“Working here sucks.” “My boss is incompetent.” “No one there knows what they’re doing.” I hear comments like these all the time from frustrated people. The more I coach, the more I see them indicate incredible opportunities. I see them as leadership vacuums—situations where no one is leading effectively but that lack leadership. People without skills to act effectively get frustrated, angry, impatient, etc and the more they feel powerless[…] Keep reading →

In April I spoke by invitation at NYU-Stern, MIT, Columbia Business School, and Princeton, I’m proud to say. As best I can remember it was my first time visiting MIT, though I may have visited my senior year in college. I remember competing against their ultimate team in college as well as competing with some of their players, including at Mardi Gras one year. In MIT fashion, the board behind[…] Keep reading →

Following up on “Passions, you create,” which I recommend rereading, where I wrote about passion not being something you happen to find, like if you just turned over enough rocks you’d find it… Everyone has the same potential to develop passions, as far as I can tell. If all you do is turn over rocks but never dig in—that is, look at what others do and think about those things[…] Keep reading →

Something I’ve meant to do as I cut out more prepared foods is to go for a while without buying any food with any packaging. I think it would make an interesting experiment and I’m learning a lot experientially. I’ve been thinking about how to do it effectively—most consistently, or most something or other. Tonight I bought some fruits and vegetables at the produce stand down the block, telling the[…] Keep reading →

Continuing my series of alternative responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicists, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on others, here is my take on today’s post, ”Can a Colleague ‘Donate’ My Lost Money?” I work in a public hospital, in a poor neighborhood. In between seeing patients, I placed $50 in my pocket and went to use the public bathroom. I then[…] Keep reading →

I’m not sure how to resolve this, or if anyone can. Some people enjoy fighting, even war. The more freedom you give people, the more freedom they have to promote fighting, which seems to decrease peace. Some say things like “Your freedom ends where mine begins,” suggesting that laws regulate behavior that affects others. Still, belligerent people can democratically influence the law to allow more fighting. And wars involve people[…] Keep reading →

People talk down about processed food. I think it’s important to clarify what “processed” means. Does peeling a banana qualify as processing it? Does frying something count? How is a Twinkie different than something you prepare yourself? For some reason, people like to argue with people about what they eat. I wish I could say I don’t understand why but I used to too. Anyway, I found a definition that[…] Keep reading →