Some of the best innovations we've had in business come from what I call the Meteorite Plan. The premise is, what would you do if a huge meteorite crashed directly into your problem, destroying it and the framework for it in one fell swoop? Your visualization of this scenario may vary (you can replace the meteorite with any sort of disaster) but the results will provide you with a new perspective based on needs, not limitations. The Meteorite Plan works best with a problem th

I once received a last-minute invitation to visit Ireland's most famous band, U2, in Dublin along with a long week of parties and concerts. To call it a once-in-a-lifetime experience is an understatement. As if I needed more of a reason to be excited, a couple friends offered me front-row tickets. My wife is a huge U2 fan (as any red-headed Irish girl should be), and I had it all planned out. Only one glitch. I couldn't go. My schedule was too booked and I had to turn the tic

I've spent almost my entire business life paranoid. It's not the most relaxing way to live -- I envy friends who walk around with a Zen-like smile and a picture-perfect Type-B personality. I'm just not that guy. My last year in college, I read Only the Paranoid Survive by Intel's Andrew S. Grove. The premise is simple -- get complacent and you lose. This theory, along with the stark reality that I am NEVER the smartest person in the room, keeps me on my toes. You can call it

My wife is a trusting woman. She is very smart, and yet when our oldest child was an infant, for some reason she still thought it would be OK for me to take care of our child for four days while she was out of town. On Thursday morning, she left, and I was in charge for the next four days... Fortunately, we already had help arranged during the day on Thursday and Friday. On Friday night, after our daughter went to bed, I thought I was halfway done. The easy part was over -- n

I’ve spent my life working with incentives. Knowing how they work and using them effectively has proven to be one of the most powerful forces in history. Ignoring them is catastrophic. For me, it started early. My parents explained that if I was good, Santa would bring me presents. Unwilling to test the limits of Santa’s forgiveness, I was a pretty good kid. In school, the teachers said if I earned good grades, I would be more successful. If I didn’t study, I would pay the pr