Risk taking

What I did in my “spare”(!) time…

The last several weeks I’ve been totally immersed in helping organize TEDxBayArea TEDWomen (designed to coincide with the first global TEDWomen event in Wash, DC).  We had about 150 attendees plus an unknown number watching the livestream.  Breaks were filled with energized conversations about all manner of topics.  It was an exciting day. Like the Read the full article…



Through a different lens- innovatively

Listening to radio while driving to a meeting, I heard an interview with Brian May.  He was co-founder and lead guitarist for Queen, the  rock group known for such songs as “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You” (which May wrote).   What fascinated me was not my reminiscing about my younger Read the full article…


“Investing in Iteration Immensely Improves Innovation”

Wise words from Randy Komisar in closing last night’s VLAB session at Stanford in response to a request to provide a lesson on innovation in 6 words It aptly summed up the entire session of “Entrepreneurs Uncensored”.   It’s better to test early and often, quickly discovering what won’t work, correcting and improving upon what will.  Read the full article…



Confidence and the Brain

Back in the 70’s, the only identified biological difference in cognitive ability between men and women was spatial visualization.  That is, in general, males are better at mentally manipulating  two-and three-dimensional figures. We also knew that the corpus callosum that connects the 2 halves of the brain is thicker in females than males meaning the Read the full article…


What are Innovators made of? Not sugar & spice…

Lately, I’ve been digging through data and interviews related to the book on Gender and Innovation that I’m working on with Jacqueline Byrd.  The bulk of the data comes from 10,000+ respondents to Creatrix, an instrument created by Jacqueline.  As for interviews,  so far we’ve completed 20 (12 women and 8 men).  As unique and Read the full article…


Who are WASPs & why were they awarded the Congressional Gold Medal?

Late last week, Congress awarded the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) the Congressional Gold Medal, its highest civilian award.  Better late than never.  The latter part of WWII, 1943-44, 1074 women flew non-combat missions in support of the war.  I’m embarrassed to admit that until they were honored, I had not heard of this group Read the full article…



In Trust We Innovate

Trust and innovation are not usually used in the same sentence.  It’s not that they are inherently in opposition but rather that they’re considered in different contexts.  The concept of trust is highlighted in articles about leadership and teamwork while innovation is associated with creativity and risk taking, profits and products.  But ultimately they are Read the full article…