Welcome

Welcome to emotional INTELLIGENCE, a collection of observations at the intersection of business innovation, culture, finance, leadership and political economy.

I have considered writing on these topics for some time. Thanks to creative new thinking about communication, design, borders and business models, old boundaries are dissolving. Leaders in corporations, non-profits, civic and global communities recognize that their organizations can be meaningfully improved by learning from others’ successes and cooperating across sectors. People are talking more. Exciting products, programs, organizations and ways of doing business are emerging as a result.

I am powerfully optimistic about these changes. A few publications, news shows, commentators and websites focus on discussion of the positive trends. But too many continue to practice dumbing down the news, rehashing problems over and over and over again. emotional INTELLIGENCE is my answer to those old-school commentators.

A select handful of the leaders and thinkers who inspire me:

• Charismatic mayors, including Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey; Matteo Renzi of Florence, Italy; and Oh Se-hoon of Seoul, South Korea
  

• Innovative, energetic non-profit founders, such as Dan Pallotta, author of Uncharitable; Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International; Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity; and John Wood, founder of Room to Read
  

• Thoughtful global executives, such as Fabio Barbosa, CEO of Banco Santander Brasil; N. R. Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys; and Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies
  

• Passionate community developers and educators, such as Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone; Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx; and Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. school system
  

• Forward-thinking management and leadership gurus, including Joanna Barsh, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company; Chip Conley, founder of Joie de Vivre hotels and author of Peak; Gary Hamel, author and founder of the Management Innovation eXchange; and Tony Schwartz, author of The Power of Full Engagement
  

• Revolutionary architects and designers, including Norman Foster; Frank Gehry; Le Corbusier; Daniel Libeskind; Maya Lin and Bruce Mau
  

• Straight-talking global leaders, such as Christine Lagarde, France’s Minister of Finance, and Dambisa Moyo, economist and author of Dead Aid
  

I will write about and speak with those I’ve mentioned above–and many others–in the weeks and months ahead. I’ll post three times weekly. I know I will learn from and expand my horizons through our ensuing conversations.

As an aside, I am shocked–perhaps naively–that more innovations haven’t shown up in the world of finance. I keep looking for them. I will happily discuss them when I see them. I may also poke at the sector’s leaders for their sluggishness on occasion. But on the whole, I’ll stay out of the fray and let Henry Blodget, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Meredith Whitney, Whitney Tilson, David Einhorn and a host of other powerful writers, pundits, investors and bloggers ably take care of that.

You can learn more about me here. I look forward to getting to know you.