I’ve learned to view what many people call failure as experience and lack of failure as not experimenting enough. If you avoid failure absolutely, I would guess I would sound annoying to me. Not that I’m special in this way. The entrepreneurial community celebrates failure, at least among those who learn from it despite the pain. So do sports and plenty of other places. A major part of my failures[…] Keep reading →

When you think about influencing or motivating someone in business, what tools do you think of using? How do you think of motivating people? Did you think of incentive-based tools based in authority, like bonuses, promotions, raises, increasing or decreasing someone’s responsibilities, threat of firing, threat of demotion, and the like? In my experience, most people do. Why not? We’re used to seeing them used. They work fairly predictably—almost nobody[…] Keep reading →

I hear similar reasons all the time that discourage would-be entrepreneurs from behaving entrepreneurially—starting business ventures, non-profits, or just projects they enjoy. This series helps you overcome the top ones I hear. Click on the entries in the Table of Contents to the left to see the posts in the series. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but if it’s for you or your business, counterproductive myths don’t help you. Successful entrepreneurs[…] Keep reading →

A few years ago I posted a series on reasons I hear all the time that discourage would-be entrepreneurs from behaving entrepreneurially—starting business ventures, non-profits, or just projects they enjoy. This series helps you overcome the top ones I hear. I compiled them into easy-to-read series format. Click here and take a look at the series! To whet your appetite, the four discouraging myths in this series: You need a[…] Keep reading →

Pyragraph Magazine just published a piece I wrote, “The Value of Entrepreneurial Skills for Artists,” on how I hustled (a term that for me in entrepreneurship means only positive things) my way into a prestigious teaching gig at NYU while creating a big public art work. I loved and benefited from each. Neither opportunity could stand on its own, but both together worked. And the city, the school, and the[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been invited to participate on a panel with several distinguished entrepreneurs and leaders at NYU March 27 6pm-7:30pm. Click here for the announcement and to register (the event is free, but you have to register). Below is the text. NYU Entrepreneurs Network & NYU Leadership Development Initiative present Entrepreneurship VS Leadership Similarities, Differences, & Lessons Learned We often talk about leadership and entrepreneurship as if they were the same[…] Keep reading →

The reason we on the Distinguished Leaders Committee of Columbia Business School’s alumni club booked a director for this evening’s talk was something one of last year’s speakers, Rita McGrath, said. If you’re near New York City, I recommend you come (click here for details of location and how to sign up, you don’t have to have graduated from Columbia to join). She pointed out that as people work at[…] Keep reading →

Here’s another post in my Genius Business Idea series one day after the first. This one came during the same homework assignment as yesterday’s, I hope indicating great ideas can come quickly. Like many ideas, this one also came from personal experience. For all I know, such a profession already exists, but I don’t know about it so I’m writing it up anyway. The unmet need If you’ve had your[…] Keep reading →

I haven’t posted something for my Genius Business Idea series in a while. I thought of this when I also did a homework assignment I assigned my students in the class I’m teaching at NYU. The unmet need Many people are choosing to take vacations from work without leaving their home towns, which they’re calling “staycations.” They cost less money and take less planning while still giving people a chance[…] Keep reading →