Innovation: The Who's Where's and How's

On the occasion of my travels to Europe (for work and pleasure) I find myself thinking about perspectives and how much travelling can help reset thinking and aid in Innovative creation. The mere fact of being around new historic surroundings and observing differing human behaviors can be so refreshing. Case in point were two observation. The first was an older couple here in Budapest. They were in their mid 60's early 70's. I saw them in a park this past Sunday sitting side by side at the base of a statue staring into their individual mobile phone screens. They did this for the longest time so they were either playing games or reading some kind of email/text. The length of time that they were doing this was uncanny and a behavior that I have never seen in the USA. Like I have asserted many times, mobile broadband is the future and here in Europe things are a bit more advanced than in the USA, including adoption at all ages. The second observation was more pedestrian and not f

I know my audience is interested in this sort of thing, so I am including a link to the Forum on Global Leadership and its final report. I was a contributor to this report. http://www.ibm.com/ibm/globalleadership/pdf/online_FGL_white_paper_final.pdf For those who reeeally know me, you know that the international/global dimension is front and center for me in many respects and for many reasons. The subject of my last entry had lots to do with the global dimension as a vector of influence in creating true, cultured leaders. The initiative for this Forum came directly from the C-Level's of IBM. I congratulate IBM for doing so and reaching out to those that want to make a difference. This final report was created using the theories of open innovation, including reaching out to the "global-idea-bank" that ALL of us are part of. Pleease, please, please...share this report with everyone that you can: CEO's, friends, family and colleagues. It is of the utmost importance to do

I know, I know...It has been a long time... There is so much to say and so much to comment on that I basically shut down for a few weeks. Add to that vacation and business travel schedules, family duties,etc...Well you get the drift. One though that has congealed on my mind has to do with this issue of "leadership" and "leadership development". I get flyer upon flyer and email upon email from just about every top Business school (Harvard, UVA , Duke, Wharton) pitching my these "leadership development" seminars that - incidentally - range in price from $6k to $25K. Not an insignificant amount for a weeks' time. So, I am thinking: what does leadership development mean? In my view - and this is strictly my opinion- it means FIRST having an open, global, sympathetic and empathetic mind. Without this basis, I ascertain, it will be very difficult to "develop" leadership qualities. This basis- call it world aware- can ONLY be achieved by experien