Speech scientist Rapul Patel remembers watching a little girl and a grown man conversing but only hearing one voice, no matter who was talking. That is where our Lesson Found begins.
The little girl and grown man were both using synthetic voice devices that generated the exact same adult-male voice. Clearly, that voice did not accurately represent the individuality of at least one of the speakers. Situations like this spurred Dr. Patel to found VOCALiD, (more…)
Eight decades after its introduction, the last Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line on July 10th. The innovations that extended the Beetle’s life are the source for these Lessons Found.
Total sales of the VW Beetle topped 23 million cars, making it the world’s fourth most popular car model. This success is based on a history of innovations well beyond model updates. For example, the Beetle’s “Think Small” advertising campaign was (more…)
My son and I started watching Game of Thrones; him for the second time and this is my initiation. After GOT’s disastrous season 8, my son asked if I wanted to watch that final season. That is where this Lesson Found begins. (more…)
Greeks elected a new prime minister last week, Kyriakos Mitsotaki, who is also the son of a former prime minister. His ascent as leader of Greece offers a valuable Lesson Found for family businesses.
Mr. Mitsotaki’s election is the culmination of his path into the “family business”. (more…)
When I began my consulting practice, a major reason for choosing to work from home was being able to spend more time with my son who was 11 at the time. Then the school year ended and summer started. That experience is the source for this week’s Lesson Found.
Anticipating that summer, I thought my son would entertain himself while I worked. This “logical thought” was quickly challenged by reality the first week of summer vacation. (more…)
My 20-year old son, Jeremy, and I often discuss various business-related topics. Recently that topic was the “sunk cost fallacy”* which I explained is the mistake of using money and time already sunk into a project as the deciding factor to continue the project. A junior studying computer science, Jeremy immediately compared this to “coding” (aka writing computer code). This relationship between sunk costs and coding is this week’s Lesson Found. (more…)
My mother and I recently traveled to visit my sister and her family. Except for the occasional meal out, we stayed in the house, simply being together as family. And we had a wonderful time! On the trip home, I considered the contrast and how stereotypical sibling conflicts burden some family businesses. The source of and ways to mitigate these conflicts are this week’s Lesson Found. (more…)
This week’s Lesson Found comes from a friend, Debby Abel, who recently wrote a beautiful essay on her family’s business and the legacy of integrity her parents gave her. (more…)
A participant at a recent family business workshop was surprised when I said business planning should be part of the succession planning process. This founder’s business had a succession plan but lacked a coordinated plan looking at the future of their business. This founder’s surprise is a Lesson Found for all family businesses. (more…)
The gravity pull of black holes is so intense it sucks in everything around it – even light. It would then seem impossible to capture a picture of any black hole. But a team of scientist did exactly that. Their efforts offer a Lesson Found in what it takes to create an extremely effective team. (more…)