That doesn’t mean I don’t like you. The difference is critical. It’s impossible to be a productive professional if you insist on conjoining them. Here are two useful things to con… | Continue reading
At some point, grown ups get tired of the feeling that accompanies growth and learning. We start calling that feeling, “incompetence.” We’re not good at the new software, we resis… | Continue reading
If it’s an obligation, then you don’t have a choice. Pretending you do is simply a way to create frustration. Free yourself to simply do what you have to do. On the other hand, if you d… | Continue reading
I’m sitting on a black couch in the lobby of a nice theater. The couch is cracked and peeling, with seven strips of black gaffer’s tape holding it together. And you don’t have to … | Continue reading
You’ll meet some amazing people. Most podcasts are based on interviews, and having a podcast is a fabulous excuse to interview fascinating people. It will help clarify your thinking. You migh… | Continue reading
The only way to learn from experience is to have different experiences. The very nature of an experiment is that there’s a chance you’re doing it wrong, or at least less ‘right… | Continue reading
There’s some confusion here. Of course it’s easy to shoot fish in a barrel. The difficult part, the part no one talks about, is getting the fish into the barrel in the first place. | Continue reading
It pays to look at opportunity with a telescope. It’s real, but it’s distant. The telescope brings it into focus and helps you find your way there. Telescopes are easy to find if you lo… | Continue reading
“Offer me something I’m passionate about and I’ll show up with all of my energy, effort and care.” That’s a great way to hide. Because nothing is good enough to earn y… | Continue reading
Battle lines drawn. Positions solidified. Arguments made. All thrilling, perhaps fun, but unlikely to change minds. If your cause is important enough, it’s worth taking the time and emotional… | Continue reading
If you’re a gardener, planting orange trees in Ottawa, and nothing’s growing, it’s possible to beat yourself up, burn yourself out and say, “I’m a bad gardener.”… | Continue reading
We accidentally curate who comes to the meeting, who has a seat at the table where decisions are made. We almost randomly decide who is interviewing and being interviewed, who is brainstorming, who… | Continue reading
In order to maintain its power, common anxiety (sometimes called worrying) needs your help. Constant reminders, moments of conflict and concrete examples all pitch in to keep our worry on the warpa… | Continue reading
In order to solve a problem, you need to sell it first. To get it on the radar, and to have people devote time, resources and behavior change to address it. Human beings in our culture are wired to… | Continue reading
We know what it sounds like when you’re great at AM radio, classical music or even reality TV. We can imagine the tone and content you’ll need to be really good at being on Broadway. Ja… | Continue reading
Comparing the best example from our tribe with the worst one from the other tribe. We do it all the time, and it hurts. It hurts our ability to connect, and it hurts those we so easily dismiss. | Continue reading
By the time you’re six years old, you can count to infinity. Whatever number someone says, you will know a higher one. The same is not true for listing colors. Most of us can’t even do … | Continue reading
We skew our thinking based on the first feedback we get. That’s the moment of maximum fragility, and so our radar is on high alert. But the math doesn’t hold up, and this high alert can… | Continue reading
Today’s the very best day to sign up for the Business of Food Workshop. It’s being run by the extraordinary entrepreneur and UC Berkeley professor Will Rosenzweig. You can see all the d… | Continue reading
Today’s the last-best day to sign up for the Business of Food Workshop. It’s being run by the extraordinary entrepreneur and UC Berkeley professor Will Rosenzweig. You can see all the d… | Continue reading
Consider two loading docks at small companies. At the first, a tractor-trailer filled with heavy boxes shows up. The sole worker on the dock is tasked with unloading the trailer, asap. He puts on h… | Continue reading
As Close as Necessary to Perfect The thing is, with limitless focus and energy, just about everything can be improved. That’s not the question. The question is: Is this thing you’re wor… | Continue reading
When you’re doing scary creative work, or work that requires emotional labor, it’s natural to want to walk away a bit. To distract yourself. To go shave a yak, mindlessly eat or bother … | Continue reading
What if you acted as if? What if you pretended that you were glad to see me, happy to deliver this service, eager for it to be well received? What if you acted as though you were more charismatic t… | Continue reading
