The writer Harlan Ellison died yesterday. He was a brilliant, irritating, iconoclastic, inflexible force of nature. I cannot imagine him being 84 years old, and death is exactly the sort of inconvenience he’d never put up with. Harlan (everyone just called him “Harlan”) began his writing career by joining a street gang, undercover, and then…
While traveling in Europe, I’ve read the news of the implosion of the G-7 summit. Donald Trump refuses to accede to the conventional international modes of interaction. Here’s why that bothers me. When I travel with family, I stay in Airbnb’s or similar accommodations. (I’m about to stay on a boat in Amsterdam.) I can’t…
When you’re making your decisions on a day-to-day basis, how often do you: Know you are right . . . . vs. wonder if you are wrong. See from your own perspective . . . vs. see from someone else’s. Feel certain you can make a deadline . . . vs. doubt if you can…
I’m turning in a very big project in a couple of days. I know what to expect. Sadness. It’s not regret. The book is great. The prose lives. Sure, it has warts, but it’s a major piece of work. I feel pride. I feel accomplishment. But also, sadness. When you’ve wrestled with a project this…
On April 21, 2008, ten years ago, Charlene Li and I celebrated the publication of our Harvard Business Press book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. It was the first book for each of us. It made an impact, selling over 150,000 copies. Ten years later, I’d like to talk about how…
I had a great year in 2017. I’ve been pleased to be able to basically replicate the income I had as a very senior analyst working for a research company, but to control my own destiny and work hours, and work only on projects that I like. But one thing is different. My income tax…
My friend, who used to be a startup CEO, gave a party at her apartment. The party was for her husband and his new book. I don’t know him well, but I do know books, which is one reason I was invited. I have to admit, I have no idea what people mean when they…
I blog here every weekday. I could lie to myself and say I do it for you, my readers. I don’t. Sorry, but I do it for me. Since I became a freelancer, there is no one to tell me which jobs to concentrate on, which deadlines to meet, which directions to head. Sure, there…
New Year’s is a good time to think about change. As I think back on all the biggest opportunities and shifts I have made in my career, they all have these things in common: I was feeling stuck and bored. Something was tickling the back of my imagination. I moved toward it. And eventually, I…