When I met Jose Gaztelu, my business school classmate and friend who did the bulk of the organizing for this weekend’s INSEAD leadership seminar in Singapore, at the hotel Friday, he asked how many people I thought were signed up. When my flight had taken off that morning from Shanghai it was ten or twelve so I guessed about a dozen. “Thirty-two” So the attendees filled the room — a[…] Keep reading →

I’ll be delivering my seminar on  next weekend in Singapore, October 6 and 7, at INSEAD. Here’s the announcement. I hope to see you there. Leadership Through Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence Workshop led by Joshua Spodek, MBA, PhD; supported by the INSEAD Toastmasters Club INSEAD Toastmasters Club is pleased to announce a two-day (half-day) experiential workshop focused on how to develop personal leadership skills, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence by using[…] Keep reading →

In a taxi ride home last night, we turned the corner onto Donghu Lu and saw this — a car completely flipped over. I’ve seen a lot of things in life, but I can’t imagine how it happened. The stuff on the curb nearby was messed up, but not enough to explain how the car flipped over. There weren’t any skid marks or other flipped over cars. The headlights were[…] Keep reading →

Speaking about commuting, as I did yesterday, I decided to record my Shanghai morning commute. It’s normally about eight minutes. I could probably do it in six-and-a-half without running if I had to. So I brought my camera and took pictures every dozen yards or so sometimes looking forward, other times to the side. What can I say? I consider community more important all the time. I live in a[…] Keep reading →

Nobody likes commuting. Living far from where you work doesn’t make sense to me. It messes up your sense of community. If you drive it pollutes, isolates you, and keeps you from exercising. I’ve done well about keeping my commutes short. Business school, at thirty minutes door-to-door, was one of my longest commutes. Since it was by subway it probably didn’t pollute that much. Mostly my commutes have been fifteen[…] Keep reading →

Writing about growing up in a bad part of town reminded me of a summer experience. I had the opportunity for a summer in Paris after my first year in college. I couldn’t afford to stay without some income, but didn’t speak enough French to do much. I searched as long as I could until my money was about to run out — probably about a week — then took[…] Keep reading →

“I don’t eat any meat, fish, chicken, or eggs. Does this dish have any of those in it?” “Ah, you’re vegetarian. I understand. No, that dish has no meat in it.” “Are you sure? No meat, fish, chicken or eggs? Not even oyster sauce?” “I’m sure. It has only vegetables.” “Great. I’ll take it then.” Halfway through the dish, you find what looks like pieces of meat all throughout the[…] Keep reading →