Coaching works. The quote above, “I can talk to my brothers and sisters again,” came from one of the one-hour coaching sessions I have with students. We were talking about business relationships and understanding—specifically the perspectives in this post, “My boss sucks. How do I manage my manager?” We did the exercise in this post,  “How to make someone feel understood: confirm and let them correct you,” which he applied it[…] Keep reading →

Pyragraph Magazine just published a piece I wrote, “The Value of Entrepreneurial Skills for Artists,” on how I hustled (a term that for me in entrepreneurship means only positive things) my way into a prestigious teaching gig at NYU while creating a big public art work. I loved and benefited from each. Neither opportunity could stand on its own, but both together worked. And the city, the school, and the[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been invited to participate on a panel with several distinguished entrepreneurs and leaders at NYU March 27 6pm-7:30pm. Click here for the announcement and to register (the event is free, but you have to register). Below is the text. NYU Entrepreneurs Network & NYU Leadership Development Initiative present Entrepreneurship VS Leadership Similarities, Differences, & Lessons Learned We often talk about leadership and entrepreneurship as if they were the same[…] Keep reading →

I don’t often find myself at a loss for words, but my mind was racing too fast to pick anything to come out. I looked out the cafe window at the people bundled in their coats, Spring still weeks away. In front of an agent I had recently started working with on the early draft of a few chapters the book I’d hurried to finish in the last few days[…] Keep reading →

Look at my post from two weeks ago on how to manage your manager and you’ll notice something beyond business relationships. Much of what works for managing managers applies to asserting yourself and improving personal, even intimate, relationships. I distinguish there between how people usually manage people and how they manage their managers. People usually manage people with external incentives—bonuses, offers of promotions, threats of demotion or firing, increases or[…] Keep reading →

How to make yourself look good all the time in two simple steps that always work Step 1: Make people around you look good. Step 2: Surround yourself with similar people.

If you lead, coach, or mentor, knowing effective teaching methods help you. People have been learning to teach for thousands of years, so we stand to learn from them. I recently attended a phenomenal conference on education called EduCon in Philadelphia, co-hosted by longtime friend Chris Lehmann, who founded The Science Leadership Academy, which ranks as one of the most inspirational educational communities I’ve participated in, including several Ivy-League universities.[…] Keep reading →