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If you’re working in the kitchen of Anthony Bourdain, legendary chef of Brasserie Les Halles, best-selling author, and famed television personality, you don’t dare so much as boil hot water without attending to a ritual that’s essential for any self-respecting chef:  mise-en-place. The “Meez,” as professionals call it, translates into “everything in its place.” In practice, it involves studying a recipe, thinking through the tools and equipment you will need, and assembling the ingredients in the right proportion before you begin. It is the planning phase of every meal—the moment when chefs evaluate the totality of what they are trying to achieve and create an action plan for the meal ahead. For the experienced chef, mise-en-place represents more than a quaint practice or a time-saving technique. It’s a state of mind. “Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks,” Bourdain wrote in his runaway bestseller  Kitchen Confidential . “As a cook, your station, an...

George is the most talented, productive executive Roy ever had to fire. George had pulled off a string of celebrated victories and won a reputation as a strong performer. Having been hired to lead his hospital’s compliance program as regulations grew increasingly complex, he had put the policies and procedures into order, achieving a goal that had eluded the organization for years. Roy was grateful that this burden had been lifted off his shoulders. In fact, he was so smitten that he didn’t notice what else was going on — that George (and for the record, this is a composite case) had alienated colleagues and failed to create the sense of urgency needed to persuade employees to complete the required training. George’s excellent work was of little value if it wasn’t fully implemented throughout the organization. As other team members started to complain, Roy made repeated attempts to coach George to improve his interpersonal and communication skills, but George rebuffed him. ...

If it’s true that  many people fear public speaking more than death , it’s equally true that businesspeople are condemned to a thousand small deaths in client pitches, in boardrooms, and on stage. And that death can turn slow and torturous when you are asked to speak unexpectedly with little or no time to prepare. One of the key demands of business is the ability to speak extemporaneously. Whether giving an unexpected “elevator pitch” to a potential investor or being asked at the last minute to offer remarks to a sales team over dinner, the demands for a business person to speak with limited preparation are diverse, endless, and — to many — terrifying. I became more comfortable with these situations through one of my primary activities in college, competitive public speaking called “forensics” ( from the Latin “forensis,”  which means “in an open court, public”). In forensics, one of my favorite categories was “limited preparation” in which we were given between 1 and ...

Nearly every software development project starts with one question: How much is this going to cost? Perhaps it’s a stakeholder who asks the question: a CEO, Board member, VC, or boss.  Maybe it’s been asked another way — How long will this take? How many stories can we get into this next sprint? How many people do we need to hire to get this done? How much money do I we need to raise? These are all variations on the same question — how much effort is this going to cost in terms of time and/or money? There are two common replies to this question: We don’t know; Let us estimate and get back to you. Stakeholders and decision-makers don’t like the first reply because they desperately need an answer to their question and they don’t have the knowledge to answer it themselves. Technical teams don’t like the second answer, because estimating takes a ton of time and it’s often abused — stakeholders sometimes turn the “estimates” into maximums and get upset if the team ex...

As healthcare is moving toward greater consumerization, devices used for diagnostics are keeping pace and becoming leaner, meaner and even cheaper. Radiology, the “darkroom” of the healthcare world, is now coming into the light and directly into patients’ hands… so as to speak. New-age diagnostic devices are changing the way we have conventionally diagnosed and understood diseases, and are no longer restrained to “just diagnosis.” Traditional radiology diagnosis involving CT, MRI, ultrasound, etc., included bulky, room-size equipment costing millions of dollars. However, in the past decade or so, new technology has unleashed a wave of creativity and innovation for both software and hardware, and is reshaping these products significantly. Traditional radiology diagnosis involving CT, MRI, ultrasound, etc., included bulky, room-size equipment. Source: Frost & Sullivan The latest innovations at this year’s Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting in Chi...

Many of us find ourselves in professional situations where we believe someone has wronged us, treated us badly, or just plain made us mad. The expert advice often is to have the courage to have an honest conversation, air the grievance. No one can help you solve a problem if she doesn’t know you have it. But that’s easier said than done, right? It helps to have guiding principles to call on when you need to work through something difficult with a colleague. But the context of your discussion also matters. Do you need to take a stand on something? Deliver bad news? Do you have time to prepare, or are you caught off guard? Here are some specific tips for navigating the most common scenarios, including the wrong way to approach the issue and a better way. If you’re mad about a decision that affects you . . . We’ve all had white-hot reactions to news that affects our jobs. But nothing good comes from launching from your chair to give your boss or colleague a piece of your mind: ...

Ah, the elevator pitch. A favorite tool of the networking masses. A rite of passage of sorts. You’ve heard the scenario: you step into an elevator and go up one floor. The elevator doors open and in walks the client of your dreams. They start some small talk and ask, “What do you do?” and you’ve got the rest of the elevator ride to respond. How do you answer that in 20 seconds in such a way that gets them interested? The answer is simple. You need an elevator pitch for your elevator pitch. Today, you’re getting both my word-for-word elevator pitch, my elevator pitch’s elevator pitch, and the secrets behind what makes it all so effective. It all starts when someone asks me… “What do you do?” “You mean, in addition to being an international bodybuilding champion?” (I’m 5’10” and a buck thirty-five, soaking wet. When I step on ants, they live. It’s painfully obvious that I’m not an international bodybuilding champion.) Usually, they laugh. Usually, I laugh too. Then I contin...