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A friend of mine was going through a painful separation from his wife which shook his confidence and self-worth to the core. When this began showing up in various ways at work, his boss took notice and pulled him aside essentially conveying the message that if he valued his job, he should do his best

In the early days of the railroad, safety inspectors would commonly tap the train wheels with a long-handled hammer to listen for the telltale sounds of cracks or other potential hazards. Because of this practice, they came to be called “wheeltappers”. Rudyard Kipling, the British author of The Jungle Book, once told a story of a

He was a genius. There’s no doubt about it. He was the father of the recording and motion picture industries, patent holder on over a thousand gadgets and industrial processes and the inventor of the light bulb, which was probably his brightest idea of all (pause for the bad pun). Thomas Edison is often found

“I want to build a world-class organization,” thought a young Reed Hastings in 1991 when he founded the company Pure Software. As a Silicon Valley hotshot at the forefront of the tech boom, he seemed like someone who could do it, but he needed a strategy to manage the rapidly growing company. He began to

Have you seen television talent show competitions lately? While still mostly about the song and dance, the genre has diversified over the years to the point of absurdity. Those interested can watch entire series dedicated to fiercely competitive baking, arts and crafts, fashion design, and even cross-dressing (for heaven’s sake). The pattern is by now

Any serious fan of soccer will know the name Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year is widely considered among the best to ever play the game. But what Zidane is perhaps most famous for is what happened on the night of July 9, 2006 during the last few minutes

In the classic book titled Leadership and the 1-minute manager, the author Kenneth Blanchard argues that supervisors should not treat every employee the same way, but should adapt their management style based on the needs of each person on their team. For example, some employees may benefit from a more directive or “authoritarian” management style, particularly