All in Entrepreneurship
Not far from where I live, there is an intersection where the traffic lights operate in different ways depending on whether you’re walking or driving.
What I mean by this is that if you’re driving, the lights work as you would expect. They change at specific time intervals in an automated fashion. But if you’re on foot and you want to cross the street, the “walk” sign will not display unless you’ve pressed the manual “change traffic signal” button on your side of the street.
Today's podcast focuses on the idea of owning our messages.
In any work we do, we're called upon to present our ideas and findings in front of an audience. Often, we feel compelled to "do what we're told" or to "follow a script". The reality is that we need to own what we present, no matter our level. In this podcast, I discuss how.
Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are those characters in video games that cannot be controlled and are driven by the program itself to deliver specific pre-defined lines or actions, either playing a very specific role or no role at all. They don’t participate in any meaningful way, can’t be directed and more often than not, are there to simply make up the numbers.
Today's episode focuses on doing the things we want to do, but don't - either because we're concerned what others will say, or we overthink our own ability to be successful at it.
Sometimes, this thought process is helpful, but more often than not, it gets in our way. Better to focus on what we want and just do.
When I was in my teens and learning to play the guitar, there was a guy I knew who had been playing for a few years and was really quite good. He knew how to play all the cool songs I wanted to learn to play, knew all the cool riffs and could play by ear. But he wasn’t interested in sharing any of his knowledge.
I specifically remember him playing Stairway To Heaven, a song I was trying to learn.
Back in the 80’s, my dad bought our first personal computer, a thing of beauty at the time that would now be viewed as a hulking monstrosity. I don’t remember the brand and have only a rough memory of the specs - either an Intel 286 or 386 microprocessor, probably about 512KB of RAM and a 20 MB hard disk.
Today's episode recounts a decision I made many years ago that, in the grand scheme of things, was relatively minor. It was my decision to get - and then remove - my earring before I went to Business School.
Not a huge decision in most contexts, but it was definitely one that taught me about why we make the choices we make - and WHY we should make the choices we make.
I think we spend so much of the “post-teen” part of our lives trying to be accepted, to fit in and be seen as a grown up, that we consciously decide to “put away childish things”. We see this as an essential act so that we’re regarded as an adult and hence accepted as a serious contributor to whatever work or social contract we’re engaged in. (In fact, most of us do so and don’t even give it a second thought.)
But at some point, many of us realize that…
Lack of patience isn’t a helpful trait at the best of times. But in sales, it pretty much kills your ability to be effective.
It tends to manifest itself in the desire to close the deal yesterday i.e. a not-so-subconscious need to convert discussions into Dollars by the end of the call or meeting, no matter how little conversation has actually taken place.
Today's episode is a reflection on Bono, U2's legendary frontman. It's based on a post I wrote shortly after watching them perform The Joshua Tree live in Chicago.
Bono represents the ideal when it comes to achievement. He does what he loves, has achieved tremendous success and uses this fame and success to do more for others. It's an ideal worth us pursuing in our own ways.
Jerry Seinfeld was once asked by a young comic if he had any advice to help him get better.
His answer was simple: write better jokes - and the only way to do that, was to write every day. In fact, not only should he write every day, but he should keep track of this work:
The idea of ‘secrets’ is a funny thing. I’m not talking about secrets in a personal sense but in a work related sense. Our tactics, our approaches, our tools and knowledge. Our so-called secret sauce that ‘helps’ us achieve our professional goals.
We tend to hold these secrets dearly, with the idea that they are indeed unique to how we operate and what we do. And then the idea that if they were to get out, then our ability to achieve is doomed.
Today's episode focuses on a story from Live Aid back in the mid-Eighties and a moment that set the band U2 on the path to global stardom.
But on the day, it didn't seem like it to the band - and represents a lesson about risk-taking that we can all learn from.
The reality of the learning process is that it’s often non-linear and, most importantly, unpredictable.
There’s a tendency to think of it (hope?) as a “paint-by-numbers” approach: follow these steps and you’ll get to your destination. And while aspects of learning are indeed structured and conventional in that sense, many others are not. That, in so many respects, is where real learning happens.
I went for a walk with a client today.
We were supposed to meet in a conference room at his office building and talk through our plans for 2022. But as I waited at reception with my colleague, our client came down and asked if we wanted to sit in the office or perhaps go for a walk.
Today's episode focuses on the age old debate of nature versus nurture. We love to argue whether talent is innate or developed, or whether entrepreneurs are born versus made.
In the show, I argue that it doesn't matter - our only choice is to move forward to strive to achieve what we want. The alternatives aren't worth considering.
Earlier this month, the neighborhood I live in, Andersonville, was voted “The Coolest Neighborhood in the US” and the second coolest neighborhood in the world in the 2021 Time Out Index survey which polled 27,000 voters across the world.
Andersonville beat out such luminaries as Chelsea (New York), Sai Kung (Hong Kong) and Gracia (Barcelona).
Today's episode focuses on the one and only fundamental of success - doing the work.
Our role models from the sports to the business worlds understand this. The one commonality amongst all of them is that they've paid their dues. They put in the effort and did what was needed to lay the foundation for their success. If we aspire to that success, we need to do the same.
I believe endurance is the most critical ingredient of success.
Conventional thinking, fueled by everything we read in the media, suggests the key ingredients are far sexier: great ideas or talented teams or plenty of funding. Those are far more ‘romantic’ ideas and they certainly make for more enjoyable water cooler conversations.
Sports allegiances are, for the most part, irrational.
When we root for a team, we do so for reasons that typically have no objective basis. And on that emotional basis, we become “supporters” - and, for those of us who take our support seriously, proceed to entrench ourselves in the traditions of the team.
