Be interesting. That’s an order.

I was discussing with a colleague "how to add value" as a strategist within an organization, when she told me something I will remember.

"Every executive has the responsibility to be interesting in a meeting. If we’re going to spend thousands of dollars to all get together, we had better be telling each other interesting stuff about the world."

Now there’s a simple recommendation. If you want to know your insight is helping people, first ask "Is this interesting?"

Of course, the advanced course is "What can we do about it?"

-garland