The Leadership Professor

Sidney Harman died last Tuesday at 92. If you don’t know much about Harman’s life, you need to. It stands as a model of career self-management at its finest: a passion for learning and creative problem solving wedded to solid values, a love of life, and a willingness to use his talents across a range [...]

I was surprised to see a recent list of the 10 most-followed people on Twitter.  While Twitter analysts have  complex formulas for measuring Twitter influence by counting tweets, tweeting frequency, mentions of another’s tweet, personal responses to less famous followers, and retweets, I’m OK looking at raw numbers to ask an important question. To whom [...]

The China trip is over, and we’re home tired but transformed. You can’t study and travel in China and feel otherwise. The world never looks as big nor China as overwhelming again.  China is an amazing country where you taste the pace of change and development – and it is both exhilarating and exhausting.  Anything [...]

Today is last minute errands, final things to see in Beijing, and suitcase packing.  For some, there will probably be final fittings with the tailor, if multiple alterations were required. We check out of the hotel at noon.  Our group flight out of China to Newark is at 3:45 pm.  We leave late Monday afternoon, [...]

This morning is our trip to the Great Wall. It is indeed a wonder of the world! We travel about an hour by bus to Mutianyu for entrance – with good views of the outer rings of Beijing and the countryside as we go. It’s farther from Beijing than other access points, but I think [...]

Our good colleagues in Beijing, Patrick Ma and Stephen De Pretre, have agreed to meet with us on Saturday morning. 謝謝 (thank you)! Patrick helps us make sense of the rapidly evolving legal environment and intellectual property issues in China. Huge!           Stephen brings diverse and much experience across China, as [...]

We’re starting to adjust to the time difference – and many of us are no longer waking up at 4:00 am (which is 5:00 pm Kansas City). But the pace and the constant learning begin to take their toll about this time in the trip. Cravings for Starbucks (usually right down the street from wherever [...]

Spending time in the two major, big cities of China gives a distorted view of the country and of its economic development. This year, our Executive MBAs are venturing out. We travel by train today to Tianjin: smaller scale, more industrial. A good example of how the economic boom sweeping China is rapidly spreading: a [...]

This is a travel day: goodbye Shanghai, hello Beijing. Early morning up and out – and a farewell to the Shanghai breakfast buffet that has been my morning pleasure. The kitchen opened early to feed us before we head off. Service is big in China – after all, everything in China still runs to some [...]

This is the day that gives me some breathing space: a chance for a quiet afternoon in Shanghai – is that an oxymoron? – with our Executive Coach (who is travelling with us), maybe even a massage and a calorie splurge with dinner at M on the Bund. This, however, is the most stressful day [...]