See my Fred talk this Saturday, April 23, 7:30pm at 136 Lawrence Street, Brooklyn. From my previous post about the talk (before it was rescheduled to this Saturday): Fred talks are do-it-yourself Ted talks with the slogan “Your friends’ ideas worth spreading.” Who says you need some huge conference for thousands of people that costs lots of money? You probably learned more from your grandmother than most of your teachers,[…] Keep reading →

Leadership does not require perfection — far from it. Effective leaders don’t have to be strong in many leadership skills at all. Effective leadership emerges more from knowing your strengths and weaknesses than on having many strengths. Speed and strength are valuable to any position in football, but a quarterback doesn’t need strength like a lineman. And a lineman doesn’t need to be as fast as a running back. A[…] Keep reading →

I like memorable opening lines to books. Good ones can be poetry, or a whole book into themselves. Sometimes they set the tone for the book. Others are simply memorable for their simplicity. Some of my favorite (some from memory so please correct errors): “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant day when his father took him to discover ice.”[…] Keep reading →

Here’s another lesson from my stylist friend besides how fast even significant personal change can be, possibly obvious to people more stylish than me. He told me a major goal of how you dress is to polarize. At first polarizing sounded counterproductive. Polarizing in a discussion breaks down communication. Why would I want to polarize? Why would I want to repel people? He explained further. Many people dress to fit[…] Keep reading →

Another supporter donated! Please think about donating and supporting the arts, students, and New York City! Actually, don’t just think about it. Do it 😉 Here’s the post about the project and the kickstarter page.

My next big beautiful public art piece will be with my Parsons class in Union Square. You can help make New York more beautiful, give people something to enjoy in their busy days, help students learn and build experience. Visit the project’s Kickstarter page and donate! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/492851406/big-beautiful-public-art-by-parsons-class-in-union About this project: We are 18 young talented art students and 2 professors in a class together at Parsons The New School of[…] Keep reading →

Martha Graham, one of the great artists of the twentieth century — Picasso-level stature and influence in her field — entered my life late, in my 30s, when recording Julliard dancers for my art at Lincoln Center. They were perfect people to learn from, dancers actively learning her, describing a “Martha Graham revolution” I’d never heard of before. I’d feel bad about learning about her so late, but since then[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written about mindmaps recently and my upcoming creativity talk on April 10. I thought I’d share the draft mindmap I’ve prepared so far for the talk. Freemind lets me export to a flash-based mindmap that you can navigate. You can’t edit it or see how I edit it to see how fun, useful, and effective it is, but you can see the output. It’s an incomplete draft — too[…] Keep reading →

I’m speaking on creativity at the next Fred Talk, April 10. Please come! A longtime friend emailed me after she went to the last one (I was out of town) telling me my talk was announced. Fred talks are do-it-yourself Ted talks with the slogan “Your friends’ ideas worth spreading.” Who says you need some huge conference for thousands of people that costs lots of money? You probably learned more[…] Keep reading →