Yesterday, on my other website, I shared how Google’s new “Project Glass” might soon allow users to receive real-time voice translations of foreign conversations and, thus, render the need to learn a second language unnecessary. Many people–especially pessimists–immediately grasp how the technology might cause some foreign language instructors to lose their jobs. This is overly…

One reason people are frequently caught by surprise by the future — be it the emergence of a new technology, the disruption of old business models or a shift in human behavior — is because they make the assumption that just because something has never happened in the past that it never will happen in…

One of my favorite authors and thinkers, Daniel Pink, has a wonderful post on New Year’s Resolutions. Instead of making a resolution to do something new this year, Pink suggests making a resolution not to change something. Interestingly, by reversing your thinking and asking a different question, you can get human psychology working for you…

On a standard Roman Numeral watch, what letters do the Number 3 look like? What about the Number 4? Did you say the Number 3 looks like three capital I’s (III) and the Number 4 looks like a capital I and a capital V (IV)? It is quite common to believe the face of Roman…

Unlearning Lesson #10: See What Isn’t There “You don’t understand something until you understand it more than one way.”  – Marvin Minsky Question #10: Does a rusted nail weight more or less than the original, non-rusted nail? It weights more. This finding, discovered by Antoine and Marie Lavoisier in the late 18th century, was a rather…

Let me begin by saying I don’t know anything about Chelsea Clinton’s qualifications to be appointed to the board of IAC/Interactive Corp. For all I know, it may be nothing more than blatant cronyism. Nevertheless, it is an interesting development. Here’s why. Since 2007, there have been only 50 people born since 1980 (or under…

Often, the first step to solving an old problem is viewing your situation–and the tools at your disposal–in a new light. If you want to watch a short, fun and inspirational video, check out this two-minute YouTube clip on a simple solar solution:

I am in Iowa to deliver a keynote presentation (entitled “Why Future Trends in Healthcare Will Require Unlearning“) to the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative today. After working on my presentation early this morning, I decided to go for a walk at sunrise. The photo to the right offers a view of what I saw. As I…

As humans we like to believe we're good at seeing the whole picture. But, as I suggested in this piece, most of us are not. This is particularly true in business. Most managers focus relentlessly on serving the customer, making incremental improvements to core product or services, or finding yet another margin-saving efficiency. There is…

This photo is very cool but, remember, when looking at an iceberg "what you can't see" is more important than what you can see. It is a wonderful metaphor to keep in mind when thinking about our own knowledge–as great as it may be there will always be so much more that you don't know….