If persistence pays off, how far do you persist? How often do you persist (politely) until you’ve wrong an opportunity dry—absolutely, completely dry? As I wrote on Inc.com yesterday in “How to Build the Best Relationships With Both Leaders and Superiors,” people appreciate helping others—if you behave like you deserve it, but not like you’re entitled. A student of mine was applying to graduate school. She told me how she[…] Keep reading →

My post today on Inc.com, “Why You Should Never Let Anyone Call You ‘Smart’ in Business” begins: Intelligence is good so entrepreneurs should like being called smart, right? Wrong. People call you smart when you have nothing they care about more. Look at who doesn’t care if you’re smart in business: Customers value products and services that solve their problems. Employees want to pay their rent and enjoy their jobs.[…] Keep reading →

Inc. Magazine, in its own words: For 35 years, we’ve been the premier publication dedicated to entrepreneurs—the most innovative, most courageous, and most essential business leaders in America. In that time, Inc. has won widespread recognition for maintaining the highest editorial standards as we’ve documented that world. How did it improve overnight? They hired me as their latest columnist! Today marks my first piece, “How I Wish Business School Had[…] Keep reading →

I teach, but not how nearly all my teachers taught me. I teach experientially. I try to avoid lecturing. I try to include in the classroom the challenges life will challenge students with, not abstractions. Nearly all my students come from years of lecturing and abstract learning. I find two broad types of students. I don’t think they’re different types of people. I think they come from different types of[…] Keep reading →

You can get results like the aspiring entrepreneurs in my course last semester that I posted about yesterday, the ones who wrote “This is one of the greatest classes I have ever taken. It was engaging, thought provoking, challenging, and fun. Josh is an incredible teacher, mentor, and friend to everyone in the class who is passionate about the subject matter. If I could take this class all over again,[…] Keep reading →

I compiled feedback from students in the entrepreneurship class I taught at NYU last semester. Though the students were undergraduates, I taught basically the same exercises as I do with executives and seasoned executives, who get similar results. As much as my vanity would like to take credit for some of these reviews, more credit goes to the style of teaching I use—inquiry-driven project-based learning—and the people who developed it[…] Keep reading →

Many people look to technology to solve problems. Technology has solved many problems. It helps us travel around the world, communicate with people anywhere instantly, makes amazing special effects in movies, and all that stuff that dazzles us. I think a lot of people see technology as something that sprouts out of laboratories or the minds of people so unlike them they call them geniuses and consider them superhuman. I[…] Keep reading →

Politicians tell you America is “losing ground” to other countries all the time. A search on “America is losing ground to China India” returns tons of results, many fear-mongering. This language comes from a misguided belief that business and trade are zero-sum competitions, that if someone elsewhere gets a deal then you lost it. If you want votes and don’t mind sowing fear, anxiety, and xenophobia, great. But people succeeding[…] Keep reading →

A student in the online entrepreneurship course I’m creating asked about distractions. When he wants to work, he often gets distracted. I think me answer will help others so I’m sharing it here. Most life-long valuable things have long-term, non-urgent reward. Things that have immediate reward or urgency will distract. For example, if you want to do well at school, the reward for working on a project may come days[…] Keep reading →