There are fifty people sitting on a patio. There is one person happily smoking. When forty-nine people are subjected to one person’s decision to smoke, whose responsibility are the side effects? We know unequivocally that smoking kills and second-hand smoke does too. But that doesn’t make the smoker stop to think, even for a second. […]
Visualized
I could say: 68% of the conversations we have are mostly meaningless, chatting about the weather and what we had for breakfast. Another 27% percent of conversations are mildly interesting or important, covering things like family, work, and vacation. And then there’s the 5% of conversations that actually have an impact on everyone involved — […]
What’s Your Time Horizon?
Natural time horizons are just that: natural. We all have a lens through which we view the world. It makes it easier for some to see 15–20 years in the future, while others more naturally see just 6–12 months down the road. There are advantages to each view, of course, but the real trick is […]
Thank you. I love you. Forgive me. I forgive you.
According to Ira Byock, the four things we say before we die or to someone we love who is going to die: Thank you. I love you. Forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you For everything you’ve done and do for me. For the light you shed in the world. For the influence you have […]
How to Plan and Host a Mastermind Group Retreat
If you haven’t heard of the concept of a mastermind group before, it might be best to start with this post on starting and maintaining a mastermind group. I gave Nathan and Caleb big hugs as they loaded their bags into the back of my dad’s F-150. After grabbing dinner with my fiancé and picking […]
How to Have More Meaningful Conversations
I grab a seat at the corner of a large rectangular table. The centerpiece is a mason jar of pencils and an old school pencil sharpener. The table is made of reclaimed wood set on top of antique school lockers. In some ways, the school theme is the perfect setting for a morning of conversation […]
What I Learned from Two Weeks in Seth Godin’s Office
I saw the city through the small window next to my exit row seat and I felt a swell of creative energy, anticipation, and excitement well up from my gut. Here we go… The opportunity of a lifetime starts now. On July 21st, 2013, I landed at JFK airport for a two week project with […]
What to Do When You Think You Want to Change Jobs
Allison was nearing the end of her college career as an economics and philosophy major at her university when a friend shot her an email with a job posting he found while browsing LinkedIn. Three (or six or nine) months ago you showed up for your new job excited about the possibilities in front of […]
15 Career Trends Every Young Professional Should Understand
Thomas Friedman stands on stage and delivers a simple, but potentially terrifying message. We have lived to see the end of average. What does he mean? Well, he means that the way the economy used to work was based on industrialization. We worked hard to make everything more efficient, to measure quality using Six Sigma, […]
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The big idea In Good to Great, Collins explores the answer to the question: what makes a company go from good to great? Collins assembled a research team to closely analyze mountains of data and carefully categorize the results that highlight several major characteristics or companies that achieve greatness. Why to read Jim Collins’ books […]