Of all the people you’ve seen get up in front of a room to speak, how many do you really remember? Very few. And chances are the ones who made an impact probably made you laugh, too. Solid content gets a nod. But funny gets rave reviews. Funny gets asked to speak again. And again. Here’s…
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Happy Accidents: Why Staying Open Should Be Part of Your Plan
READ MORE: Happy Accidents: Why Staying Open Should Be Part of Your PlanAfter I finished my session on creativity at the How Design Live conference, a woman approached me and handed me a note. “I know now that I was meant to be here,” she said, dreamily. “I mean, I’m not even part of this conference.” Wait…what? But before I had time to call security, she was…
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Do you think for a living?
READ MORE: Do you think for a living?If you spend most of your time at a keyboard, you can count yourself among the 60 million or so professionals known as “knowledge workers”—a term Peter Drucker coined in the 1960s to describe academics, tech people, analysts, essentially, anyone who didn’t work a physically demanding job. You know. People who “think” for a living. What a…
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What You Can Learn About Yourself at a Naked Party
READ MORE: What You Can Learn About Yourself at a Naked PartyYou don’t really know if you would do a thing until you are in the middle of doing it. This is, I believe, how we find OUT whether we do things at all. We are often the last to know. The other night, a few friends and I decided to stop by a party of a…
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How Knowing Too Much Is Holding You Back
READ MORE: How Knowing Too Much Is Holding You BackMy family is big into board games. At around 8:30pm on any given holiday or a night when at least two people are holding beers, my brother in law rubs his hands together and asks, “Who’s up for a game?” Taboo is one of our all-time favorites. The goal of this game is to get…
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The #1 Way to Get Clear on Your Messaging
READ MORE: The #1 Way to Get Clear on Your MessagingSay what you will about holidays (Hallmark and otherwise)—they give us an occasion for doing a thing (exchanging gifts, drinking green beer, singing, etc). If you want something done, you don’t have to wait for a holiday, but you do have to give yourself the occasion for doing it. Things like: Writing a book. Launching a…
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3 Signs Your Brand Is Having an Identity Crisis
READ MORE: 3 Signs Your Brand Is Having an Identity CrisisYour struggle with branding yourself or your business comes from two conflicting fears: You don’t know who you are; You don’t want to ruin what you already did/created/have This places you at the crossroads between ignorance and fear. A lousy place to be (and we’ve all been there). As a result, you are hesitant to put a…
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One of the Best Lessons Trump Just Taught You
READ MORE: One of the Best Lessons Trump Just Taught YouIt’s been more than a week since the election that reduced the entire country to a shivering, seething pool of rage. At this point, we’ve likely all been barked at—often on our own FB pages, including me. We’ve been told to buck up and deal with the fact that our candidate lost. Even though it’s…
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Don’t just do something. Make something.
READ MORE: Don’t just do something. Make something.During a recent interview on SiriusXM, Howard Stern asked Lady Gaga if she listens to what the “kids are into these days” so that she knows what to do next, if she’s calculated and preplanned each phase of her career. The answer? No. Sure, she likes to listen to music and know what’s going on—in…
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Don’t Get Good At Things You Hate
READ MORE: Don’t Get Good At Things You HateA recent episode of This American Life (#598: “My Undesirable Talent”) told the stories of people who had become really good at things they regretted. One of them was a guy named Zora, born to Ugandan parents and raised in Fresno, who went off to college and pretended to be an African exchange student. He did a whole Coming to…