Category: leadership

• How to Kill a Dragon

  My friend Derek has a six year old grandson who came for a visit. They were exploring the basement together when the boy pointed to the door on the left and asked, “What’s in there grandpa?””Canned foods and supplies for the kitchen,” said Derek. His grandson pointed to the door ahead of them, “What’s in…

• Seth Godin’s new workshop for creatives

  For me, writing a novel is an emotional rollercoaster. Here’s the 1980’s montage version: bursting with ideas and enthusiasm—>thinking “wow, this one is different in a good way” as I whiz through the first few chapters—>insidious doubts gather in my mental shadows until—>somewhere around the halfway point I have an existential crisis that this book…

• How CEOs are using sci-fi to imagine the future

  Susan Lahey wrote up a wonderful feature for Zendesk Relate on a SXSW panel I participated in last year alongside Malka Older, Kevin Bankston, and Tim Fernholz: In the 2002 movie Minority Report, the main character walks through a store where artificial intelligence customer service devices greet him by name, ask how he liked recent…

• America at its best

  In 2017, my wife and I hosted a Ugandan refugee for nine months as he began the profoundly difficult process of building a new life. Today, he has his own apartment, works a full-time job in which he takes immense pride, and just got his Green Card. He is America at its best. Complement with…

• The power of small things

  Like water molecules slowly eroding a landscape, our individual choices, no matter how small, shape history. Complement with the growth corkscrew, simple and difficult, and how to create meaning instead of trying to find it. Get new posts delivered straight to your inbox: This blog exists thanks to the generous support of loyal readers. Become…

• A reading guide to building the future

  I wrote an essay for TechCrunch that explores the literary culture of Silicon Valley. It digs deep into the feedback loop between books and innovation and turns up weird gems along the way. Think of it as a reading guide to building the future: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/16/the-best-fiction-for-building-a-startup/ “Every year, Bill Gates goes off-grid, leaves friends and family…

• How to build a consulting practice

  Give away your best ideas via blog posts, podcasts, talks, books, conversations, etc. When people ask you for help implementing them, charge a lot and only work with clients who inspire you and for whom you can make a big impact. Complement with what I help clients do, the reason most successful people have no…

• Creativity is a form of leadership

  I went on the Lisa Valentine Clark Show to talk about how creativity is a form of leadership: https://www.byuradio.org/episode/e14993aa-e367-41d4-b44e-bb5151e906bf Complement with how isolation can hinder creativity, three tips for writers, and why most successful people have no idea what made them successful. Get new posts delivered straight to your inbox: This blog exists thanks to…

• Most successful people have no idea what made them successful

  We all want to do work that makes an impact. We want the teacher to give us an A. We want our book to be a #1 New York Times bestseller. We want our company to IPO. We want our nonprofit to save lives. We want our efforts to matter. So, naturally, we look for shortcuts.…

• To get perspective, cultivate connection

  In my latest column for Harvard Business Review, I explore how isolation can blind us to the bigger picture and what a Renaissance master can teach us about the psychological perils of leadership: https://hbr.org/2018/09/why-seclusion-is-the-enemy-of-creativity Complement with storytelling for startups, do what matters, and why business leaders need to read more science fiction. Get new posts…