Here’s something I wrote in response to someone who wrote about patents, confused why so many people, especially people who work in technology, are coming to dislike patents. I find people who don’t work with patents have models about them that don’t fit with how businesses use them today, their effects, and how and why we created them in the first place. The first quote is a question I read[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you think about starting a company? Or something else entrepreneurial, like starting and leading a project where you work, a community-based project, or the like?[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Strategy is a fundamental study for many fields, including leadership, military, games, and plenty areas of business. If you’re reading this page, you don’t need motivation[…] Keep reading →

I’ll be leading the next session of my leadership seminar in New York in June. I’m experimenting as four three-hour evening sessions Session 1: Monday, June 17 Session 2: Wednesday, June 19 Session 3: Monday, June 24 Session 4: Wednesday, June 26 I’ll give the same full attention I do for a weekend session. Sign up here. Here’s the course description: What You’ll Learn If you don’t know how to[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you want to get more sales? Even if you don’t sell anything, you probably propose things, pitch things, apply for things, and so forth. Do[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] You want to do something meaningful. You know it will take resources — time, energy, attention, etc. You have your goals. You have a general plan.[…] Keep reading →

I can’t resist reposting a comment I posted on the forum of one of my favorite other blogs, Mr. Money Mustache. I’m reposting it because two other readers rated my response highly, one giving my response this animated image, making me proud. The post I responded to Alright mustachians [the term for people in the Mr. Money Mustache community who practice his principles of not spending money on stuff that[…] Keep reading →

Do you feel stress from too much stuff to do or lose track of things? Many entrepreneurial and management types I know read Getting Things Done and put it into practice. I recommend it. I read the book and like the philosophy — in particular, his observation that if your mind has to remember something, it will allocate resources that distract you from everything else. The more you have to[…] Keep reading →

If you’re an entrepreneur or VC in New York, clear off Monday, April 15, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM. I’ve written before about InSITE, the entrepreneurship group I started working with at Columbia Business School, and a friend there winning a competition with a business to reduce pollution. If you didn’t know, InSITE brings together graduate students at various schools around NYC (mainly from Columbia’s and NYU’s business,[…] Keep reading →