“What’s good advice for enhancing your creativity in business? Cut the umbilical cord to the folks around the office water cooler. Mix it up. Take a class with strangers, seek out ideas from people you don’t ordinarily talk to, do anything to get out and mingle more with folks from other professions. Broaden your social horizons, and you just might come up with the next crazy idea that sparks an industry.”

“This year, some of 2002’s ugliest scandals drew toward grim climaxes: ImClone’s Sam Waksal headed to jail; Dennis Kozlowski went on trial; HealthSouth’s Richard Scrushy was hit with an 85-count indictment. But if investors and regulators thought they could finally breathe easier, they were horribly mistaken. 2003 will be remembered as a year in which a raft of new financial fiascos surfaced, rather than the year that Wall Street finally cleaned up its act.”

“In hardball bargaining, is the other side really making its ‘absolute final offer’ or only bluffing? In a collaborative situation, do you understand everyoneís true interests? Are valued customers and colleagues satisfied with their relationship with you, or are they harboring unspoken grievances?”

“While most executives contend that they need marketing, few are able to articulate why they need it and many have no way of knowing what kind of value the function generates for the company overall. In some respects, one could say that executives view marketing as a necessary evil.”