Work

Our patients. Clients. Call them what you will. They suspect us all the time anyway. That we are secretly the crazy ones; they the stolid norm. They come for our help and often we heal, but still that resentful suspicion lingers. They may sit in the patient chair, but always slightly the doctor is devalued as much as he is idealized. Read More

Over the past two years, we have seen what some have called a transformative demonstration of leadership. This process culminated on January 20th with the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Whether or not you agree with his politics (and Prime Business Alert! is decidedly nonpartisan), you have to respect his journey and appreciate his leadership capabilities. You can also learn a great deal about effective leadership and sustained, high-level performance by studying his improbable and meteoric rise. Read More

it seems that there are bad leaders, and there are really bad leaders - anti-leaders. What is an anti-leader? The exact opposite of the very best. Here's one that is beyond belief. Read More

I know an advertising agency owner who never fully takes a vacation.  He takes his family to fairly exotic locations, but never so alien that they are outside the reach of modern communication.  In other words, he is never further than a cell phone call or email away.  He checks in with the office several times a day – much to the chagrin of his family who want him to be fully engaged in the holiday at hand.  So, he ends up sneaking off under the guise... Read More

If you’re an introvert, you probably avoid drawing attention to yourself. Do you spend more time immersing yourself in the tasks at hand at work than creating buzz about what you've accomplished? If you'd like to advance in your career, chances are you'll need to get some recognition for your good work. Consider the following activities to help you build some essential skills as well as your self-confidence. Read More

In philosophy, religion, work, and play, human beings tend to seek for meaning in their lives. We enjoy occupations that have meaning, and we can become quickly frustrated if we sense the pointlessness of a task. In the psychological literature, meaning is sometimes viewed as one of the strongest motivating factors in human behavior; a concept that fits well also with common intuitions of what drives human behavior. Despite the seemingly obvious importance of meaning in determining occupational choices, only few economic studies appear to consider the role that a job's "meaning" may have on the behavior of labor market participants... Read More

What's better? Having a great idea or being confident that you have a great idea? Granted, it's not always a choice between confidence and a great idea - sometimes you really can have both. But keep those two things in mind as you read about this experiment done with business students at MIT. Read More

By destroying nature, we're destroying the wellsprings of our life. But some people argue that we can adapt to these changes. I think it's a pernicious argument, and wrong, but grounded in some truth. I'd like to explain what I see going on here. Read More

In my work with CEO's and other business leaders throughout the world, as well as, top coaches and professional and Olympic athletes, I have identified ten qualities that I have found to be woven, without exception, into the very fabric of these highly successful individuals. If you look at the business leaders whom you admire, I'm sure you will also see these attributes in them. Read More