In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me about differences in leadership between in a business environment and outside of business, in particular how my seminar relates to them. Note that the ability to lead differs from leading. I list a few reasons having the awareness and skills to lead others and yourself benefit anyone. You don’t have to lead or take a leadership position to get those[…] Keep reading →

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me my best part of visiting North Korea. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/north_korea_greatest_lesson.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/north_korea_greatest_lesson.mp3[/videofile] — EDIT: I included much of this post and this series on strategy (edited and polished) in my ebook, Understanding North Korea: Demystifying the World’s Most Misunderstood Country. I wrote the book to help increase understanding, communication, and freedom.

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me why I chose to go to North Korea. Why I chose to go was different than what made such a positive impression on me, a pattern that happens often in my life and I bet yours. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3[/videofile]

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me about the differences between my course and a traditional business school leadership class. [sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/difference_between_MBA_leadership_course_and_my_seminar.mp3]

On Sunday, September 4, 2011, I played in the first ever ultimate Frisbee games and tournament in North Korea in Pyongyang. North Korea is as much a frontier to Americans as any place on Earth today. I believe like ping-pong diplomacy opened China before Nixon did, so will ultimate play a greater role in normalizing relations with North Korea than any traditional diplomacy. This interview talks about the emotions involved[…] Keep reading →

Following up last week’s interview on sales lessons from a great failure, this week’s interview covers the result of sticking with it after that failure: Submedia’s first sale, which came with Coca-Cola signing as Submedia’s début advertiser, as documented in the New York Times, for example, and elsewhere. I doubt Submedia could have achieved such a great success without first having gone through a spectacular failure at first. Small interface:[audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/life_lesson_first_sale.mp3][…] Keep reading →

Spectacular failures teach us our most valuable lessons. In this interview, I talk about my first, and most painful, sales failure growth experience. I wanted to crawl under a rock and die, but the meeting crept on. Afterward I didn’t want to continue in business, let alone do any sales. The word I was looking for at 2:38 was condescension, by the way. My business partner’s perspective — that you[…] Keep reading →

Why do you travel? How does traveling improve your life? If you do, you probably have many reasons — experiencing new cultures, food, languages, natural beauty, etc. In this interview, I share some of my life lessons from international travel, probably with some new perspectives. I also talk about how I get the value of traveling without traveling, saving time, money, and other resources, finding greater richness in daily life[…] Keep reading →

You used to get frustrated by taxes, right? You probably don’t like getting older. We all prefer accepting things we can’t change to frustration, disappointment, etc. You’ve learned to improve your life through acceptance. Why stop there, implying the thing still bothers us? You can learn to celebrate anything you can accept, turning problems into sources of reward. On a related note, judging tends to repel others, just like people[…] Keep reading →