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Cold showers aren’t hard showers. They’re easy workouts.

Cold Showers Aren't Hard Showers. They're Easy Workouts. Confusion about their purpose scare people from realizing their value as one of the easiest, cheapest, and effective improvement practices. I've written here many times on the benefits of cold showers. I've blogged more about them. You wouldn't have clicked on the headline if you weren't curious about them or already doing them. Inc. is a community of achievers and has covered cold showers many times. Many talk about science behind their benefit, but since double-blind controlled experiments are hard--how do you create a plausible placebo?--I find credence in their effect I see from them for myself. Having taken hundreds of cold showers (credit to Joel Runyon for starting my habit), I've found that they create Resilience…

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Don’t Call It a “Carbon” Tax
Joshua Spodek: Don't Call It a Carbon Tax

Don’t Call It a “Carbon” Tax

Don't Call It a "Carbon" Tax Words have meaning and the problem isn't carbon. Naming the tax meaningfully and effectively will create support. As a carbon-based life form, I'm fond of carbon. Taxing it doesn't sound appealing to me. As someone who likes the sea levels where they are, I find taxing greenhouse gas emissions compelling, like taxing cigarettes, which reduced smoking, extended lives, and increased revenues. "Pollution tax," not "carbon tax," sounds more appealing and responsible Carbon is an element. It doesn't appear or disappear. It bonds to other elements differently. Saying you tax it doesn't make sense, however effective the policy. The problem isn't carbon. It's the effects of some molecules in certain places in the environment. We have a name for chemicals…

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A Lesson in Authentic Leadership With Super Bowl Champion Bryan Braman
#50 Bryan Braman about to block a punt

A Lesson in Authentic Leadership With Super Bowl Champion Bryan Braman

A Lesson in Authentic Leadership With Super Bowl Champion Bryan Braman Think NFL players only care about the game? This Philadelphia Eagle showed the leadership skills that make champions, on the field and in life. When a friend offered to connect me to Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagle Bryan Braman, my first thought--as a native Philadelphian raised on cheese steaks and soft pretzels--was of course I want to talk to a guy who brought the Vince Lombardi trophy home! My next thought was: "My column and podcast are on leadership. If he's a 'bad boy' player out for fun for himself, the conversation won't go well." Mea culpa at my preconceived notions. Don't get me wrong. He lives and loves the game. Look at this head-first tackle after losing his helmet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNU1QzlVPxY That's giving…

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Chasing Coral and Personal Responsibility
Chasing Coral and Leadership

Chasing Coral and Personal Responsibility

Chasing Coral and Personal Responsibility A brilliant, important documentary on the environment viewed from a leadership and the environment perspective. The documentary Chasing Coral is emotionally evocative and hauntingly, tragically beautiful. I can see why it got its stellar reviews. I recommend it. While I support their goals, I hope it's the last "Do as I say, not as I do" documentary. They undermine efforts to change people's behavior to pollute less. Here's the trailer: Leadership and the Environment From a leadership perspective, it didn't motivate action. It raised awareness, but the environment, coral included, doesn't react to awareness. It reacts to behavior. A touching scene occurs when the movie makers show the extent of the tragic global coral bleaching they documented. The images of scientists crying broke my heart less for their sadness…

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7 Healthy Sounding Articles that Normalize the Opposite
7 Healthy Sounding Articles that Normalize the Opposite

7 Healthy Sounding Articles that Normalize the Opposite

7 Healthy Sounding Articles that Normalize the Opposite When did being sedentary become the standard? Facts alone rarely influence behavior. Would you be surprised that many journalists who sound like they are promoting health are actually promoting the opposite? Do you notice anything in common in these headlines? From the New York Times: How Exercise Can Keep Aging Muscles and Immune Systems 'Young' From the New York Times: How Exercise May Help the Memory Grow Stronger From the New York Times: Exercise May Enhance the Effects of Brain Training From Neuroscience News: Exercise Increases Brain Size From The Guardian: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise From the BBC: Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds From the BBC: Cycling to work can cut cancer and heart disease, says study The…

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This Man’s Daily Habit May Be the Most Productive Ever
Jadav Payeng

This Man’s Daily Habit May Be the Most Productive Ever

This Man's Daily Habit May Be the Most Productive Ever Imagine building Central Park yourself. Jadav Payeng did more. With his bare hands. We've long known the benefits of habits--even before Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Regular readers of my column know the value of sidchas--Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activities--which are more than just habits. They help define you. Successful people have sidchas. Not all, but many, and many credit them for their success. Jadav "Molai" Payeng, an Indian man born in 1963, may have outdone them all--to all of our benefit. He created a forest For the past 30 years, Payeng has planted trees, nearly daily, on an island in the Brahmaputra River in the state of Assam, India. No government or…

