My series answering the New York Times’ Ethicist column with an active, leadership approach instead of an analytical, philosophical perspective continues with “Can a Doctor Refuse to Treat a Patient Who Takes Cannabis?”. A friend was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of a type of white blood cell called plasma cells. There is often significant pain associated with this condition, and my friend has been treated with high[…] Keep reading →

This is a long episode but if you care about business, business school students wish they had access to global corporate leaders at the frontier of change like this episode. Lorna and I are in person, we are talking about multinationals she’s led across the globe. We also talk about vegetables and we talk about major leaders reduced to tears reckoning what they could do but have put off for[…] Keep reading →

I wish you could see the context of this conversation at Dawn Riley’s sailing center. Dawn Riley has sailed in three Americas cups. She’s won around the world races, she’s won the America’s Cup, she’s led other teams. We’re at the sailing center that she runs to restart the elite level of American sailing. A couple of hours before this conversation she sent me out to see Olympic medalists competing[…] Keep reading →

David and I could have talked about growth and how many people think growth is sustainable and non-growth isn’t which seems based on a system hurtling toward collapse whereas a steady-state economy and population can be sustainable. Human populations have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years without growth whereas our growth just since Industrial pollution it doesn’t look like it’s going to last 1000[…] Keep reading →

Today’s guest is Sally Singer, creative director at vogue.com. My conversation with her is so fascinating. This is the first one. I’ve split one episode into two parts partly because this is such a new world for me but I believe incredibly valuable for leadership. So the first episode this one is on vogue.com. It’s on storytelling and journalism in general. She’s had a storied career throughout journalism including the[…] Keep reading →

You’ve heard the idea that with social media, Google and most free services online you’re the product. The idea was probably thought provoking when you heard it. For most people it’s an ending point. But what if you considered it a starting point for your thoughts. Where does it lead? What does it tell you about yourself, society, the internet, markets, humanity? Because the Internet began as a medium to[…] Keep reading →

David Gardner left a well-paying mainstream job to create and star in a documentary called GrowthBusters. That’s a play on Ghostbusters. He saw the problems with growth to local communities, the national economy, the global economy, the environment and many other places. He also saw the nearly unquestioned belief that growth is good, especially GDP growth and population growth. And once you question this belief, then like a sweater unraveling[…] Keep reading →