General

We are fooling ourselves – and the world – if we think that Saddam is going to let the world conduct thorough inspections in a manner that eradicates his weapons of mass destruction.

So much of what is happening today reminds me of the lessons of history that we seem to have forgotten:  Chamberlain and Hitler in Munich…

Bush: War may be ‘unavoidable’. The US president says he may have no choice but to go to war with Iraqü as EU and Arab leaders stress their continuing differences with the US. [BBC News | Front Page]

Six Degrees Data Mines E-Mail [Dan Gillmor’s eJournal]

Still waiting for this one to fall on my head…

Personal and professional. A year ago, Mark Pilgrim’s former manager told him to shut down his weblog on the grounds that you can’t mix the professional and the personal. Mark’s principled refusal led to a year packed with personal and professional successes. No doubt there will be many more. Congratulations, Mark. And thanks… [Jonathon Delacour]

I agree with Lessig that the court has some great stuff on tap for this term.

Interestingly enough, I just finished Kenneth Star’s book First Among Equals about the Supreme Court on my earlier flight from Baltimore to Detroit.  Am now on yet another Northwest flight from Detroit to Boston.  At some point, I’ll see home 😉

Court’s Term Destined For Big Finish [Lawrence Lessig]

in Minneapolis is verra nice…

One of my greatest fears as a leader has been how to maintain the edge – how do I keep pushing the envelope with my team?  How I do keep my team engaged and improving our results?  How do I keep from getting complacent.

I used to read Fast Company as a great source for “edgy” material – Tom Peters’s books did the same for me – so did talking with other great leaders at my company (and elsewhere). 

I picked up a copy of Fast Company at Logan Airport today and found basically the same fluff that I found in Business Week, Fortune, and elsewhere.  It simply wasn’t interesting.

What are you doing to keep the edge?  I’d love to hear your story.

Heading to Minneapolis on Northwest out of Boston for two days, then off to Baltimore for another two days of meetings.. and then home to Boston via Detroit.  Taking most of Friday off for a three day weekend since I’m flying out (and working on Sunday).

The flight has already had some drama, a medical emergency in the back of the plane.  Still not sure what happened, but the middle seat holder in the row directly behind me responded to a call for a physician and then came back to his seat 10-15 minutes later without any word as to what has happened.

Whatever it was – whomever it is – I hope they’re alright…