If you live in New York City or many other places, you’ve doubtlessly gotten used to restaurants and bars having no smoke in them. Perhaps, like me, you’ve come to find the idea, or experience, of smoke around you when you eat or drink or in any public space you can’t avoid barbaric. Does “barbaric” overstate things? I used to consider myself tolerant of smoke in bars and clubs. Actually,[…] Keep reading →

We visited North Korea for ten days in April, in part for the hundredth anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth. North Korea is amazing. This trip surpassed our first in many ways, as before in ways we could never have predicted and, having experienced it, can’t explain, much as we’d like to. Everyone on the trip agreed, as happened with the first trip. You had to be there to feel[…] Keep reading →

The major “Communist” countries my country invaded or fought during the Cold War without doing so well — I just visited (or smoked a cigar from). It gives you the opportunity to learn. The dominant voices in the United States, especially during an election year, cheer that we’re number one. You hardly hear anything else. I can’t imaging a politician disagreeing in the slightest having a hope of election. Seeing[…] Keep reading →

A culture’s food tells you its values — some of its most important ones. I just had fresh squeezed mango and some mangosteens on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. They cost almost nothing here. They were as delicious as any fruit I’ve eaten. Two weeks ago I could barely put another oil soaked vegetable in my mouth in North Korea. We had little choice in where or what[…] Keep reading →

Sebastian posted the video of my North Korea strategy talk to his strategy group of entrepreneurs in Beijing. Check it out. The video didn’t capture the questions and answers afterward. One of the first questions people asked was if I worried I was overly sympathetic to North Korean decision-makers. My goal is to understand them and their perspective, which people sometimes interpret as support. It bears repeating that understanding doesn’t[…] Keep reading →

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 →