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Roger Bannister, the 4-Minute Mile, and Leadership
Roger Bannister, the 4-Minute Mile, and Leadership

Roger Bannister, the 4-Minute Mile, and Leadership

Roger Bannister, the 4-Minute Mile, and Leadership We who strive for more can learn from the great athlete, no matter our field. The greatest lesson we can learn from the achievement of Roger Bannister, who broke the 4-minute mile in 1954 and who died at 88 yesterday, arises from someone else breaking his record only seven weeks later. And then many times since. Why? Because as great as his physical feat, it shows that his mental feat was as great. Seven weeks isn't enough time for others to change training, strategy, diet, and so on. They already had the physical ability to break four minutes. Once he showed them they could, they did. That's leadership: to show people what they can do and enable them to do it. What we can learn from…

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The Future of Environmental Leadership
The Future of Environmental Leadership

The Future of Environmental Leadership

The Future of Environmental Leadership Want to lead? The opportunities to lead in the environment may be the best around. Hosting the Leadership and the Environment podcast has led to a lot of conversations on leadership and the environment. As an entrepreneur and adjunct professor of leadership, I talk to many who want to become leaders. Many shun working on the environment because they think it will distract from their career and leadership ambitions. They excuse themselves from acting on the environment with the complaint But acting on the environment will distract me from getting ahead. Are they crazy? There is national and global demand for environmental leadership. How do they miss the opportunity to advance at any level if they act? I don't know. Fear? Anxiety? I only hear a lack of imagination. Most…

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Joy and the Environment
Joy and the Environment

Joy and the Environment

Joy and the Environment What we as leaders can do for the environment and why it creates joy Leaders can help the environment more than anyone, I've come to conclude from countless conversations hosting the Leadership and the Environment podcast. By environment, I don't only mean global warming. No matter how skeptical anyone is about climate, nobody wants litter on pristine beaches, mercury in their fish, or asthma in their children. The environmental issues you're used to hearing about--pollution, extinctions, resource depletion, global warming, and so on--are not root problems, but are results. At least that's how my environmental work leads me to see them. They result from human behavior, which results from our beliefs, motivations, and emotions. Emotions, beliefs, motivations, and behavior are the realm of leadership. Changing the environment means changing…

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Why I Always Take the Stairs
Why I Always Take the Stairs

Why I Always Take the Stairs

Why I Always Take the Stairs Exercise is everywhere if you want it. And it simplifies your life. I've written before about how lazy I am, but how much fitness helps my career, relationships, and mood, so I find ways to integrate exercise into my life without taking time or resources from the rest of it. On the contrary, exercise consistently gives to the rest of my life. Today, let's talk stairs. I live on the fifth floor and come and go from home several times a day. If I take the elevator, I have to make extra time to exercise for the time I'm standing in the elevator depriving myself of getting my heart pumping. It's faster and more convenient to take the stairs and not spend the same time making…

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This “Wrong” Quote Will Ignite Your Passion
This "Wrong" Quote Will Ignite Your Passion

This “Wrong” Quote Will Ignite Your Passion

This "Wrong" Quote Will Ignite Your Passion Goethe didn't say it, but it's one of the most inspirational quotes you'll find Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a celebrity of his time, often called Germany's Shakespeare. That's him on the left in the picture above--a writer, statesman, scientist, and more. You can read his history at Wikipedia. At Inc., we're interested in what we can learn from accomplished people so we can accomplish more ourselves (at least I am). In that context, I present to you what I find one of the most inspirational quotes you'll find. And I mean inspirational, meaning it will lead you to act, not how most people mean it, as in not leading to action. People attribute it to Goethe, but if you look it up you'll…

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What Does LeBron James Know About Leadership?
What Does LeBron James Know About Leadership?

What Does LeBron James Know About Leadership?

What Does LeBron James Know About Leadership? Athletes learn and practice leadership. They get elected. We can learn from them. To tell an athlete to "shut up and dribble" shows profound misunderstanding of how much sports and athletics teach leadership, all the more so among leaders of champion teams. If you read Inc. to improve your leadership, LeBron James may have his flaws, as any leader does, but remains an exemplary role model. As a leadership professor, coach, and author, I suggest looking more to learn from champion athletes than to demean them. Leaders and Sports Let's just consider United States presidents, representatives, and governors who were athletes: Dwight Eisenhower was a linebacker at West Point Barack Obama played basketball throughout his presidency Ronald Reagan played football and swam in college Abraham Lincoln wrestled (and talked trash) Teddy…

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You Have to Say No to Many Good Things to Have a Great Life
Inc.: You Have to Say No to Many Good Things to Have a Great Life

