You can’t visit the Forbidden City in Beijing without posting pictures! It wasn’t as crowded as the Great Wall, but plenty of people were there. Here are a few pictures.

Greetings from Beijing and another amazing North Korea trip! This time we visited places few (no?) Americans or non-North Koreans have visited in decades. We also saw the incredible beauty of the country outside Pyongyang and the DMZ. Pictures and stories to come! By the way, I tag this post with leadership because, as you’ll see, we did a lot more than just tour around. We interacted directly with many[…] Keep reading →

How many times do we have to learn? Giving advice someone hasn’t asked for backfires. For that matter, giving advice to someone who asked for it tends to backfire. Why? Because when we give advice we imply we know the other person’s life better than they do. We appear to impose our values on them. We likely neglect that the other person is already doing something to improve their lives.[…] Keep reading →

I remember learning a great life lesson in managing intense emotions from a time I felt some of the deepest anxiety of my life. I also finished the project on time and on budget in the process. Two weeks from the deadline on a two-year project, I was coming to realize I didn’t see how I could complete it. People I told I could deliver had put themselves out for[…] Keep reading →

You can’t visit the Great Wall of China without posting pictures from it! We went to the most crowded place and man, was it crowded. But it was amazing. Here are a few pictures to show the wall, the crowd, and my smiling face there.

Another perspective on truth and its subjectivity came from my musician friend. He described to me the concept of truth in music, which at first didn’t make sense to me. Since music doesn’t make verifiable or falsifiable statements it wasn’t obvious to me how it could be “true”? He described music being true by how it made you feel. He’s a composer and he described how when you write a[…] Keep reading →

I learned something great from a friend. After fights, she’d forget that we fought. I used to think she was acting. Then I realized she really did forget. I grew up in a house where people held on to positions and grudges. I didn’t believe people actually forgave and forgot. Then I observed her. Like Roger Bannister’s breaking the four-minute mile helped others see they could do it too, observing[…] Keep reading →

Leaders in Software and Art posted their interview of me at my solo show at Crossing Art Gallery last June. I thought Isabel did great camera work with a medium that’s hard to capture on video (EDIT: see comment below, where Isabel pointed out Jeff Becker did the camera work). I’m in Beijing, where the government blocks video-sharing sites, so I can’t see how the above video renders. Here’s the[…] Keep reading →

Once I was waiting for a bus in Queens. I had work to do, but no way to do it while waiting, and I didn’t know how long I’d have to wait. People typically feel frustrated or bored in situations like that. I did. But I noticed people on vacation sit around doing nothing too. So I thought to myself “what’s the difference between doing nothing while waiting for a[…] Keep reading →