Shiny object! Whether it’s the new car smell, the latest iPhone, or a smart thermostat, that tidal wave of dopamine is hard to resist. In fact, studies show that we may choose the new over the tried and true “even in a situation where we don’t have any good reason to expect something to be better than before,” says University College London’s Bianca Wittmann, lead author of a 2008 study.[i]

That neophilia — the love of the new — drives the innovation that defines our species. Neophilia also drives the consumption — and resultant waste — that defines our species…

No matter what kind of books you search for — business, management, leadership — on amazon.com, you get the same sobering answer: “over 100,000 results.” Which could be 100 million, and just might be. Each is hundreds of pages, and thus hours and hours, long. Ouch.

Let’s go the opposite way: One-Page Leadership. In this installment …

1-Page Leadership: Moving In The Positive

“How are you, Chairman?”

He would respond in his booming Zambian voice: “Lincoln, I am moving in the positive.” Moving in the positive.

We were both university students in Nanjing, China in 1988. I was there for…

I still remember learning it: “the solution to pollution is dilution.” That was the accepted wisdom in 1974, courtesy of my second grade science class. I think we covered the metric system next: it was soon to replace our antiquated imperial system, after all.

As it turns out, old assumptions — like miles, pounds, and gallons — die hard in the United States of America. But that seemingly infinite environment is now full: we’ve run out of planet for our pollution. In the meantime, I’ve grown from a Chicagoland 2nd grader into a California utility executive. Climate change, pollution, sustainability…

Tom Brokaw called them “The Greatest Generation” and he was right.

They were born in the horrific shadow of World War I only to see their parents and families devastated by the Great Depression. They had already experienced plenty of hardship when war came to Europe and Asia again in the late 1930s; the world had done them few favors. Nor had they planted the seeds of that war; they had been children or not yet born as appeasement and rearmament became a vicious spiral. No matter: it fell to them to save the world.

And it was far from…

No matter what kind of books you search for — business, management, leadership — on amazon.com, you get the same sobering answer: “over 100,000 results.” Which could be 100 million, and just might be. Each is hundreds of pages (and thus hours and hours) long. Ouch.

Let’s go the opposite way: One-Page Leadership. In this installment …

Autonomic For The People

Are you breathing? Digesting? Heart beating, blood moving? Pupils adjusting to ambient light? Good!

That’s your autonomic nervous system at work, 24/7/365. It controls your breathing, digestion, heart function, and pupillary response plus everything from your metabolism and body…

No matter what kind of books you search for — business, management, leadership — on amazon.com, you get the same sobering answer: “over 100,000 results.” Which could be 100 million, and just might be. Each is hundreds of pages (and thus hours and hours) long. Ouch.

Let’s go the opposite way: One-Page Leadership. In this installment …

Waterskiing with Winston

“Tips up. Lean back. Arms straight. Let the boat pull you up. You’re going to do great.”

Between running local YMCA snow skiing trips in the winter and spending every possible moment on a boat in the summer, I taught…

“Wonderwerk.” Even the name of the cave seems fitting. There, about one million years ago, our homo erectus ancestors cooked their meal over a campfire. Not a wildfire, a campfire. It was planned, created, managed, and utilized for a specific purpose.

Fire control changed everything: warmth, safety, nutrition, access to harsher climates, and social and behavioral norms. The invention of the wheel was a mere game-changer by comparison; fire control changed the course of human evolution.

Fire control changed the course of human evolution. The invention of the wheel was a mere game-changer by comparison.

I’m sure there were naysayers…

You can almost see the exasperation in his eyes.

In the late 1850's, a naturalist named Charles Darwin sent an advance copy of his Origin of Species to a respected British journal. Apparently the journal’s editor agreed the book had merit but feared that the subject matter was too narrow to attract a wide audience. He urged Darwin to write about pigeons instead. “Everyone is interested in pigeons,” he observed helpfully. Ouch.

More recently, I volunteered to talk to my daughter’s suburban Los Angeles 4th grade science class about the electric utility business. I expected the same reaction that Darwin received; I was wrong. Instead, I got two hours…