I hear people talk about those who have less — usually less materially or less opportunity — as deserving help and compassion. With due respect to their problems, I’d like to consider another challenging situation: having too much. First let me preface the huge difference between having too little and too much: people with too much can cut back. People with limited access to resources or opportunity can’t usually create[…] Keep reading →

Do you suffer from low motivation, not knowing your passions, laziness, and other forms of just not feeling like putting the effort in? Do you want to have more motivation and passion? Most people tell me they’re lazy about a lot of things and don’t know their passions. Luckily, you can change that. Personally I don’t like being that way or hanging around with people like that. I connect with[…] Keep reading →

A client wrote with a challenge. He does sales on commission. Some assistant managers, also on commission, ask him to do small tasks that take him off the sales floor, helping their chances for commissions at his expense. He mostly acquiesces to their requests. On the occasions he declined, he “lashed out,” showing intense emotions coworkers interpreted as mood swings. His question touches on what happen in many places where[…] Keep reading →

Here are my Columbia Business School application essays, to complete the series on getting into business school in 23 days. I edited them slightly, mainly to take out personal details. In the optional essay 5, I can see I was blatantly name-dropping Columbia Business School Professors and my experience at the school. I think I could have used more subtlety. My graduate school stipend — what I lived on in[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I posted about the process I stumbled into for getting into an Ivy League business school in 23 days. How to read this post Today I’ll talk about the credentials that made it possible. But please recognize, the point of these posts is not merely to show you how to get into business school, but to show you that you can combine whatever you have in your past into[…] Keep reading →

On December 10, 2004 I decided to apply to business school. I had written no essays, taken no GMAT, reviewed no school’s web site or application process, and asked no one for a recommendation. On January 2, 2005, 23 days later, I began orientation at Columbia Business School (ranked #5 by Forbes, Economist, and Financial Times). I got my MBA the following May, less than eighteen months from deciding to[…] Keep reading →

A client asked me about doing exercises to develop leadership and social skills. He pointed out most people don’t do them. Some people do them differently. He’s been doing them a while and has seen some progress, but knows he has a long way to go. He asked my thoughts on how much he should do. I wrote the following. I look at leadership and social skills, leadership, and self-awareness[…] Keep reading →