowboy land. She not only did her job but inspired colleagues. And, besides being a doer, she was a thinker., so her response was doubly disappointing. The question…
I’ve learned much about myself through experiential education (EE) or adventure learning. Most of my EE take aways are personal and relevant less to a group than to my own ways of leading. Highly personal learning is often the case with team building events. Some people get little more out of it than another gripe…
At my advanced age, Shakespeare would have me a “Lean and Slippered Pantaloon”, his stage 6 of 7. Stage 6 is better than the final one: “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” But, I digress. A week ago, my wife and I hosted a small “development” gathering of alums living in Oregon, 3000…