My career journey starts with pure serendipity. My father, who worked for IBM his whole career, became aware of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, which gave... More

The thornier the problem and the more at stake, the greater the premium on staying utterly calm, cool and collected. It's not necessarily easy but there are practices that... More

A big influence on a woman growing up is how her father treats her. I got the full benefit of that. Every Saturday I'd go to the yard where he kept his construction... More

Philip Smith, a career-long high performer, was recruited personally by the bank's CEO, Martin Middletown, to head its ailing investment bank. Dazzled by the turnaround... More

I never planned to be a teacher in the first place. I backed into it.  I went up to Tufts, with the idea of becoming a doctor. So I became pre-med and majored in... More

Power‎ sticks to founders like glue. Without it, they'd never get their initiative off the ground, no less keep it there. Yet all that power can cut back on itself.... More

I came out of nowhere. I'm somewhat of a brash New Yorker, and I was working in the "good manners" South. I'm very instinctive, extraverted, and I tend to think out loud.... More

I had only the haziest idea of who Florence Nightingale was—a Good Samaritan, I thought, tending to soldiers in some long-ago war. "The Lady with the Lamp," as she was... More

Here's an irony, a contradiction of sorts: capable people, high achievers, often fail to take care of themselves in important ways. Poor diet, lack of regular exercise,... More