“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the […]
Category: Leadership
Let’s Walk to Ottawa! How a Marathon Hike Prepared Me to Be a Startup Entrepreneur
When I was in high school we decided to walk to Ottawa. By we I mean 6 of us who were all in the school’s camping club, which was called Outward Bound and modeled after the Colorado-based program with the same name. We camped year-round, regardless of the season or the weather. One year a […]
Steve Jobs—Innovator Extraordinaire
It’s impossible to say anything new about Apple and Steve Jobs but I couldn’t resist adding some comments when I read a recent article about him in the NY Times. Jobs was asked what market research Apple had done as they developed the iPad. “None,” he replied. “It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.” From […]
A Crowded World
In last week’s NY Times, David Brooks writes that “In 1952, two-thirds of Harvard applicants were admitted.” Unimaginable in a time when Harvard publishes its acceptance rate as 8%. Incidentally, Brooks’ Op-Ed column is an interesting take on how one of the themes of the movie, “The Social Network,” is Harvard’s shift from a Wasp-dominated old boy […]
The Catbird Seat
“Pretty soon you’ll be sitting in the catbird seat,” my boss said with a sly grin. I mumbled a reply, hoping to hide my confusion, and looked up the expression when I got back to my office. Yes, it meant something good was going to happen and I began to speculate feverishly about what he […]
We vs. ME
I’m often struck by the contradictions inherent in the powerful messages we’re bombarded with on a daily basis. One example is the emphasis on being thin (especially for women) contrasted with the constant barrage of ads from the food industry marketing foods that will make you fat, (if they don’t kill you first). Another contradiction […]
Superstar Entrepreneurs
I went to a seminar not long ago entitled, How to be an Entrepreneur Superhero. A panel of entrepreneurs answered questions in front of a room full of reverential novice entrepreneurs, dispensing the usual homilies on how to be successful: perseverance, focus, obsessive, attention to detail, etc. One had sold his web company for $85 […]
Don’t be a victim
Don’t be a victim. I first heard that admonition from a senior executive when I was at AOL. He was commenting on complaints he was hearing after a big reorg. AOL, like all big technology companies, was prone to massive reorganizations. Some were genuine attempts to manage a company in the throes of hypergrowth in an […]
Doing What He Said He Would Do
I went to an event organized by OFA (Organizing for America) last night and David Plouffe, former Obama campaign manager, was the featured speaker. It was refreshing to hear someone so articulate and well informed talk about the complex issues that face our country. It was also a pleasant reminder of the tremendous optimism and […]