A Curator of Strategy, Leadership, Spirituality, and Rock and Roll…. "Changing the world…one "contact" at a time…."
It's a fascinating thing...something I have personally pondered from a long time... the thought that birthed Disruptive Thinking, Microclimates, and Leadership for Strategic Change. Did the coffeehouses in 17th century England lead to an acceleration in innovation and unusual levels of creativity? English coffeehouses in the 17th and 18th centuries were public social houses where people would meet for …
Continue reading "Enlightened by Starbucks? Good Ideas and Good Coffee…DeMarco Banter"
“For I believe a good king is from the outset and by necessity a philosopher, and the philosopher is from the outset a kingly person.” —MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 8.33.32–34 Should a leader be a philosopher? According to Plato, a philosopher king is a leader who possesses both a love of knowledge, as well as intelligence, reliability, and a …
Continue reading "Leadership and the Philosopher: A neo-DeMarconian Thought"
“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.” -Henry Adams Leaders are in a place of transition, not just in global power dynamics, but in technology as well. In this dangerous liminal space , leaders are looking for clarity and firm ground. Jeff DeGraff points out, we have absolutely zero data …
Continue reading "Bringing Chaos to Order: A Philosophy for Innovation"
This has been one of those songs we have loved since day one. It did an incredible job of capturing not only the issues of the day, but also drew an awesome linage of how we got there. Its lyrics are made of rapid-fire brief allusions to over one hundred headline events between March …
Continue reading "We didn’t start the fire… The History Lesson"
For years I have struggled with the notion of what makes a better leader—one who is a master of a skill or one who is more of a generalist. Interesting, in the military, we expect our junior leaders to be masters of their skill and then as leaders gain in seniority—they are expected to be …
A version of this post can also be found at The University of Cambridge's Centre of Social Innovation Blog Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. - Pablo Picasso Every morning I pore over quotes and post a few to twitter. Why? For some strange …
It is probably just me...but ever since 1983--I seem to hear Bono's words...ever single New Year's Day...and does anything really change...on New Year's Day? "New Year's Day" is a song by rock band U2. It is on their 1983 album War and it was released as the album's lead single in January 1983. Written about the Polish Solidarity movement, "New Year's Day" is driven …
“Reason shows us there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” ― Seneca, Letters from a StoicFailure is an inside job--inside our head. So is success--all depending on how we define it. If we want to achieve, we have to win the war in our mind first. We can’t let the …
Continue reading "Stoic Thinking and Failure: Adjust Your Thinking–DeMarco Banter"
I recently started a journey towards a doctorates degree. I have longed believed most of all the required reading for leaders has already been written--so what in the heck am I going to do? Well--attempt to uncover it and make it accessible to today's leaders. Ancient philosophy is ripe with leadership lessons for all …
Continue reading "The Stoic Mind and Neo-DeMarcoian Thought"
So...what are you reading? I ask that of people a lot Why? You are what you read... don’t you think? So....what are you reading? “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” -Fran Lebowitz It seems....that to a much greater extent than we want to recognize, we really are what we read. For many people, …
Continue reading "A Contrarian’s Thoughts on Reading… DeMarco Banter"
