I think I do a lot of things well, at least the things I care about. I’ve been working on the prologue to a book proposal for months. An agent is working with me, encouraging me, and giving me advice and I’ve made some progress, but not as much I think I could. If you search for one of my posts on “show, don’t tell,” you’ll see how long I’ve[…] Keep reading →

Here’s another post in my Genius Business Idea series. My goal in this series is to show how entrepreneurial opportunities are everywhere, contrary to the common myth people who say they want to start a venture but don’t: that they haven’t found a great idea yet. This project is challenging, more for bureaucratic reasons than technical, but there is ample precedent of people overcoming similar challenges in New York. Read[…] Keep reading →

This clip wonderfully shows the effects of feeling understood about a passion—that is, a powerful emotion. You see how cathartic it feels for the person sharing the passion and how important it is for someone leading the person. Context: In a long interview, Dustin Hoffman is talking about the challenges of growing up under a stern father and how he escaped through movies, which evolved into acting. He starts to[…] Keep reading →

Do you watch TED talks? Many people seem to love them. Here’s why I don’t think much of them: When I ask people if they find TED talks inspirational, most people who watch them say yes. When I ask people to point out specific changes to their lives—that is, to describe what the talks inspired them to do—almost nobody can name action they’ve taken. Most changes people have taken have[…] Keep reading →

Post-event update: see a write-up and video of the event here — http://flavorwire.com/477424/history-begins-here-starting-a-legacy-in-nyc. Everybody who attended it seemed to love it. My event had a packed room with enthusiastic participants. I made several great connections at my event and the others I attended. I hope to see you next time. See me next weekend The event is free and there’s lots more than just me presenting on leadership. My part[…] Keep reading →

I read and recommend Steve Martin’s memoir, “Born Standing Up.” He writes honestly and concisely. He persevered through a challenging life. Unlike many people we admire, he didn’t overcome obstacles that befell him. My list of inspirations on my “Resources and Inspirations” page includes three big ones for me who overcame outside challenges that they couldn’t have foreseen and have to handle—Victor Frankl, Jean-Dominique Bauby, and Mark Zupan. Overcoming challenges[…] Keep reading →

Two great posts by others force me to break my pattern of sticking to original work. The first is that if you know me you know I love Calvin and Hobbes. The first new work by Bill Watterson in a long time appears here — “Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? Well, He Just Did.” The second is one of the best[…] Keep reading →

Don’t know who Mr. P. Hewson of Dublin, Ireland is? Read the following rejection letter to him and his band to see one of the great rejection letters of all time. (Hint: his band has sold over 150 million albums, the band won 22 Grammy awards, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked them in the top 25 greatest artists of all time). If you didn’t figure it out, RSO records summarily[…] Keep reading →

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, None but our self can free our mind. — Bob Marley, Redemption Song Context How do you move from living reactively, like in this graph, where you can’t help but react to any intense motivation: To living aware and non-reactively like this, where you are aware of many motivations but don’t feel compelled to react blindly to any? That change brings freedom. It comes from[…] Keep reading →