The Blog

Love means never having to say you’re sorry. Leadership is never forgetting how powerful “I’m sorry” can be.Unfortunately, in business, authentic, genuine apologies are few and far between. We’ve all seen those auto-responses on social media to complaints, which sometimes places the responsibility on the customer: “We’re sorry to hear you’re not satisfied.” So, what makes for a “good” apology? … Read More

When I was CMO of IBM Watson, one of our banking clients used artificial intelligence for customer support, allowing customers to get instant responses to important queries without ever having to speak to a human. Using Watson, the bank designed a digital assistant that (at the time) was trained on more than 1,000 responses to more than 200 customer intents. … Read More

As soon as the clock struck midnight 12 on New Year’s Eve, you’d likely already heard at least 12 jokes about New Year’s resolutions — and how they are doomed to fail, including this one: May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.But, let’s be honest — historically speaking, for all our well-intentioned efforts, resolutions often … Read More

I didn’t write much of this post. In fact, I didn’t type a word of what you see below. Instead, I simply asked ChatGPT to write a blog post on leadership for me. And that was that. It took maybe 30 seconds in total for the bot to spit out an entirely cogent blog post on the topic of Leadership. … Read More

“I give you the Griswold Family Christmas Tree.”It didn’t look nearly as big when we first saw it on the lot. But, it did look perfect. The branches hadn’t yet fallen, but we could tell that it was going to be full and shapely. I immediately declared it the Bajdek Family Christmas Tree. It took three men to put that … Read More

This week, we’ll be observing Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Traditionally, it’s a time for family, friends, and feasting, expressing gratitude for all we have, and doing what we can for those who have less.   Especially this year, when many of us are gathering for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Thanksgiving is about so much more than the … Read More

I was talking with someone the other day when he casually mentioned that he was nearing is 30-year work anniversary. Think about that for a moment. 30. Years. He’s quick to admit that he started just out of college with a finance degree, and never anticipated that he would work an entire lifetime at one place. Now, to be clear, … Read More

The light fades a bit earlier each day and the mornings and evenings have gotten crisper — at least here in New England. It’s as if September 1 rolls around and Mother Nature decides it’s time; something must change. I’ve never been a big fan of this transition. Maybe it’s because I really love the long-lighted days — June is my favorite month — or because … Read More

COVID-19 forever changed the way we work. Some of us have gone fully remote, others hybrid — while essential workers are still bravely facing each day on the front lines. But, perhaps more importantly, the pandemic has also changed how we approach our work, especially as it impacts our personal lives. Today, employees are not only searching for work that offers them … Read More

“When we rush, we skim the surface, and fail to make real connections with the world or other people.” Carl Honore, a Canadian journalist wrote the international best-selling book, In Praise of Slow. So, he knows. As does Mario Rigby, who took two years — two years! — to walk and kayak the 12,000 kilometers from Cape Town to Cairo in, what would become, the … Read More