Real Leaders

Ideas, Innovation and Dialogue on Leadership by Doug Blackie

Elevator Pitches

I’ve been hearing a lot of references lately about the need to make “elevator pitches”. This refers to the opportunity to pitch the next great idea to your CEO while riding the elevator. From the time the doors close to when they open again, you’ve got a limited amount of time to make your case [...]

The 25 Hour Day

About five years ago, the organization that I was working for starting to schedule meetings at 7:30 in the morning.  At the time, many of us were quite upset because this early hour interfered with such mundane things as getting sleep, having breakfast, getting kids to school, commuting and workout regimens.  In other words, a [...]

No Brainer

I travel for business on short haul trips from my home base, I have two choices of airlines. One is a national carrier. And the other is a smaller, regional airline. One has ticket agents who greet you by name. The other has ticket agents who can’t make eye contact and scowl at you. One [...]

Is Fast the New Good?

I sure hope not. The pace of communication in the professional (and personal) realm is stunning. Traditional structures for decision making and knowledge transfer are shattered by the exponential leaps in bandwidth. I come back from a few days off to hundreds of emails. Instantaneous sending creates expectations of instantaneous response. The risk with an [...]