Growing up I thought the strategy of mutually assured destruction, while tragic, kept the peace. Speaking to Nobel Peace Prize honoree ICAN member Seth Shelden, I learned that we’ve advanced from that line of thinking and our world changed to where it doesn’t apply any more. As much as I’d like to hold on to something that made me feel comfortable or at least content, I have to drop believing[…] Keep reading →

People are finding many new ways to be more efficient—recycling, crickets for food, and seaweed for food for example. I’ve written many times how efficiency can be a good tactic within the strategy of reducing consumption, but doesn’t stand on its own. The New York Times headline, One-Third of New York’s Small Businesses May Be Gone Forever illustrates what happens when we value efficiency so highly in the market. The[…] Keep reading →

I recently spoke online to alumni groups from the Wharton and University of Chicago business schools on developing initiative, specifically from my book, Initiative. Here are reviews from NYU students who did the exercises I describe in them. I asked if I could share the videos from the webinars. Here they are. As I say in them, I designed them to give you enough to work with on your own.[…] Keep reading →

People with causes often share facts to influence others. Sometimes the facts work, sometimes they annoy the other person, even when that person could use the fact. I figured out why, or at least one reason. When people feel powerless information makes them feel ashamed, frustrated, and the like. Since they feel they can’t do anything, they see the information as highlighting the problem and makes them feel bad. They’ll[…] Keep reading →

People constantly suggest they have to balance different values as if I didn’t. It came up in a recent conversation so I shared about it today. An element I factor in is how my pollution affects others—not just what I know about or wish I contributed, but what I actually contribute. Yet people think I factor in nothing else. It’s weird to learn people see you as one-dimensional. If they[…] Keep reading →

I think I’ve accidentally led people astray, sharing how much I enjoy acting in stewardship. I would prefer doing anything I wanted whenever and wherever, on my terms—that is, if I didn’t have to consider how my behavior affected others, especially those powerless to stop my effects from hurting them. Today’s episode shares how I’m doing on the personal level what science suggests—no magic, nothing personal, just following the advice[…] Keep reading →

Frances Hesselbein’s Leadership Forum at the University of Pittsburgh quoted me for today’s Tip of the Day. Yes, I’m shamelessly showing off ;), but I can’t put into words how honored I feel to contribute to Frances’s community. To serve is to live. The source The quote comes from my Kosmos Quarterly article, Our Finest Hour, If We Choose: The unedited quote Frances’s Leadership Forum edited the quote from the[…] Keep reading →