When I first stepped on an improv stage for a highschool ComedySportz league, I knew that I had found something important. For someone like me who is a inveterate thinker and a planner, this environment provided a way to get out of my own way and let my mind and imagination run free. Even though I never pursued improv to its full extant, I've always stayed in touch with it, attending classes here and there over the years and going to see shows when I could. I picked up Improv Wisdom because of a recommendation in Dan Pink's To Sell is Human. The title caught my eye. And it was well worth the read! Big Thought "Life is an … [Read more...]
Thank You for Arguing – Jay Heinrichs
When I was in high school, I sat at a lunch table with a bunch of really smart kids. I don't know if you would call us nerds, or dorks, or whatever, but we were the ones who were in all of the AP classes together, and Latin, and calculus, and, well, you get the point. But we were still teenage boys which meant that there was a lot of testosterone and arguing at that table. This confluence of brains and competition meant that you were judged in no small way by your ability to engage in debate and hold your own. Oh, how I wish that I'd had this book then! But failing my invention of a time machine, Thank You for Arguing is still a … [Read more...]
Win the Crowd – Steve Cohen
This article was originally published a few years ago at the RockStar Success Library. Still one of my favorite public speaking guides. When you think about it, magicians are truly the masters of sales. We know that they are going to perform feats that are designed to fool us, we might even try to stay on our guard, but they always get us. And we love it – we even want more! For their illusions to work, magicians have to sell us over and over again. In becoming a top magician, Steve Cohen has also become a master salesperson and communicator. In Win the Crowd, it’s fascinating to see how he’s drilled down into the ways he … [Read more...]
Daniel Pink – To Sell is Human
I read To Sell is Human when it first came out, and it was such a fantastic book...that I never had a chance to write down my thoughts. Oops. I recently went through it again, and was struck by how much still resonates. Dan Pink does a great job of unpacking the negative stereotypes that have been built around the idea of "sales", and why they might not be that relevant anymore. At the same time he points out something that I started realizing when I started as a salesperson as a 20-year-old kid: We're all in sales. Not matter what your job title, we are continuously attempting to persuade and influence the people around us. Big … [Read more...]
Why Now is the Time to Crush It! – Gary Vaynerchuk
This article originally ran at the RockStar Success Library a few years ago. Gary's gone on to become a major personality in the social media world. I'm still ambivalent about whether that's because of the validity of his ideas or the volume with which he shares them. Big Thought The ease of access to emerging social media platforms provides a vehicle that allows for individuals to create a personal brand that they can monetize. Ideas, Implications, and Questions Gary skirts the line between being descriptive and prescriptive. As a descriptive book, it’s an interesting story of what allowed him to be successful. When it tries to be … [Read more...]
Where Does the Weirdness Go? and Uncertainty – David Lindley
This article was originally published on January 22nd, 2009. And the world is just as weird... “Why do you like to study quantum physics?” That’s what my sister asked, the last time I was trying to explain the inner workings of the dual-slit experiment and indeterminacy. It was a valid question since science doesn’t really have a direct connection with what I do on a daily basis. As I explained to her, studying quantum physics gives my brain some exercise – it’s not easy stuff to grasp. More importantly, though, it’s a way for me to try to understand, as Einstein put it, the “underlying nature of reality” from the viewpoint of … [Read more...]
The Way of the Ronin – Beverly Potter
This article was originally published on February 25th, 2009. There are more and more ronin about as the workplace continues to change. Based on the title, it would be easy to mistake this book for a treatise on wandering samurai warriors. What Beverly Potter has done instead, is use the idea of the ronin, or wandering knights of medieval Japan, as a metaphor to describe the role of today’s independent professional in the changing economy. Similar to Dan Pink’s ideas in Free Agent Nation, and my idea of the New Entrepreneur, Beverly writes that the fundamental structure of the economy is shifting, and she submits that the “ronin” of the … [Read more...]
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