One of the sad truths about leadership is that, the higher up the ladder you travel, the less you know.

Huge open source organizations like Red Hat and Mozilla manage the collaboration of hundreds of people who don't know one another and have spent no time hanging around the water cooler.

Customers who have to come back and spend, or customers who just don't want the hassle of leaving - those are the ones who are most worth attracting.

Those in powerless positions aren't about to complain about bullying bosses, abusive supervisors or corrupt co-workers. There is no safe way to do so and no process that promises redress.

[For constructive conflict,] we have to resist the neurobiological drive which means that we really prefer people mostly like ourselves.

Most executives I know are so action-oriented, or action-addicted, that time for reflection is the first casualty of their success.

A thinking partner who isn't an echo chamber... How many of us dare to have such collaborators?