When I was a student of statistics, I was told that outliers should be discarded. Now that I’m a student of high-performance, I realize that outliers are the only things which really matter. Recently, the CTO of Microsoft explained in […]
When I was a student of statistics, I was told that outliers should be discarded. Now that I’m a student of high-performance, I realize that outliers are the only things which really matter. Recently, the CTO of Microsoft explained in […]
‘What’s vacuum?’ When my daughter asked this simple question, I struggled to give a coherent answer. Then I realized that vacuum is defined by the absence of matter. It struck me that in many instances the best way to describe something […]
There are two important ways to innovate. The first approach is addition: If you add an engine to a carriage, you have created a car. The second approach is subtraction: If you eliminate a complicated restaurant menu, you have a created a […]
On January 27, 1986, Thiokol engineers and managers discussed the weather conditions surrounding the upcoming launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger with their counterparts from NASA. The weather was very cold and one of the design engineers, Roger Boisjoly, pointed out […]
A few years ago, I was in charge of recommending the location of a large production facility to a CEO. The company already owned a smaller production facility. While reviewing the different alternatives, something interesting happened. When I asked several […]
Whenever I’m scheduled to do a keynote overseas, I always plan to arrive at the location two days in advance. It not only helps me to adjust to the time difference, but it also prevents any mishaps due to travel […]
One of the more curious aspects of strategic portfolio management is a concept called the probability-of-success. This metric is often used in decision making around strategic options. Typically, options are ranked based on the following formula: (Expected Result) = (Probability-of-Success) x […]
Let’s do a thought experiment: Does democracy work in brain surgery? If you are a brain surgeon, would you allow anyone in your team to make key decisions when you’re operating on a patient? Probably not. If you want to […]
Early 2021, you would find yourself in a roller coaster if you owned stock of a small company called GameStop: A buying frenzy occurred—driven by thousands of Reddit users—and the stock increased by more than 1000% within two weeks. The objective of […]
In the 1958 movie ‘The Blob’ an amoeba-like and formless alien life-form set out to absorb and destroy the inhabitants of a small Pennsylvanian village. Though the movie was a work of fiction, I have come across many blobs […]