I get complaints about how my advice is insensitive to certain types of humans and living things. I will not turn my advice into mush. I like it crunchy. Most of you do, too. If you don’t like it, read somebody else. Here are my responses to the complaints people have made or may be…
Here is a story that will tell you something about me. I am in my first month at a new job. I am surrounded by a few colleagues who are the smartest people I ever worked with. The conversation turns to people’s history. We come to realize that all of us have felt like a…
I used to be an expert in marketing. And yesterday, I skipped the Super Bowl and didn’t watch a single $5 million commercial. I must be a fraud. Here’s a secret: I don’t know all that much about marketing. (Shh, don’t tell anyone.) So how the heck did I get to be an “expert?” I…
I want you to imagine that you’ve been invited to a casual party at my house. Here’s who will be in the room: A guy near retirement who has cofounded some of the most disruptive entertainment companies of the 21st century. A young Black woman with a cache of stories about unusual and accomplished people…
Five or six days a week, I walk for an hour. I always start and end at my house. And I never do the same walk twice. How is this possible? An hour’s walk for me is about three miles. In my suburban neighborhood, I encounter an intersection about once every 200 yards. So I…
I am making many mistakes this year, almost continuously. It’s a good thing. I am learning two new skills right now that I am bad at. And keep in mind, I am doing these things at age 62. First off, my family received the gift of a 100-year old grand piano from a family friend….
In the 1960s and 70s nearly everyone watched endless reruns of “Gilligan’s Island,” the sitcom featuring seven castaways on an uncharted island. If you were a male viewer, you had to express a preference for one of the two single women on the island: Ginger, the elegant, tall, and pale-haired starlet, or Mary Ann, the…
This is the story of my experience before, during, and after 9-11 — and how it still affects me 19 years later in this once again fraught moment. My story starts on September 1, 2001. I had hired a construction company to replace 120 feet of water, sewer, and gas pipes leading to my house…
Thirteen years ago I made a fateful decision. I’ve been thinking about how it paid off in the rich connections with people that it led to. I was 48 years old in 2007 and determined to publish my first book by the time I was 50. I took the plunge: I made a deal with…