Two years ago I wrote about a movie clip that illustrates how we feel when we feel we’re right, the other person is wrong, and we have to convince them of it. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/The_Big_Lebowski_on_Right_and_Wrong_Versus_Not_Being_an_A-ho.mp4 I wrote recently how if you think you’re right and someone else is wrong, you’re probably pissing someone off. We’ve all been on all sides of such situations — aggressor, defender, third-party observer. You see something you[…] Keep reading →

For my third post on George Clooney’s Inside the Actors Studio interview, here he speaks on being yourself in challenging situations. I’ve written on the overlap I see between the art and craft of leadership and acting, how both deeply involve being aware of knowing and managing your emotions so you can know and evoke emotions in others. I think the training of leaders can benefit from the more mature[…] Keep reading →

Longtime readers might know I enjoy and recommend a blog on retirement and financial independence called Mr. Money Mustache. The author there wrote a post on people who evaluate him by their standards and claim he isn’t really retired. He created a definition, quoted below, and said he was. As I said, I recommend his blog, but I think his choice of how to define “retirement” missed the point of[…] Keep reading →

Check out the abstract to a paper posted last month where the researchers created false memories in people. They gave participants made-up stories and pictures and asked people if they remembered them. About half the people “remembered” events that never happened. About a quarter “remembered” seeing the story on the news. People remembered stories that fit their political orientation better than ones that challenged them. The stories in this study[…] Keep reading →

I write a lot about models on this page. By model I mean a simplified representation of something for a purpose. I promote recognizing what models work and using those, and not dwelling on if the model is right or wrong or accurate or not. Sometimes I like using models that work despite being very wrong. For example, sometimes thinking men are from Mars and women are from Venus helps[…] Keep reading →

Today I’ll give an overview of the series I just finished on understanding the six key concepts of this web page:  leadership, values, meaning, purpose, importance, passion. What is value? What are values? What is value? What are values? (short version) Understanding others’ value and their values What is meaning? How do I create more meaning in my life? What is purpose? How do I create more purpose in my[…] Keep reading →

Next on the list of concepts under my name at the top of this page is leadership. See earlier posts for values, meaning, purpose, importance, and passion. Unlike the other concepts, leadership intrinsically involves other people. At first that complexity makes it seem harder to understand, but I think it gets simpler in the end. I start my “Leadership through emotional intelligence and self-awareness” seminars by asking what leadership is,[…] Keep reading →