My response to the question “How do I improve my storytelling?” on a forum got upvoted a lot: Practice, practice, practice. The best advice in the world only works in the context of practice. Practicing makes advice meaningful. Practice and then practice more. Then practice more. Get feedback. Seek advice. Iterate. But practice. Name anyone who mastered a performance art who didn’t practice more than most. Even if you can,[…] Keep reading →

Taste is a matter of taste, so you may not enjoy my food as much as I do, but I’ve grown confident enough in it to invite people more and more, including for business meetings. I’ve asked people to write reviews. If you come to my place for one of my famous vegetable stews, they’ll tell you what to expect. The reviews When Josh first invited me over for stew,[…] Keep reading →

Back when I made my art, I would sometimes find a new venue or commission that would give me the chance to work bigger than before. I’d sign a new gallery, meaning more pieces, or a museum. Or a venue with a budget would commission me. My art was technical, with laser cut steel, 8 foot photographic quality images, power cables, and so on. I could only scale up when[…] Keep reading →

I finally watched Gone With the Wind. People routinely rate it one of the top movies. Watching it, you automatically rate it by the standards of its time. But watch the acting these iconic scenes. The morning after watching the movie, I woke up realizing how ungenuine and inauthentic the acting was. Sure, by the standards of its time, the acting was probably great. But watch this scene, the opening[…] Keep reading →

I’m honored that Medium awarded my column “Top Writer” in three categories. “Great Work, Joshua Spodek. Congratulations! You are now a top writer in Leadership.” “Great Work, Joshua Spodek. Congratulations! You are now a top writer in Inspiration.” “Great Work, Joshua Spodek. Congratulations! You are now a top writer in Self Improvement.” You can do what I did to earn it I wrote my book, Leadership Step by Step, to[…] Keep reading →

One of my online communities had a thread on writing a book this year. It led me to reflect on writing in a way that might help someone where I was before starting to write. I consider what I wrote relevant to practicing any craft or developing one’s passion. Here’s what I wrote: Last year was my big year for writing and finishing my book, Leadership Step by Step. It[…] Keep reading →

Engineering, technical, and artistic types often put down the arts and art education as not practical. In an engineering, technical, entrepreneurial community I participate in sometimes, the question arose if anyone had an art degree. Though I don’t, for the double reason that I learned a lot during my foray into creating and showing art, and basing my teaching in part on the structure of art instruction, I wrote the[…] Keep reading →