A pattern I’ve noticed works a lot in life: When everyone is going in one direction, try going as far as you can in the opposite direction. Some examples: When car companies kept making bigger and more dominant SUVs, the Prius did well. In retrospect it seems obvious, but the car appeared nearly alone and successful in the U.S. market for years before other cars competed meaningfully. Now Smart Cars[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I wrote about being called intelligent or smart and the sometimes downsides associated with it. I found that while society seems to value intelligence, on a personal level people value getting the job done, relationship skills, experience, people’s networks, and other things, at least in leadership and decision-making roles. For a few roles that don’t require teamwork people value intelligence, but they aren’t that common in professional environments. What[…] Keep reading →

Following up on this post on voicing your self-talk, a follow-up to what I consider the most effective exercise in improving your self-awareness, here is another example of someone speaking extemporaneously for a long time. He’s not exactly voicing his self-talk, but he is, at least somewhat. I presume he knew his topic well before this recording, but knowing a topic well doesn’t make speaking for over five minutes on[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written a lot on creativity and when I do I often mention the professor whose class on creativity I took, Jacob Goldenberg. He recently gave an online talk with Columbia Business School about his research. If you like creativity, learning some unexpected properties of it, and improving your creativity, I recommend it. It’s not as polished as a TED talk, but as informative. Here it is: video platformvideo managementvideo[…] Keep reading →

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Flavorpill — the social discovery engine and curated event marketplace that keeps you tapped into the cultural happenings around you and lets you find and follow things you like, see what your friends are into, and, if so inspired, get off the computer and go out — posted my creativity seminar next Wednesday, April 24, 6pm-9pm. Very prestigious. Check it out. Then sign up! I look forward to seeing you[…] Keep reading →

Next Wednesday, 6pm-9pm I’m giving my first seminar through Skillshare, a company that organizes classes. If you’re near Manhattan and you want to become more creative, you should come. The class is called Systematic Creativity. When I say it teaches proven ways to increase your creativity, I mean it. It comes from one of the best courses I took at Columbia Business School by one of the top creativity researchers,[…] Keep reading →