There is a story (probably apocryphal) that the comedian Louis C.K., burns his jokes, his stand-up material, and his writing after successfully delivering it at the end of each year. This story reads like a corollary to the idea (popularized through the constant repeating of the alleged actions of the Read more…
Rejection comes in a litany of flavors: “We don’t have any conflicts here.” “We deal with conflicts really well here.” “We don’t really need your services right now, but if we do, we’ll give you a call.” “[silence]. Who are you again?” “How do you say your name?” “I don’t Read more…
When faced with a project there are three places to thrash: Early—before the project begins. Middle—as the project is proceeding. Late—as the project ends. When you (or your team) thrashes early, brainstorming becomes a way to develop new ideas. Speed and immediacy become the primary goals of early thrashing: Speed Read more…
The quality, or trait, of getting up and doing what needs to be done, particularly when you don’t want to do it, is sometimes called “will” or “grit” or “courage.” But these are fancy labels for something a lot deeper that people can’t really, collectively describe. And anybody who wants to Read more…
In financial markets, in gambling, and even in entrepreneurship, there are two skills that are critical for success: making small bets consistently through developing a model (buying) and breaking an old model (selling), and building an anti-fragile machine that can withstand the shock of either of those small bets failing. Read more…
The equation is simple: Talents + Knowledge + Skills + Effort = Strengths Talents are non-teachable. They are naturally recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that can be productively applied in a person’s life. Effort is also non-teachable. Effort is based on intrinsic motivation, as well as extrinsic influencers. Read more…
Focus group feedback is useful to the peace builder. Here’s how you run one: The peace builder, working with another party (typically the focus group moderator), puts together some questions in regards to a future product, a current problem, and the solution to both that is offered by the peace Read more…
There are two ways to “make a ruckus,” if you want to: The first way is to be generous, give away your knowledge and spiritual wealth (and maybe even your material wealth if you are led to) and to collaborate with others to use the power you have gained to Read more…
The people who start a project and eventually have the ability to finish a project—whether it’s a project to build peace in their lives, their neighborhoods, their families or their organizations—are in the low numbers. This is because starting is easy (we celebrate starting school, starting a new job, starting Read more…
We need to figure out what kind of Internet we want to have. The business model currently funding and pushing the growth of the Internet is based upon monetizing a base of users who come to a project and use it for free, or for a nominal price. The user Read more…