Category Archives: Tips

Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Tourist Retractions

on October 12, 2014 in Awareness, Ethicist, Leadership, Nonjudgment, Tips

Continuing my series on responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicist, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on them, here is a take on an earlier post,”Tourist Retractions.” I recently spent several days at a relatively expensive hotel. The place was deplorable and unsanitary, with an unresponsive front desk. I gave it a poor write-up on TripAdvisor.com, the travel website, titling my review[…] Keep reading →

Nonjudgmental ethics: Is It Wrong to Watch Football?

on October 8, 2014 in Ethicist, Nonjudgment, Tips

Continuing my series on responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicist, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on them, here is my take on today’s post, “Is It Wrong to Watch Football?” I’ve recently begun to question my support for the N.F.L. I suspect that the recent discoveries about concussions and the prevalence of early-onset dementia among players are just the tip of[…] Keep reading →

See Joshua Spodek on leadership at General Assembly, Sunday October 19

on October 7, 2014 in Education, Entrepreneurship, Events, Leadership, Tips

Attendees keep giving me great ratings, so General Assembly keeps inviting me back. If you like entrepreneurship and you don’t know General Assembly, you should. They teach great courses and have built a great community around teaching relevant skills. On Sunday, October 19, 10am-5pm, I’ll lead a seminar with General Assembly on leadership in New York City. Register here, you’ll be glad you did. Here is the announcement (they use[…] Keep reading →

Sunday non-judgment: Coffee for young mormons?

on October 5, 2014 in Ethicist, Nonjudgment, Tips

Continuing my series on responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicist, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on them, here is my take on today’s post, “Should a Camp Counselor Stop a Student From Trying Coffee?” I work at a summer camp for high-school students. This year, a Mormon camper decided to drink coffee. Some staff members felt that we should try to[…] Keep reading →

How to start to lead

on October 2, 2014 in Art, Entrepreneurship, Exercises, Leadership, Tips

The more I teach and coach leadership and entrepreneurship, the more I see them as sets of behavioral skills anyone can learn. Behaving in certain ways results in people choosing to follow you. Behave otherwise and they won’t. There’s no magic to it. The question isn’t if you can behave like effective leaders do. The question is if you choose to learn and if you find effective learning technique. Your[…] Keep reading →

Not the ethicist, part 4

on September 29, 2014 in Ethicist, Nonjudgment, Tips

Continuing my series on responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicist, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on them, here is a take on an earlier post, “Campus Police: Precrime Division“. I study computer science at a midsize university, and my school has cameras that cover almost every part of campus. The development of video-processing algorithms that can discern race, height and approximate[…] Keep reading →

Not the ethicist 3

on September 28, 2014 in Ethicist, Nonjudgment, Tips

Continuing my series on responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicist, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on them, here is a take on an earlier post, “Sketched Out on the Subway“. I was sitting next to someone on the subway who was surreptitiously sketching portraits of fellow commuters. I once spotted someone opposite me doing this, and actually changed cars when I[…] Keep reading →

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