BigSpeak Voice

Aug 2, 2014

Turn Your Next Interruption into an Opportunity

Modern life, particularly work life, has become increasingly hectic. There are relentless demands from meetings, emails, text messages, questions to answer, problems to solve, fires to put out. It can begin to feel like there is never any time to get “real work” done. If you feel overwhelmed by endless interruptions at work, you are not alone. One of the most powerful lessons I have learned in my over thirty five years of leadership experience is that these thousands of little interruptions aren’t keeping you from the work, they are the work. When you look at it this way, a...

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Aug 2, 2014

Restore Trust at Work with These 3 Words

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Aug 2, 2014

Originality Is Not All That Original

What do William Shakespeare and Led Zeppelin have in common? They both pinched much of their material from artists that came before them. The Bard, who added a few thousand original words to the English language and gave us our most unique phrases, was unabashed in his thievery of complete tracts from well-known poets and playwrights of his day. Most of his plays recycle stories from history and other literary works, and his stylistic flourishes are inspired by things that his contemporaries were already doing. Now it appears that Led Zeppelin, those icons of originality for a generation in motion,...

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Aug 2, 2014

Innovation Starts In Dark Places

There is a dark, untold back story of innovation that may disturb you: many of the earliest forms of the world’s biggest technological advancements were pioneered by bad people in morally corrupt contexts. The most radical innovation in video streaming started in the pornography industry. The most sophisticated uses of messaging technologies started with drug traffickers and terrorists. Counterfeiters have pimped digital technologies to such an advanced state that governments are rethinking the use of paper-based currencies. Why does innovation often start in dark places? When you’re working in the fringes, the normal risks and rewards associated with radical change...

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Jul 31, 2014

Why You Lead Determines How Well You Lead

One of the most telling questions you can ask someone in any kind of leadership role is what motivates them to be a better leader. Some will say it’s to enhance their personal effectiveness, or that leading is an expected part of their professional development. Others may say that they lead because of a sense of leader identity, purpose, or personal obligation to serve their organization and the people with whom they work. Many will proffer a mix of instrumental, external motivations (like pay or career progression) and more intrinsic, internal rationales (like the obligation to serve). The group with...

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Jul 23, 2014

The Role of Business in the 21st Century

This talk is based on a multi-dimensional overview on the role of the businesses in the 21st century. I submit a perspective from my childhood in Hong Kong, China to my return later as an American business executive instrumental in growing the economies of the Asian Pacific region. Today we are advancing business development at an unprecedented speed and magnitude. Massive economic expansion is going into regions with little consideration of the cultural and environmental effect of such action. The prevailing business assumption is that economic development is beneficial and worth the human and environmental costs. Another common belief is...

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Jul 23, 2014

Seeing The Ordinary As Extraordinary: Techniques for Unlocking Your Creative Potential

Creativity. It’s not surprising it’s the latest business buzzword. Our world is altering at an ever-quickening pace; companies are finding that last year’s solutions — even last month’s solutions — are no longer relevant to today’s challenges. Change is the hallmark of the 90’s, and everyone is being asked to find solutions that offer something new, something different, something… creative. And there’s the rub. Because most of us simply don’t think of ourselves as being creative. For most of us, creativity is something difficult to define and even harder to implement. It is a word reserved for artists, and there...

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Apr 3, 2014

Big Statement: Strategies for Empowering Women

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Jul 24, 2013

Big Smile: Is Happiness Worth the Pursuit?

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Feb 25, 2006

The Cookies You Actually Want

We know why you’re here; that cookie banner never fails to bring on the cravings for us, too. In case you don’t have a box…

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