In 1837, at the age of 51, Horace Mann accepted an appointment as the secretary of the Massachussetts Board of Education, becoming the the first secretary of a board of education in the history of the United States. Just one year later, in November 1938, Mann penned the prospectus for The Common School Journal, which would become one […]
What the Boston Tea Party Tells Us About the Importance of Autonomy at Work
In 1772, all tea from the East India Trading Company was required to be delivered to the United Kingdom and sold to traders through the London Tea Auction. Those traders would buy tea at auction and pay an import tax to be able to sell it in the American colonies. The traders would add a […]
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, […]
Mentoring: How to Find and Maintain a Mentor Relationship
When I went to New York, I heard Seth Godin refer to Tom Peters and the late Zig Ziglar as his mentors. When I went to Geneva, I heard Shaper after Shaper talk about their mentors who have helped them avoid certain failure, learn from mistakes, and accelerate towards their goals. In the online world, […]
Customers, Work, and Community (What I Learned from #WDS2014)
I’m back in the saddle after another trip to Portland for World Domination Summit (WDS), put on by Chris Guillebeau and company. 2014 was my third year attending the (un)conference, and I took away lessons that you can just as easily apply in your own work and life. With every passing year, I’ve found that […]
Mastermind Groups: How to Surround Yourself with Remarkable People
The Eagle and Child pub is similar to many other pubs in Oxford. It’s dimly lit, serves beer at room temperature, and cider is an easy find. They have fish and chips along with other pub food. By all accounts, it’s just another common place in one of the greatest college towns in the world. […]