Are You Floating or Swimming?
Hunter S. Thompson That’s the question that the late journalist Hunter S. Thompson once mused about in a letter to a friend who was asking Thompson’s advice about what goal to purse in life. Thompson, only 22, when he penned this letter in 1958, offered some advice worthy of a commencement speech itself in considering the ordering […]
The Importance of Making Your Bed
A few years ago, retired Navy Seal and Admiral William McRaven offered grads at the University of Texas at Austin some advice on changing the world, including not underestimating the number of people whose lives will be affected by theirs…and the importance of starting every day by making your bed properly (no kidding). Click here for the video and transcript of the […]
The Algebra of Happiness
By Scott Galloway This great interview is NYU Marketing Professor and serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway’s advice about creating a good life: The Algebra of Happiness. You’ll have a lot of fun with his witty, edgy, and hilarious remarks. Parents and kids should watch this together. (Warning, Dr. Galloway’s language can be a bit salty). Also, if […]
What to Unlearn After Graduation
By Suzy WelchNYU Business School ProfessorAnd former editor Harvard Business Review Not everything learned in the warm cocoon of the academy is helpful and can even backfire in the real world. In this two-minute video, Ms. Welch identifies five lessons graduating seniors must UNLEARN immediately after college to be successful. Helpful advice before the first day on […]
Will You be Lucky or Smart?
This 12 minute 2012 Commencement Address at Princeton is one of my favorites. Author Michael Lewis warns his audience not to overestimate their competence, or underestimate the role of luck, in their lives…and by way of illustration relates the chance encounter at a dinner party that launched his own remarkable career, and the moral obligation to share a little […]
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
From the TED Site: “Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.” Spend […]
Advice I Wish I’d Been Given
It may strike some as odd that a college dropout would be asked to give commencement speeches…unless that dropout is Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Mr. Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft in the mid 1970’s. As a result, he never got to hear the commencement speech he would have enjoyed had he completed […]
A Turning World?
Recent years have radically changed the employment dynamics of the labor and talent markets. A close watcher of this arena looks at what’s changing…and what’s not: “A Commence Speech for the #quietquitting era.”
“How Will You Measure Your Life?”
The late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen became famous for his groundbreaking work on strategy, “The Innovators Dilemma.” However, his most profound work may well be an article he wrote for HBR not long before his untimely passing. “How Will You Measure Your Life: Don’t reserve your best thinking for your career.”
The Leader’s Existential Question: Who is Minding the Future?
I’m reposting what I consider to be a profoundly important article about the future of the workplace. It begins by warning “It’s time to face a tough truth: we might have emotionally healthier employees in the future, but they may not have a place to be employed.” This article from Chief Executive Magazine explores the leader’s […]
