I have been wrapped up in many meetings this week, plus planning the June and July issues of Automation World, plus interviewing for an article on Ethernet networking implementation best practices (if you have ideas on that topic, please write to me soon.

I’ve been accumulating a bunch of links to cool information lately. Here are some of them. I tweet these from @garymintchell almost every morning.

From Michael Hyatt’s blog, When Leadership Fails

Leadership failures are often the result of:
• Poor planning
• Inexperience
• Stubbornness
• Lack of vision
• Pride

My March editorial, Leaders are Learners.

From Rex Hammock, I’ve decided to stop being a hot head, Give it five minutes.

“He said ‘Man, give it five minutes.’ I asked him what he meant by that? He said, it’s fine to disagree, it’s fine to push back, it’s great to have strong opinions and beliefs, but give my ideas some time to set in before you’re sure you want to argue against them. ‘Five minutes’ represented ‘think,’ not react. He was totally right. I came into the discussion looking to prove something, not learn something.”

Impact of Energy Development on Local Population from Emerson Process Experts.
“In today’s guest post, Emerson’s Douglas Morris, a member of the alternative energy industry team, explores the impact on local inhabitants as the locations for energy development continue to fan out across the globe.”

Light-based Chips.
From Engadget–Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have flipped the switch on a new type of computer circuit. Unlike conventional silicon, the new chip uses light — not electricity — to perform its logic. By creating an array of nano-rods, light-flow can be treated like voltage and current.

From the Wall Street Journal, The New GE Way: Go Deep, Not Wide, Immelt’s stamp on GE. I think it’s a good thing.

From Lifehacker, Create for the joy of it.

Terry Blevins on control using wireless.