Josh Linkner's Blog, page 26
June 22, 2014
Reinventing The Wheel
“Stop trying to reinvent the wheel,” Bob says in a snarky tone. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Tell that to the researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who designed the Copenhagen Wheel. Quite literally, they reinvented the wheel, the very device we’ve all been admonished not to disrupt. The Copenhagen Wheel fits on most bicycles delivering a giant leap forward to the rider.
When going down hills or when breaking, excess energy is captured and used to charge the integrated lith...
June 14, 2014
Why I Lost My Bieber Fever
Justin Bieber is a very talented musician. He’s a gifted singer, instrumentalist, dancer and entertainer. With youth, talent and success, he should be admired and respected by all. Instead, he’s doing a spectacular job of squandering the incredible opportunity at his disposal through his narcissistic displays of immaturity.
Artists create not only to indulge their own desire for self-expression, but also to positivity impact the world around them. Some perform music to delight audiences and he...
June 8, 2014
Great Things Are Made of Little Things
At a recent lunch in downtown Detroit, I received a very thoughtful fortune inside my after-meal cookie. Unlike the platitudes that often fill these crunchy treats, this ‘fortune’ really got me thinking. The crumpled white paper read, “Great things are made of little things.”
This simple, yet profound thought stayed with me for days. It got me thinking about success, health, relationships and our community. When we dream about the changes we want in our lives, we visualize the enchanting end s...
June 1, 2014
Attack The Problem, Not The Person
“Jim, we’re in this mess because of you!”
“I told you we’d lose the client, Jane. This is all your fault. You never get it right!”
“The kids wouldn’t behave this way if you weren’t such a bad father, Bill.”
We’ve all heard words like this from bosses, parents, spouses, teachers and colleagues. I’m sure many of us have bitterly spoken them as well. It’s easy to play the blame-game when our backs are up against a wall and we feel threatened, defeated or helpless. The problem is, cutting down other...
May 25, 2014
The Road to Reinvention
I’m proud of the work and truly believe it will make a difference for you. Placing your order todaywill help launch the book and send a powerful message to the world that innovation, creativity, and imagination are alive...
May 18, 2014
What Your Kids Can Teach You About Leadership That Your Boss Cannot
When we think of leadership, we often gravitate toward lessons learned from our bosses (past and present). Generally this practice makes a tremendous amount of sense — longstanding success and a pattern of winning matter. However, by narrowing our focus to only learn from the tenured few, we miss out on many other lessons to be learned.
For me, my children have taught me more about leadership than any boss ever could. Children aren’t tainted by their 9-5 cube farm job or a stack of bills to pa...
May 11, 2014
Four Lessons I Learned From My Mom
As the Mother’s Day brunches and barbeques come to a close, many of us spend a few minutes reflecting on the impact our moms have made. They sacrificed and worked around the clock in a thankless job to prepare us to lead productive adult lives. Thishilarious videoillustrates just how outrageous the demands of the world’s toughest job can be.
In my case, I thought back about the powerful lessons I learned from my mom. Sadly, her life was far too short having lost her fight to cancer 18 months a...
May 4, 2014
Avoid The Complexity Trap
A marble rolls down a ramp until it triggers a spring that lights a match, which, in turn, ignites a candle. The heat from the candle inflates a balloon, which expands until it pops. The burst of the balloon moves a lever that lifts a barrier holding back a live mouse. The now-freed mouse heads down a small passageway to access a piece of cheese.
As the mouse grabs the cheese, the weight of his foot triggers a string to pull down on a counter-weight, which then triggers a golf ball to roll dow...
April 27, 2014
You Lost It: 5 Ways to Get Your Mojo Back
Embarking on something new is the most exciting, energizing feeling in the world. We get fired up and can’t stop talking about it, at least for a while. Then, inevitably, we hit a plateau. Stagnation sets in and we lose our mojo. For the purposes here, I’m assuming mojo refers to desire, passion or motivation.
Here’s what the best leaders do when they’ve lost theirs:
■Change Your View: It’s time to leave the uninspiring, gray-walled cubicle farm and get some work done from the park, art museum,...
April 20, 2014
Propeller Heads or Windsor Knots?
What’s the secret ingredient to creating a successful company, organization, or initiative? Some may say it is technical wizardry and engineering. In other words, it must be those “propeller heads” who write code and watch “Star Trek” who create the magic.
Others may argue it takes rigorous business chops — spreadsheets, discounted cash flow analysis, market studies. The MBAs (a.k.a. “Windsor knots”) are the ones who bring a mere idea to the pinnacle of value.
Or maybe it’s great people leaders...
