Today, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, is a time for many to reflect on the deeper issues of life. I’m no different.

Publicly celebrating promotions, in a genuine way establishes genuine connections and can have a positive effect beyond just the celebrant.

What distinguishes a leader from a manager? When asked, many wax poetic about passion, and charisma, and vision. But how can you tell the difference in a more empirical way?

Do organizations bend and shape their cultures to match their target market? Or does the target market tend to favor organizations with cultures that match?

Working around truly smart people, real geniuses, can be invigorating. But we often defer to them too easily. Are smart people really right more often? Do they really get more hits, or do they just take more swings at the ball?

As your career progresses up in an organization the most overt change is the expansion of scope. Scope in time, and scope in organizational perspective. What you gain with more scope is an invaluable asset: context. And the most important thing you can do as a leader is to share that context.

Common wisdom is that the first promotion from individual contributor to leader is the hardest. But it’s the second promotion that is the true turning point in a leadership career.

The next killer app is the one that figures out how to effectively replicate the brainstorming / bulls**ting / hallway moment session virtually.

There are a lot of “disgruntled” people around lately. But it’s not clear it’s all their fault.