Wait, I want to lead better. Why should I care about marathons? Running a marathon takes discipline, dedication, practice, drive, determination, and many skills relevant to becoming a leader and practicing leadership. You’ve heard many parts of leadership described as marathons, not sprints. Whether you want to train for and complete a literal marathon or just something like one, having marathons in your life as a competitor or spectator, improves[…] Keep reading →

I first met Sebastian Marshall about five years ago in New York City through mutual friends. Though he was just over half my age at the time, I don’t hesitate to say I’ve learned as much from him as nearly anyone — and I’ve studied with Nobel Prize winners. He’s been a great friend since. We’ve since met in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, and often on the internet. I continue learning[…] Keep reading →

Today being Labor Day makes it an interesting day to think about money. I’ve noticed my post “An essay on money” gets almost the most number of hits of all my posts so I re-read it periodically. (Speaking of money, today is the also the last day to get the early discount on my awesome seminar on September 21 and 22 — “Leadership Through Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence” so sign[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Most people I share today’s belief with seem surprised or even shocked when I express it. Probably because the way I say it — that I[…] Keep reading →

Any trip to North Korea will be eye-opening and amazing, even before Dennis Rodman visited. I visited last April for the celebration of the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth. I believe visiting creates more understanding and communication than potential problems. As I’ve explained before here and in my book on North Korea, I consider such interactions among the best ways to increase communication and understanding with North Koreans, which[…] Keep reading →

If you haven’t heard of the Barnes Foundation and you like art, find out about it. If you’re anywhere near Philadelphia, go there. Albert Barnes was a successful entrepreneur who lived in and near Philadelphia (and went to my High School) from 1842 to 1951. According to Wikipedia, “in his 30s Barnes began to study and collect art. He acquired his first 20 pieces by commissioning his friend, the artist[…] Keep reading →

Last year we tried teaching our guide, Ms Yu, the phrase “You’re so money and you don’t even know it.” So this year when Jordan was busy doing something else, I decided to teach it to Ms Han, then have her say it to him. I don’t think she quite got the meaning of the phrase, but I think the fun came across. About halfway through the video switches to[…] Keep reading →

One of the more touching moments of our trip was our guide, Ms Han, singing Arirang for us on our last night after nearly two weeks. According to Wikipedia, the song “is sometimes considered the unofficial national anthem of Korea.” Since the government requires tourists be accompanied by two guides plus a driver at all times and the guides communicate only the party line about North Korea’s history, politics, etc,[…] Keep reading →

North Korean museums do things differently than museums elsewhere. First, I don’t remember seeing art museums there. They seem to make museums for historical and technical things, like wars and subway systems. Second, instead of trying to present the history or teach understanding of the technology, its development, or the people who created it, they do two things: describe the involvement of Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Il and[…] Keep reading →