Essays on creative leadership,
culture, and the human side of work.
Published weekly, with an original illustration. Two series: Becoming and Advisory Notes.
I think of negotiation as investigation. When I investigate, I enter a learning mode, reducing my anxiety. By considering negotiation the first creative activity in a project, I create the opportunity to shape the project to meet my needs and those of the client. For me, replacing negotiation with investigation eliminates the potential for conflict…
Hubris ruins negotiations. Unrestrained pride can cost you friends, employees, clients, deals and even your life. Yep, hubris is dangerous and life-threatening. And, like the common cold, we can all catch it. Yes, I’m intimately familiar with hubris. Here’s how it rolls out for me. First, I find myself striving to achieve something; then I…
A follow-up to my earlier piece: Creatives, AI will take your job I do understand people being afraid AI will take their jobs. I’ve had times in my life where my income vanished unexpectedly. Scary times, those. So, I get that. I’ve seen technology changes take people’s jobs. CAD software replaced draftsmen at Boeing just…
Our next Mutual Mentor meeting is Saturday, May 4th, 10 to Noon. Three people have signed up so far. I hold these at my Bellingham home, charge $25, and limit attendance to ten. Coffee, tea, and snacks provided. Location provided when you sign up. I take great pleasure from ordinary comforts like friendship, craft, memories…
Mutual Mentors, Bellingham, 10 AM to Noon, Saturday, May 4, 2024 Recent issues from my advising practice… Whole creative groups of laid off by giant corporations. Dealing with difficult clients, bosses, and coworkers. Finding new business and growing existing clients. Responding to RFPs, dos and don’ts. Three have signed up so far. $25 to attend.…
Sometimes avoidance, is key to survival. Just like home. I’d arrived. Twenty-one and a newly hired design illustrator at Boeing. Newly married and fully escaped from my adoptive family. I was now part of a group supporting management’s effort to sell Boeing’s whole Turbine Division to another company. Our little creative group — seven of…
“If I fuck this up, my family will hate me forever,” was the thought. And with it the project stopped cold. “Ted, we’re terrified that this whole assignment is going to blow up in our face!” This from the owner of a London package design firm. (I’ve changed details in the story to protect those…