Wolfing vs. Tasting

Trader Joe’s sells a very nice 500-gram dark chocolate bar for about $8.00. We break it apart and put the pieces in a jar. It’s super easy to walk by, grab a piece, and wolf it down before I make it to the other side of the room. In the same pantry, we keep single-origin, […]

Carry On

There is a point in every big deal when it looks like it will all fall apart. There is a point in any creative project where you become convinced that the work is crap, and it should be thrown away. There is a point in any writing project where the bank page just won’t stop […]

Triple Bottom Line

The best jobs live at the intersection of three values . . . Good economics Good work Good relationships There is no objective definition for those terms. We get to decide. If you’ve been around long enough, you realize how rare a “triple bottom line” is.  When you find yourself loving all three, be sure […]

Plan Like a Pessimist, Work Like An Optimist

We plan, prepare, work, worry, work some more, use our skills, and employ our tactics and strategies, all in service of bringing about a positive outcome. Myriad causes, conditions, and often competitors add to the soup of our intentions. We like to think we have some measure of control over how things will turn out, […]

Find The Causes and Conditions

People don’t just wake up one day with a need, with a desire to buy something. Something must happen. A “cause” must be added to our current “condition” to get our attention. It needs to have enough jolt to cause a reaction. The reaction must be big enough to generate a desire to do something […]

Happy Birthday

As I type this, someone is having a “birthday.” And another. And another. “Birthday” refers, or course, to another lap around the sun since the last observance stretching back to the time you left the womb and drew your first breath. It’s actually an odd idea. “Today is my birthday.” Who is the “me” in […]

Interested. Committed. Obsessed.

Interested. Committed. Obsessed. I heard someone the other day talk about the difference between these ideas . . . about the step-change in focus, persistence, and potential outcomes. Without saying more, I’m sure you can parse the differences. Perhaps you’ll do what I did: I made a mental list. What are the things that interest […]

It’s Not Over Until It’s Over, And Even Then . . .

It’s a jittery time of year. I’m not talking about elections. I’m talking about baseball. In 2023, Major League Baseball teams played 2,471 games. At the end of each, some people went home happy, some disappointed, and presumably some just went for the peanuts and hot dogs and didn’t care. The intensity of those feelings […]

50/10,000,000 is Not Reality

The human brain takes in roughly 10 million bits per second (Mbps) of visual information. Right alongside, it processes another 100,000 bits per second of auditory information, along with a lesser volume of touch, taste, and smell data. By way of reference, the 4k camera on your mobile phone processes about 6,000 Mbps. So what […]

The Right to Say “No”

This may seem counterintuitive. Often, the best way to get to “yes” is to start with “no.”  Here’s what I mean. Conventional sales wisdom says you want the other person to say “yes” a lot. It’s almost Pavlovian. Get them to say yes to lots of little things, and pretty soon, the only thing left […]