You Have to Say No to Many Good Things to Have a Great Life

You Have to Say No to Many Good Things to Have a Great Life It's a matter of priorities. If you don't know yours, and how to act on them, you'll end up mediocre. As a leadership professor at New York University, I see some of the world's top students. A recent conversation reminded me that our university's culture still misguides them. Our corporate worlds suffer the same problem as my student. The more elite the institution, the more I see it. My student was asking career advice--in particular, how to feature different parts of his school experience for a job search. He had a double major and a double minor. Plus he had led a couple student groups. Impressive, right? Well, yes, but not necessarily effective. I'll give you the challenge…

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Why the Environment Needs Leadership
Inc.: Why the Environment Needs Leadership

Why the Environment Needs Leadership

Why the Environment Needs Leadership Leaders know guilt, blame, doom, and gloom don't work. What works better? Here's one effective way to lead: Go where the people you want to lead are--emotionally, not necessarily physically. That is, learn what they care about and connect those motivations to the task. Then the task will feel meaningful and purposeful to them. They'll do it for themselves. They'll thank you for leading them to work. What doesn't work: telling people that their future is full of doom and gloom. Make them feel helpless and hopeless. What also doesn't work: debating about irrelevant issues, or even relevant ones. Logical debate rarely changes behavior. Environmental action lacks leadership. I started my Leadership and the Environmentpodcast to fill the void. How people approach it gives us leadership lessons we…

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10 Signs U.S. Universities Are Sabotaging Themselves
Inc: 10 Signs U.S. Universities Are Sabotaging Themselves

10 Signs U.S. Universities Are Sabotaging Themselves

10 Signs U.S. Universities Are Sabotaging Themselves Moody's downgraded higher education to "negative." S&P agreed. Finances aren't the problem. Leadership is. S&P predicted a bleak future for higher education last week. Last month Moody's downgraded the sector to from "stable" to "negative." Leaders know financial issues usually aren't root problems but point to them. Here are 10 signs pointing to problems among American universities independent of finance, from most obvious leading to the broadest and most important. 10. The most successful students leave American universities. The following people left American universities (or never went), not out of ignorance but knowing that what universities offered would hold them back: Elon Musk Bill Gates Oprah Winfrey Sean Combs Sergey Brin Larry Page Mark Zuckerberg LeBron James Michael Dell ... to name a few. Academics might say these people…

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Daily blog posts: Year 8, day 1

After some scattered posts dating to 2008, today in 2011 I wrote my first post in an unbroken daily series leading to today, with no future break planned. So today is day 1 of year 8. That's 2,551 days in a row and 2,852 posts (I posted more than one per day), for those keeping track. It become my first sidcha, followed by burpees, cold showers, picking up garbage, and others. Some people see the streak as a feat. As with burpees, I increasingly see it not as a big accomplishment, but like brushing my teeth. My unbroken streak in brushing my teeth daily goes back to college at least. I hope you don't see brushing my teeth as an accomplishment. It's not a big…

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Should New York City Sue Mayor de Blasio? (Inc.)
Should New York City Sue Mayor de Blasio?

Should New York City Sue Mayor de Blasio? (Inc.)

Should New York City Sue Mayor de Blasio? Will New York City's mayor stop personally doing what the city is suing tobacco companies for? Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio explained why the city was suing five fossil fuel companies: For decades, Big Oil ravaged our environment. They knew what they were peddling was lethal, but they didn't care. They used the classical Big Tobacco playbook of denial, denial, denial, and all the while they did everything to hook society on their lethal product. Have they been punished for it? No. In fact, they've made trillions. Think how cynical that is. Then take a look around you at the results. Swaths of California have gone up in flames. We are seeing snow in Florida. The Arctic ice…

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Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Who Are Your Peers, and What Are Your Sidchas?
Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Who Are Your Peers, and What Are Your Sidchas?

Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Who Are Your Peers, and What Are Your Sidchas?

Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Who Are Your Peers, and What Are Your Sidchas? Want success? Compare yourself to historical greats and make them your peers, not the average. 18 years ago today, January 4, 2000, the New York Times reported: Today is the first day, after nearly half a century, that the daily comic strip ''Peanuts'' will not appear. Just why it would be funny to see a young boy lean his head against a tree and say ''I weep for our generation'' is hard to explain, but Charlie Brown and his creator, Charles M. Schulz, made it so. Mr. Schulz, who is 77 and ill with colon cancer, and the generation that grew up reading ''Peanuts'' may feel like crying too. Over the years, ''Peanuts'' has…

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The Missing Element in Protecting the Environment (Inc.)
The Missing Element in Protecting the Environment

The Missing Element in Protecting the Environment (Inc.)

