For no particular reason I decided to try to think if each field had values and if each set of values was unique for each profession. I don’t know the value of this exercise, but it was fun. I noticed that some values worked with nearly every field, like service, integrity, and some obvious ones that apply any time someone works for another. By the way, I’m listing the fields’[…] Keep reading →

A client asked about something in his personal life. He does things one way that most parts of society do differently. To be clear, his way harmed no one and was in no way illegal, but he was concerned that people who learned about it might freak out. Sorry I have to keep the details to a minimum, but we all recognize his situation is universal. We all have things[…] Keep reading →

Leadership and acting have a lot in common. Both crafts require practitioners to be aware of and to manage their emotions and those of people around them. They evoke different emotions — leaders generally don’t try to get people to cry and actors generally don’t get people to work weekends — but their crafts overlap nonetheless. I’ve linked to Inside the Actors Studio before and I’ll keep linking to them.[…] Keep reading →

You learn leadership through experience. I’ve had occasion to recall some of the most challenging and educational experiences of my development. I’m not proud of them. I wish they had never happened. But they formed me as much as anything. The painful experiences I co-founded Submedia in the late 90s. By the early 2000s we had nearly run out of money and were having trouble paying our debts. My PhD[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been talking to my American friends overseas about differences between the U.S. and the countries they’re living in. Top on the list are infrastructure and what the government does for the people it represents. I think government services rank so highly because when you get to know them, people tend to be the same everywhere. They usually know differences in food before they go. After the people you notice[…] Keep reading →

Almost daily I face what I see as the key misunderstanding between how to lead your life to everything you want from it and how to follow what society tells you to. If you’re lucky the latter will bring you what you want. You’re guaranteed to produce for others, but you may never create what you want for yourself. By contrast, the former — leading your life based on your[…] Keep reading →

News on my mom’s side is that her sister’s grand-daughter — my first cousin once removed — is winning competitions in her first year at Stanford. Here’s an interview after she came in second at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships yesterday. Remember the name Brianna Bain. P.S. For those who read my Roots post, she descended from the same seventeenth century puritans.

A friend who contacted me about my visiting North Korea wrote an article about visiting North Korea. He traveled extensively, spoke Korean, and ate meat, so he had a chance to experience something different and communicate more. It’s hard for me not to notice how experiencing North Korea differed from his expectations, which led him to understand more about his culture — mainly the press (perhaps the government). Also that[…] Keep reading →

Since I remembered liking the Dukes of Hazzard as a kid and like Johnny Knoxville, when I got free tickets to see the movie Dukes of Hazzard New York City premiere, I was excited to see a movie I had a reasonable chance of enjoying. It ended up being the first movie that, at zero cost, I paid too much to see. I decided to avoid watching movies in theaters.[…] Keep reading →