Seth Kahan

Great athletes often make their greatest progress when the odds are against them – they train for it. Golfers practice hitting out of the rough, trapeze artists practice falling, football quarterbacks train to focus while the clock is running out. And yet most of us plan our week as if everything will go our way […]

I am now providing short 2-3 minute professional development videos drawn from my work as a trusted advisor with leaders. I will include a new one each week for the next bit. This week’s is on collecting intelligence. Intelligence used to be a difficult thing to pull together. But, the Internet has changed all that.

I was rereading the classic, 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management, by Hyrum Smtih, and came across this great passage: stop thinking “time management” and start thinking “event control.” Too often we think time management has something to do with our watch. The only thing a watch tells you is how long

We live in a time of unprecedented knowledge sharing. All around the world there are capable people investigating some of our world’s most perplexing dilemmas, gathering together the resources and interviewing the gurus, and then turning the insights and discoveries into easily digestible books. Take for example: Gallup’s, Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and

At the beginning of every week there is an opportunity to set goals for the days ahead and the chance to raise the bar on your own performance. Want to put a spring in your step, a twinkle in your eye? Then, pick an area to focus on that means something to you. Here are

Here are three activities that always yield benefits when it comes to staying ahead of the game: 1. Deepen your understanding of current circumstances. Investigate influential events – determine what is having impact on your situation and bring diligence, curiosity, and passion to apprehending the whole and unpacking the details. 2. Identify emerging trends and

Every day this year I am going to give $10 to a different cause, using the GlobalGiving.org website. It’s a self-led journey of transformation I dreamed up while spending the weekend in NYC with my son.  I started yesterday. These are the two projects I have donated to so far: 1. 1,000 seedlings for the

A good friend once suggested that I take my problems to the oldest teacher alive: nature. He told me to frame my most pressing question, articulate it by writing it down or speaking it aloud, and then go for a walk in the wilderness with the question in my heart. I tried it out and

Creative deviants are people who come up with inventive ways to circumvent the norm. In my work it is not unusual to find people operating outside the system to get things done. Often these folks have hit upon something important, worth paying attention to.  I recall my early days at the World Bank when we

Leaders require a customized approach to self-care. Their capacity and ability has immediate and profound consequences for the quality of leadership they provide. If you are a leader, your job is unique. In contrast to those carrying out predefined work, you put your efforts into shifting the status quo, arousing and inspiring peers, igniting collective