-5 min readen
The Pause
“Sharpen the saw? You mean the Covey thing?” “I guess. It’s not like he was specific. He just told me I would be “on the beach” in the short term and there were likely to be “concerns” in next month’s...
Writer of stories and songs
West Orange - New Jersey
Writer of stories and songs. I retired after thirty-seven years as a management consultant specializing in strategic leadership and change. Now in my fourth career (aspiring actor, speakers booking agent, consultant, writer) I am most open to finding “wisdom in unusual places,” some of which I write down and pass on. Traveling the Consulting Road: Career wisdom for new consultants, candidates, and their mentors is now available on Amazon
49 articles
“Sharpen the saw? You mean the Covey thing?” “I guess. It’s not like he was specific. He just told me I would be “on the beach” in the short term and there were likely to be “concerns” in next month’s...
A people-focused turnaround plan for advisors or preventative advice for entrepreneurs It’s depressing when a company gets in trouble. Your “friends,” desert you. Bankers, lawyers, and accountants jud...
It’s New Year’s Eve Eve and as I look back at last year’s resolutions I realize I still have two days to: Lose 15 pounds Get back to running Spend more time with family Sell 10,000 books Finish reread...
“Those who came before us had the knowing and the doing beyond our ken.” My wife and I visited Newgrange northwest of Dublin in Ireland in 2002, on our honeymoon. Our wedding in New York City was orig...
First, I want to thank all the people who have bought my books so far. You’ve made an old man very happy, and I hope I added something to your career. Traveling the Consulting Road: Career Wisdom for...
Consulting is a time-based business. Sure, there are always firms that try to break this mold with products like surveys, or packaged research. And there are some firms that experiment with gain shari...
Thanksgiving: US Style Many cultures have days of gratitude. Some are somber and religious; others are tied to the bounty of the year’s harvest. Some are flexed according to lunar calendars; some are...
Change Leader? Who Me? Hard-Earned Wisdom for Those New to Leading Change is finally published. Here is the preface and opening story. Preface When I say "change,” I’m talking about behavioral change,...
This is my post for New Year’s Eve 2024. Here, in the good ole US of A, New Year’s Eve is amateur alcoholics night, when teetotalers, and even those with a serious drinking problem, know to leave the...
It has been almost one year since I published Traveling the Consulting Road: Career Wisdom for New Consultants, Candidates, and Their Mentors. This year has been gratifying and humbling. It has been g...
AI “Personalization:” Everything Old is New Again By Bob Musial and Alan Culler Alan Culler and I are comfortable calling ourselves “old sales guys.” Recently, we each watched a video where a consulta...
Sell is a four-letter word Salespeople get a bad rap. The salesperson stereotype, is a gladhanding mental lightweight with a “smile and a shoeshine,” the “gift of gab” and questionable ethics, who can...
I’ve been reading again. . . I resisted reading The AI Dillemma . I’m a uber-late-adopter of technology and therefore allergic to technical treatises. I needn’t have worried. This isn’t a technical bo...
A fun and fascinating read on early psychedelic research “My book about Tim is up on Amazon. I hope you’ll read it and if you like it tell some other people about it. He was an important person in my...
David Frye's impression of Richard Nixon When I was a college market speakers agent, I sold to youngish Directors of Student Activities, a few faculty members, and at least one college president. Howe...
Janus, the two-faced god of gateways, beginnings and transitions was often found above the Roman villa lintel, a blessing on all those who entered and departed. Julius Caesar made Janus the symbol of...
https://www.freeimages.com/photo/candles-1161780 @korionov The cold sun sets earlier and rises later each day. Daylight hours are sparse and the night is long and frigid. The green has long departed f...
I had been an aspiring actor, waiting tables and diving a taxi for a couple of years. Then I decided to become a booking agent for speakers like Dick Gregory, Erica Jong and H. Ross Perot for nine yea...
“What problem are we trying to solve?” is a question that can be delivered dripping with withering Middle School English teacher sarcasm, communicating the message that “the status quo is just fine, t...
“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” Claude Levi-Strauss I have written elsewhere of my view that the goal of leadership is attract followers to go in the direc...
“But we just redid our comp ratios.” “Look, I don’t care when you did them, I’m telling you your comp ratios are wrong ! My mortgage processors are leaving in droves and the reason they give in exit i...
Image: Construction of the Steve Jobs Theater, Apple "Mothership," new headquarters Cupertino, California I was talking with Bill, an executive at a construction firm. “I’ve been reading about continu...
Continuous Improvement Project Management tools Metrics and measurement, root causes not symptoms, design of experiments, analysis systems . . . it is all so complex and overwhelming how do you pick w...
Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Paul Bethany, Laura Fraser, and Alan Tudyk in the 2001 Columbia Pictures Film, A Knight’s Tale “You have been weighed. You have been measured. And you have been found wanting....
“Leadership!” “Those at the top must lead the parade!” “Can’t do anything without the leaders.” Ask anyone, what is the most critical success factor in a company’s drive to be innovative or to continu...
The late, great Jerry Lewis as a young comedian “You are only young once, Alan, but you can be immature forever.” I’m not sure who first said this to me, probably some elementary school teacher upset...
The late, great Jerry Lewis as a young comedian “You are only young once, Alan, but you can be immature forever.” I’m not sure who first said this to me, probably some elementary school teacher upset...
"Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!" Jack Haley, Jody Garland, and Ray Bolger in the 1939 MGM film "The Wizard of Oz" Gotta love acronyms. Corporations can’t seem to stay away from these shorthand com...
First, a shout-out to Kelly Eager, who put Dr. Richard Taylor and I together to deliver 4 weeks of continuous improvement (CI) training to a group of operations common process specialists. It was an u...
The late Keye Luke as blind Master Po in the 1970s ABC-TV series "Kung Fu" A Master Black Belt is the senior most role in the Six Sigma or Lean Six Sigma “brand” of continuous improvement initiative....
Continuous Improvement (CI) is a discipline that has been around in the United States (at least) since the turn of the twentieth century. Frederic Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Managem...
“‘ I need your help,’ the blond whispered in my ear as she took me by the arm and started fast-walking me towards Boylston Street. Before I knew it, she pulled me into a taxi and barked ‘Copley Square...
I think I have always loved to hear people’s stories. Perhaps this began when I was a boy; my father was a great storyteller for whom a book wasn’t necessary and the “Truth” was always a relative term...
Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz I facilitate a lot of groups. There is one mistake I seem to make over and over again. When it is time to break people into small grou...
“I’m not a never-adopter, just a late adopter.” I don’t fear all new technology, I just take my time getting comfortable with it. I’ve now gotten quite comfortable with the Lenovo Thinkpad I am typing...
I often joke, “If you look up ‘late adopter’ in the dictionary you’ll find a picture of me.” It is not my intention to be such a technology laggard; it just takes me a while to see the usefulness of t...
My father was an amateur photographer. It used to drive my mother and us kids nuts when he would pose us for the inevitable family shot, anywhere and everywhere. We waited impatiently unsmiling while...
Image from: 2017 BMW X3 xDrive 28i Commericial, For the Fun of Doing, Song by Blur “Remember when everything you did was for the fun of doing it?” Recently, I was struck by these words coming from my...
During 1970s, I had a poem framed and hanging on the wall of my house. I guess there were a lot of people who had this particular poem on their wall. I thought it was written in the 1600s and was foun...
It was snowing when I went to bed . . . wishing. . . . It was still snowing when I woke up. I stumbled to the kitchen of our little ranch house that my father and mother had built themselves. It was p...
It was July 28, 1979, a hazy, humid Saturday in West Medford, Massachusetts. I was sweeping the floors of 34 Wyman Street, a 13 room yellow shingle, 1890s Queen Anne Victorian. As I went from room to...
“Conceptual reductionist intercourse facilitates adherent adhesion in on-going dynamism.” Or in other words: In times of change, a leader makes it easier for followers to follow by speaking simply - “...
I spend my work life talking to groups of business leaders. Sometimes I facilitate leadership workshops, Sometimes I help leadership teams come to public agreement on strategy. Sometimes I am a soundi...
Paramount Pictures, The Godfather, "Tell Michael it wasn't personal, just business" “It’s just business, Alan. Don’t take it personally.” It was 20 years ago. My client, a founding CEO, was informing...
Br uce's book, Original photo by Frank Stefanko I just finished reading Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run . The book was a gift from my eldest daughter, Tegan, and I confess that when I g...
Continuous Improvement Initiatives are hardly a new concept in business, but a couple of times recently I’ve been asked for my idea of how to run one, a roadmap of sorts. For many Continuous Improveme...
“Innovation? Disruption? ARRRRGH!” I see, hear and feel the frustration that many executives experience at hearing these words. You can’t pick up a magazine without reading a list of the 10 most innov...
“What’s your latest obsession?” Dr. Denis Pym, Organizational Behaviour Professor at the London Business School, told us eager faced MBA candidates what a great question this was for engaging conversa...
“Hi Mom. Could I have your pumpkin pie recipe?” Silence on the other end of the phone “Mom, Are you still there?” “Yes, I’m here.” “Mom, I have 12 people coming for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Could I plea...
