Avoid Buyer and Seller Remorse: Get What You Pay For Article by Kate Vitasek published 17 July 2014 online and in the magazine’s Summer 2014 digital edition. At some point a buyer and supplier will talk about pricing, maybe not right away – but it’s always the elephant in the room. Pricing is also potentially […]
Leave Space for Serendipity
In a recent post I wrote about Steven Johnson’s insights on innovation in his book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. I want to narrow in on his chapter on “Serendipity.” In it, Johnson says hunches and dreams have a place in the canon of great ideas and innovation. For example, Johnson […]
Have Faith While Walking the Walk
We’re all on journeys both in our personal and business lives. It’s a cliché to say that life is a journey, but it’s also a basic truth. These thoughts come to mind after recently watching The Way, starring the wonderful Martin Sheen. The movie is an inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we […]
Outsource Magazine — July 2014
Avery W. Katz: Dealing with the Incomplete Contract Kate Vitasek’s monthly column/blog for Outsource Magazine. Published 4 July 2014. Avery W. Katz, professor of law at Columbia Law School, tackles the conundrum of “incomplete contracts.” The challenge? How can organisations fashion a contract that is both economically flexible enough for a business relationship to move […]
Avoiding the Dishonesty Germ
When Dan Ariely writes about the importance of “establishing rules that can safeguard ourselves from ourselves,” I immediately think about how resonant that thought is with the Vested mindset. After all, Vested’s Five Rules are designed to transform business relationships and provide effective safeguards to counter the various ailments that can plague those relationships, such […]
Maxwell’s Law of Navigation: Be Prepared, Share the Vision
John C. Maxwell’s 2007 book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You, stresses the importance of navigation (Law #4) as part of a leader’s arsenal. Why navigation, you ask? It’s not really about blindly “following the leader” as much as it is about the leader charting the proper course for his […]
Innovate AND Exnovate
Exnovate/exnovation—or open, collaborative innovation—is a term that’s been around for quite a while. But every time I read something on it, I find myself a little more confused. So I did some research…and I thought I would share my insights and why I think the concept is worth sharing. The concept entails quite a lot, […]
Controlling our Decisions
Most of us probably think we are honest and in control of our own decisions—but not so fast!—Dan Ariely, Duke University professor of psychology and behavioral economics, offers another and quite provocative view. I’ve been a long-time fan of Ariely since reading his book Predictably Irrational. And his talks on TED have been viewed about three […]
Creating a Real Circle of Trust
I was flipping through movies on a mindless Saturday night and stopped at the classic comedy hit Meet the Fockers, featuring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. For those that missed it (or the hundreds of times it appeared on cable since its release), family bonding goes incredibly haywire when Stiller’s character, Greg Focker, meets […]
Innovation as the Key to Resource Management
Matt Ridley, the UK author, journalist and member of the House of Lords, recently wrote a Wall Street Journal article in which he provocatively avers that the “world’s resources aren’t running out.” He asks: “How many times have you heard that we humans are ‘using up’ the world’s resources, ‘running out’ of oil, ‘reaching the […]
