Category Archives: Blog

The Magic of Being in Monk Mode

A year ago I sat in bed late at night, wide awake. I was tired but unable to sleep. I sighed out loud, “I am never going to get this done in time!” I was hyperventilating. The good news? A [...]

The Top 3 Networking Mistakes Capable People Make

At a recent networking event in Silicon Valley I was struck by how such events can be really great or really bad. On the great side they can be the beginning of interesting friendships. On the bad side they can [...]

If You Don’t Design Your Career, Someone Else Will

A client once responded to one of my questions by saying, “Oh Greg, I am too busy living to think about life!” His off-the-cuff comment named a trap all of us fall into sometimes. In just one example, it is [...]

The No. 1 Management Mistake

A friend of mine is an executive for an organization with global reach. He is intelligent and driven, but constantly distracted. At any given time he will have Twitter, Gmail, Facebook and multiple IM conversations going. The majority of them are useful [...]

One Thing Productive People Do Before Reaching For Their Phones

In a recent study reported in TIME magazine, people check their phone on average 110 times a day. Some people checked it as much as 900 times a day; that’s once every minute of every waking hour of the day. Given those [...]

The Difference Between Successful And Very Successful People

I recently met with a capable and driven executive and asked him, “How are you?” He gave me a rapid-fire answer of all of the things he was doing: travelling, business updates, career changes and his children’s innumerable activities. It [...]

The #1 Career Mistake Capable People Make

I recently reviewed a resume for a colleague who was trying to define a clearer career strategy. She has terrific experience. And yet, as I looked through it I could see the problem she was concerned about: she had done [...]

The Three-Word Problem That Can Destroy Your Life

We have a problem—and the odd thing is we not only know about it, we’re celebrating it. Just today, someone boasted to me that she was so busy she’s averaged four hours of sleep a night for the last two [...]

The One-Word Answer to Why Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Have Been So Successful

When Bill Gates first met Warren Buffett, their host at dinner, Gates’ mother, asked everyone around the table to identify what they believed was the single most important factor in their success through life. Gates and Buffett gave the same [...]

12 Myths That Lead To A Busy, Unfulfilling Life

15 years ago, I quit law school to pursue one overarching question: “Why do capable people fail to break through to the next level?” The answer to the question, to my great surprise, is success. I first noticed the phenomenon while [...]