Dan Erwin

Gen-Y, Gen-Why?, and Gen-WTF?!

As a result of interacting with a number of Gen-yers over the past few years, I’ve developed a sense of when their input can be trusted and when it can’t. MIT’s Josh Hartshorne and Harvard’s Laura Germine recently validated my hunches, providing a great deal of clarity. Two areas are very significant, one of little surprise but the second confirming a number of questions and doubts about Gen-Y expertise.

Older Really Can Mean Wiser
The research by Hartshorne and Germine reveals that knowledge is a developing category. Knowledge takes time to build largely because it’s as much a matter of experience as intelligence. Furthermore, I’d argue that a significant knowledge base requires regular interaction with intelligent, capable peers.  Knowledge doesn’t grow in an intellectual vacuum. So it's folly to think that Gen-yers, because of their extensive exposure to the digital, walk in with...

The American Apocalypse: A Premature Obituary

America’s rule of the globe is coming to an end. Destroyed, we’re told, by China. Fear is a terrific motivator—at least in the short term. So plenty of economists and business people go about earning their stripes with apocalyptic warnings about our soon demise. But, actually, that notion and its underpinnings are all nonsense.

Fear gets to us even when reason suggests otherwise. A few decades ago, the alarmism was all about the Japanese and their booming economy. And you know what happened there. Still the fear is a great vote-getter for some opportunistic politicians.

But Harvard’s Joseph Nye has put a dagger in the hearts of those who like to propagandize about our soon demise. You may not know Nye, but “all roads to understanding American foreign policy run through Nye.”  He’s the one who pioneered...

Five Keys to Interpersonal Sensitivity

In a fascinating study, Rod Hart and Don Burks studied the relationship between “expressive” communication and “instrumental” or “rhetorical communication.” Expressive communication is very attractive in business because it involves frankness, honesty, openheartedness and non-manipulative intentions. As attractive as it is, it rarely provides people with effective means for creating and managing relationships—very important tools for people in today’s flattened business environment.

The research surfaced three communication tendencies for interpersonal communication. The first, which you see often in business, is the noble selves tendency: the notion that people should not adapt to other people or to situations in any way that violates their beliefs, attitudes or values. Sometimes this is a commitment of the individual, but more often it’s a practice growing out of lack of tools to make adaptations. The second, which can be seen as “sucking up,” is what...

When the Best is Actually the Least Worst

Sometimes there are no good options. An executive looks around and sees three managers who are no more than ordinary. But he has a high profile project. And so he selects the least worst employee for the project. It happens in business, in non-profits, in communities, in churches and in government far more than most want to admit. Why does this happen? And how can it be a good thing?

Before I answer the question, think about this situation reported in The Economist.

The least awful
The country of Nigeria goes to the polls on February 14^th to elect their next president. He will face problems that could break the country apart: rampant corruption, a jihadist insurgency...