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I have a drummer friend who’s stuck in creative limbo.  He’s fighting his lack of excitement around not having discovering something worth doing, struggling with his inability to turn himself over to a new creative project.  But he’s fully conscious of his creative predicament. In fact, he even has a helpful mantra for trudging through the resistance. I have to put myself in a state of risk again.  What a…

Miyagi once said that the best way to block is to not be there.  It’s counterintuitive, but it works. We can’t get it hit if we’re not there. Evasion is the highest form of blocking. And although he was referring to the world of martial arts, his karate principle applies to the business world too.  Because there isn’t a company in the world who doesn’t want to become a…

Just when hope seems unreachable, as your hand slips from the cliff of life, all it takes is one thing to keep your grip strong.  And more often than not, that thing takes human form. A person, who looks at you with a tender gaze and a beaming heart, places a magnifying glass on the things you’re good at and says, hey, you should do something with this.  Through…

Dilbert once said that strategic planning was hallucinating about the future and then something different happens.  His insight hit a nerve with corporations worldwide. Because the majority of them spend thousands of hours and millions of dollars on that very process. When the result is often an expensive, time consuming way to placate executive egos, preserve the illusion of productivity, pretend to be useful and mitigate fear about a…

Einstein never actually said that humans only use ten percent of their brains.  It’s an urban myth. An accidental misunderstanding of nineteenth century neurology that was perpetuated by the human potential movement of the sixties and seventies.  What is a plausible claim, however, is that most people only meet a fraction of their full potential. That the majority of our skills and talents and gifts and assets are going untapped.  And…

Every artist is afraid of dropping off the radar. Because that means they no longer exist. Their work is forgotten. Vanished into obscurity. Consigned to howling vacuum of anonymity. Cycled out of public consciousness. Commissioned to the howling vacuum of anonymity.  Lefsetz’s essay on current the music business put it perfectly: Stardom is about continuity. Audiences are impressed when you make it, and continue to make it. But momentary blips are…

Every society has a collection of ideas that are not allowed to be questioned or criticized.  The people heretical enough to raise doubt and deviate in their perception of reality are often discouraged, ridiculed, ostracized, imprisoned, tortured, and sometimes even killed. It’s the oldest form of social control.  And it comes from the top down. Because those with a vested interest in the status quo, namely, governments and religions…

Academic journals, financial publications and business magazines love to remind us how many small businesses fail within their first five years. Or even their first year.  And they chalk it up to the usual entrepreneurial suspects, including insufficient capital, poor location, high overhead, tough competition, low sales, inventory mismanagement, bad accounting, operational mediocrity and dysfunctional management.  All of which are probably true. But the media misses the big picture….

Satchel had a blazing fastball, but was also a hell of an entrepreneur.  He pitched professionally for the first ten years of his career, until he became entangled in a salary dispute with the negro league. And that ultimately resulted in him being banned for breaking his contract and jumping teams.  However, during that winter season, an independent promoter approached the great pitcher to headline a new all star…

Every lap swimmer seeks his own lane.  It’s pure bliss. You can stop and start whenever you want. You can do any stroke you choose. You don’t have to swim in counterclockwise circles to accommodate multiple swimmers. You don’t have to worry about some jackoff triathlete hero trying to pass you on the left. And you don’t have to focus on maintaining your orientation within the allotted area.  Brian’s…