The Missing Element in Protecting the Environment We have the science and technology. We're missing effective leadership. Let's learn from past success. Who would expect an insight on how to protect the environment to come from hookworms? I recently saw Zia Khan, the Rockefeller Foundation's Vice President of Initiatives and Strategy, speak at the New York Academy of Science's Summit on United Nations Strategic Goals. That's a high-level group of organizations and people. He didn't speak on the environment, but the project he worked on showed something missing from climate change work, at least that I don't see. He talked about hookworms, hookworm disease, and how a 1909 program nearly eradicated it in the American south. For the details of the disease, it's enough to know hookworms are a parasite that sap your blood…

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Enron Environmentalism (Inc.)

Enron Environmentalism Enron looked profitable when it compartmentalized and hid its losses. Do you compartmentalize and hide your pollution? I just had lunch with a man who described himself as fanatical about the environment--in particular, about water bottles. He illustrated by describing how fastidiously he handled them. As he started his story, I expected him to describe how he never used water bottles. Americans have such clean and drinkable water that water made unclean makes front page news for weeks. Specifically, he lives near Manhattan, and our water wins blind taste tests with consumers. The EPA finds it meets or exceeds all safety requirements. I figured he knew that 91% of plastic isn't recycled, and that for the garbage you create, 70 times more was produced upstream. So I presumed he would describe how he never used these harmful,…

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Remember the “Crying Indian” Anti-Litter Ads From the 70s? You’ll Cry More at Our Pollution Levels Today (Inc.)

Remember the Single-Tear Anti-Litter Ads From the 70s? You'll Cry Too at Our Pollution Levels Today The chart below puts Keep America Beautiful's "Crying Indian" public service announcement in today's deplorable context A headline in The Guardian two days ago, "$180bn investment in plastic factories feeds global packaging binge" led me to some statistics about plastic production. Plastic Production Then The chart I saw, reproduced below, showed dramatic increase around 1970. Normally I wouldn't think much of that date, but it reminded me of the so-called "crying Indian ads,"--the Keep America Beautiful public service announcements from my childhood. I hadn't thought of them in decades. From Wikipedia, In 1971, a new campaign was launched on Earth Day with the theme, "People Start Pollution. People can stop it." In what became known…

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Do Your Sidchas! (Inc.)
Start A Sidcha!

Do Your Sidchas! (Inc.)

Start a Sidcha! Resolutions and short-term thinking create short-term results and long-term failure. Start a Sidcha to last a lifetime. I just read yet another thread of people pledging resolutions, suspiciously many being ones they failed last year. This year they really meant it, though. Right. I had to comment on what works and doesn't. Habits that work The day Nelson Mandela walked free for the first time in 27 years--a day of global importance and incredibly busy--he got up early and do you know what he did? His daily exercises. The calisthenics he'd done almost every day of those 27 years. A day Gandhi was told that a day would be so busy he'd have to skip meditating, he replied I have so much to accomplish today that I…

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Lies We Tell Ourselves When We Pollute (Inc.)

Lies We Tell Ourselves When We Pollute We all want clean air, water, and land, yet pollute more than necessary. Leaders act with responsibility, accountability, and self-awareness. Our leadership vacuum on the environment I hook my audiences easily in my workshops on my podcast, Leadership and the Environment, by saying, Raise your hand if you like pollution, rising sea levels, and more plastic in the ocean than fish. No hands ever go up. I continue, Now raise your hand if you lowered your pollution to below American levels. Again, no hands ever go up. People look around sheepishly, so I ask, If you don't want pollution, why do you pollute unnecessarily? Nobody knows. Some suggest that they can't stop living, eating, and breathing, but I ask about unnecessary pollution. Americans pollute more per capita than almost anyone in…

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Morning Routines and Success (Inc.)

Morning Routines and Success You show me a successful person and I'll show you one with daily habits. MyMorningRoutine.com brings today's successful people's habits. You show me a successful person and I'll show you one with structured daily habits. The more successful, the more self-imposed, challenging, relevant, and active his or her habits. Even bad-boy athletes, apparently self-indulgent rock stars, and counter-cultural artists have habits. Rather, the long-term successful ones do. The most successful people in history and the world today are noted for their habits--success by their own standards, which could be money but could also be artistic output, peace of mind, or whatever they valued. Just as your habits can create success for you by your standards. What makes a habit valuable and effective If…

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The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity
The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity

The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity

My Inc. post today, "The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity," begins The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity In a leader's relationships, the 20/80 rule counts, not the 80/20 rule. Leadership means people watch you--not to what you want to say or do, or mean to, but what you actually say and do. Attention to detail counts. Not sometimes, but always. What Vince Lombardi said about winning applies to leadership: Leading is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't lead once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Leading is a habit. Unfortunately, so is failing to lead. You can learn attention to detail. I would say you have to, to lead authentically. Notice that attention to detail works the opposite…

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