First Principles

Category: Announcements

We make thousands of decisions every day. Only rarely are they big decisions, like which house to buy or who to hire for an open position. Most of the time the countless decisions that me make daily are for little things, like whether to have toast or cereal for breakfast, when to leave for work, whether or not to get some exercise. Most of these “decisions” go unscrutinized as decisions per se. They are simply steps along the way in another busy day. Each decision, big or small, emanates from some underlying set of First Principles.

Whether we are aware of it or not, these principles steer and guide us through our daily lives. The point of this blog is to create a community where we can explore, articulate and discuss the underlying assumptions, biases and rules that influence our lives. The primary focus will be on First Principles for success in business. Ancillary to this will be thoughts around a healthy work/life balance and occasionally we will stray into purely non-business related topics for the sheer joy of exploration. By consciously articulating the principles that effect our decisions we can lead our teams, our companies and our lives with confidence.

Comments are supported and expected. Further discussions are encouraged in the Forums section of the site. Feel free to join us for an open dialogue on any number of related topics.

I have more than 25 years of experience in various roles and capacities of professional life. Starting as a high school teacher and later a college instructor, I spent 10 years teaching mathematics while I pursued various advanced degrees. My second decade meandered through a range of positions in corporate America, spanning everything from project and program management and consulting to network operations and organizational change.

My third decade of professional life began with an MBA from Berkeley while I continued to work in the heart of Silicon Valley for Cisco Systems. My MBA helped focus my attention on my “sweet spot” which is helping organisations improve efficiency and productivity. I recently had the opportunity to spend two years living in the UK where I served in a number of senior leadership roles working for the British Government.

Born in Canada, I moved to the US while in high school. After 27 years as a permanent resident, I was finally naturalized as a US citizen in April of 2003.

Much more professional information is available on my web site.

Categories: Announcements  
Posted by Heather @ 08:00 am — 412 words

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