“You’re using it wrong.” That’s how culture develops, of course. That’s why no one uses ALL CAPS IN THEIR EMAIL ANY MORE. Culture develops online at the speed of light… | Continue reading
Pundits, politicians, hustlers, unethical marketers, hucksters and grifters seek to manipulate people every day. Manipulation is pushing for a change that benefits the manipulator, not us. It’… | Continue reading
Everybody eats. Every day. I’m thrilled to announce a new workshop, one that could change the way you work (and have an impact on the rest of us). There are few products or services with as u… | Continue reading
As you gain a reputation for doing projects that work, it’s not unusual for the stakes to go up. For projects to look and feel bigger, with more inputs, more decisions, more pitfalls. It can … | Continue reading
For some, this is the holy grail of marketing. If only more people knew what you know. If only they were aware of what you have to offer, of the work you can share. Perhaps you can get more people … | Continue reading
That meeting on your calendar, the one scheduled for tomorrow. What if it were the final interview for a job you care about? Would you show up on time? Where would you sit? What sort of questions w… | Continue reading
Does introducing an honor code presume that the people involved have honor, or is it designed to create a space where honor can develop? An honor code: The simple expectation that we trust you, tha… | Continue reading
The iHome alarm clock, common in hotels, shows a small PM when the time is after 12 noon. I arrived at my hotel at 7 pm, carefully setting the alarm for 6 am the next morning. Of course, I failed t… | Continue reading
A professional is going to buy from someone like you. They’re going to have a process to review the process, a method, an experienced approach to obtaining what they need. A professional isn’t goin… | Continue reading
If you live in the city and grab a coffee or a snack every afternoon for about $4, it’s a vivid example of the cost of debt. You’re either a little behind or a little ahead. Over ten ye… | Continue reading
It’s not difficult to maintain a grey cloud and a sullen outlook. The event is long over, but the story remains. A proven approach is to keep repeating the narrative that led us ever deeper i… | Continue reading
Every choice has a price. If you have $100 to invest and you buy this stock instead of that bond, the interest you gave up in making your choice is your opportunity cost. At the dinner buffet, you … | Continue reading
Imagine you’ve got a set of plans for a simple one-family home. And imagine that you’re a developer with acres of land waiting to be subdivided. You could hire four different contractor… | Continue reading
Cars are many times more dangerous than airplanes. More dangerous per mile, more dangerous to bystanders, more dangerous in every way. And yet there are very few people who say that they are afraid… | Continue reading
We always compare performance on a relative basis. “Well, it’s better than it was yesterday…” Toddlers, for example, seem like geniuses compared to the babies they used to b… | Continue reading
Cars are many times more dangerous than airplanes. More dangerous per mile, more dangerous to bystanders, more dangerous in every way. And yet there are very few people who say that they are afraid… | Continue reading
Customer service isn’t simply an expensive, time-consuming obligation. It’s a strategic marketing investment if you want it to be. When Tony built Zappos, he invested in having his cust… | Continue reading
That meeting on your calendar, the one scheduled for tomorrow. What if it were the final interview for a job you care about? Would you show up on time? Where would you sit? What sort of questions w… | Continue reading
Evolution, whether by natural selection or artificial, whether in species or in ideas, is all around us. It happens slowly. Usually more slowly than we’re aware of, and definitely more slowly… | Continue reading
It always is. That’s its natural state. Never enough opportunity, fairness and connection. Never enough time for a student who needs it, or dignity for a person who deserves it. A chance to b… | Continue reading
The first cycle of computers was good at: arithmetic and storing data This meant that if you wanted to know how strong a bridge was going to be, or how to schedule a complicated series of truck del… | Continue reading
Run out of chocolate, and that’s a shame. Run out of oxygen and you’re doomed. Sometimes, we overdo our reliance on chocolate. It’s better in small doses–too much and it los… | Continue reading
All problems have solutions. That’s what makes them problems. The solution might involve trade-offs or expenses that you don’t want to incur. You might choose not to solve the problem. … | Continue reading
Honorable men (at least that’s what they called themselves) used to settle their disputes with dueling pistols. Honorable women used to bind their feet and shame others that didn’t. Hon… | Continue reading