Almost nine years ago, I wrote an article titled: “Bonding vs bridging: One of the biggest cause of value destruction”. I recommend you read it (again?) as a complement to this one. Bonding is an exclusion based reflex or strategy, inciting divisiveness and polarization against a common “enemy” (usually a weak placebo for the lack of a superior, shared and…

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A friend and client, C.E.O. of a chemical company, wrote in reaction to our last blogpost: “Sometimes with brutality, 2020 has placed the values of Life back to the centre of our reflection. I believe that the Future will be different and I wonder if those hastily rushing to getting all back “as it was before”, are not setting themselves…

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In 2004, James Surowiecki (head of the Business Column in The New-Yorker), published a book which still fascinates us nowadays: “The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations”. In it, he provides several examples where collective intelligence produced far more accurate, insightful or useful results than…

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Over the past 30 years or so of coaching and advising leaders at all levels, we have been struck by one frustratingly constant observation: the majority of change initiatives end in failure. Not all of them make the headlines, obviously, and some are only partial failures that can be neatly swept under the carpet. Still, the conclusion remains the same,…

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Put yourselves into the shoes of an employee: A lethal pandemic has hit the World. Your business and political leaders have no clues how to react to it. A wind of panic blows… You are faced with a “Cornelian Choice”: Do I report sick or “at risk” so as to protect my life and my family from infection or do…

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Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was a brilliant scientist and science-fiction writer. One of his famous quotes is “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread, winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge!” More recently, Etienne Klein (a French physicist/philosopher) quoted an amazing poll published…

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It is 312 BC and the Roman army understands with despair that they don’t have a single chance to escape the trap laid by their Samnites opponents. They are surrounded and blocked at the bottom of a valley and throw their weapon downs. Refusing to listen to his father’s advice on how to treat the Romans (“Make them no harm…

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Costa-Gavras is the film producer who most impacted my youth. His movies offer a disturbing reflection on totalitarian regimes from extreme left to right. In “Section Spéciale”, he relates a historical feat of World War II, displaying the dynamics between French collaborators, members of the Resistance and normal citizens who decide to become heroic under the context’s hardship. Costa-Gavras shows…

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I recently wrote here an article warning on the fact that Webinars and Distance Learning were not to be discarded of course but would partially or totally fail to address the Ethos and Pathos critical components of any experience intending to produce a lasting impact on the participants. Someone shared with me after that, an excellent article touching a somewhat…

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This post has been written by Michael Newman who kindly offered to publish it here   Who do we try to save and who do we let die? The dilemma has become familiar in stories from intensive care units on the Covid-19 frontline. Most doctors never expected to have to face this appalling choice, but it has been thrust upon…

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