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The Curveball
One of the marks of a great leader is their ability to deal with unexpected circumstances: curveballs. You can do all the planning you want, unexpected things will happen at the last moment. The only question is what you’ll do when they’re thrown. And in fact, curveballs can be a good thing. – I remember…
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Seeing
“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.” -John Steinbeck
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Climbing the Ladder of Leadership
When we talk about “climbing the ladder”, we usually assume an upward climb. It’s as though the climb to leadership is a big king-of-the-hill battle. The goal is to be on top. But you know what happens when we assume… Leaders know that climbing the ladder is, in fact, a climb downward on an inverted…
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Temporary Beauty
Sand mandalas are a Tibetan Buddhist tradition which involves creating a mandala out of coloured sand. After hours of meticulous work, the mandala is ceremoniously dismantled. Gone. The first time I heard of this artform, my immediate reaction was, “What a waste!” It seems a shame to create something so intricate and beautiful just to…
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The World Sends Us Garbage… We Send Back Music
Cateura, Paraguay is a slum built on a landfill. But in the midst of trash and poverty, the people of Cateura build instruments made entirely out of recycled materials. The kids, directed by their music teacher, have formed a “recycled orchestra”. This is a beautiful story, on so many levels. Listening to these kids talk…
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Give: Simon Sinek on the Good Life Project
The Good Life Project is a weekly web show hosted by Jonathan Fields that features interviews with amazing people who ask the question, What does it look like to live “the good life”? The interviews are long (40-60 minutes), which are a departure from the short snippets that we’re accustomed to digesting online. Fields is…
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Be Interested
In her book The Blue Sweater, Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of the Acumen Fund, tells of when she had to choose an internship after finishing her masters program. Given the choice between working in eastern Europe or New York, this globetrotting adventure-seeker was leaning towards the more adventurous overseas option, until a mentor gave her this…
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Jerry Seinfeld on How to Write a Joke
When you watch a great comedian tell jokes, it’s easy to assume that they’re just naturally funny. They seem to just go up there and talk, and everything they say is automatically hilarious. How do they do it? Jerry Seinfeld, a legendary stand-up comedian most famous for his sitcom “Seinfeld”, gives some great insight into…
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Don’t Let That Smartphone Kill Your Confidence
Do you ever use your smartphone for public speaking? A new study would recommend against it. “When people use smaller devices, their posture contracts, increasing stress and decreasing testosterone levels, say researchers Maarten Bos and Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School.” Several years ago, I tried using my new Palm Pilot (remember those?) to write…
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I Don’t Know
I grew up watching The Red Green Show. If you’re Canadian you’re probably familiar with it. If not, consider it one of Canada’s best kept (or better kept?) secrets. It was a “man’s man” show, showing us how to fix any car trouble with duct tape and remove any barrier with explosives. A proud part…
