Blog

The Jar Group is a data-driven agency of internet enthusiasts who produce integrated marketing strategies and happy clients. They were named on the Inc. 500 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies and Linkshare’s 2010 Agency of the Year.                       I sat down with President AJ Lawrence, and posed three crucial questions about employee belonging: 1. Good brands are bought, but great brands are joined. Why do you think employees join yours?…

We all hear voices. That doesn’t make us crazy – it just makes us human. The hard part is when the voice we most want to be quiet starts to torment us. Our natural instinct is to ignore it. Or run away. Or drown it out. Or stick our fingers in our ears and pretend it’s not really there. And with most voices, that’s a helpful approach. It protects…

You’ve chosen an uncertain path. You’ve adopted an inconvenient lifestyle. You’ve embarked upon an unconventional journey. You’ve felt the voice inside you growing more urgent. You’ve committed yourself enough so you can’t turn back. IN SHORT: You’ve decided to play for keeps. This is the critical crossroads – the emotional turning point – in the life of every young artist. And I’ve been there myself. From my latest book,…

We can only closet off the unholy parts of ourselves for so long. Whatever is inside of us, eventually, somewhere, is going to come out. The exciting part is, once we give people a profile of our soul, once we start talking about what we’re afraid for them to know about us, our world changes. We experience the freedom that comes from refusing to hide. And those brave enough…

During a heated discussion on reward and recognition, my friend Julie, who works for a charitable art foundation, said something that captured my curiosity. “I would rather get a holiday party than a holiday bonus.”Her theory was, a check for a thousand bucks could buy a lot of cool stuff. But a night of celebration could deepen intimacy, create memories and build friendships that last forever. To Julie, that…

Sometimes it’s easier to enter through the side door. That’s what I told a friend of mine. That if we don’t enjoy the act of writing – yet have the urge to capture our experience and share it with the world – what we need is to expand our definition of writing. Because once we expand the definition, we change the context. Once we change the context, we lower…

HUSH is a design agency. They produce digital content and experiences that are unique in creating brand recognition for their clients. I sat down with David Schwarz, one of the creative partners, and posed three crucial questions about belonging: 1. Good brands are bought, but great brands are joined. Why do you think employees join yours? Our team members are hand picked Renaissance thinkers and makers. They want to flex…

Being young is no excuse for not delivering value. What we lack in experience we make up in enthusiasm, by being the most energizing one around. What we lack in certainty we make up in curiosity, by asking the most disturbing questions around. What we lack in wisdom we make up in perspective, by making the best observations around. What we lack in velocity we make up in flexibility,…

We are defined by what we decline. Especially in those moments when it would be easy to say yes to the quick buck, the quick win or the quick applause, the heroic response would be to respectfully and consciously reject anything that reeks of meh. To decline the projects that involve uninspiring, unchallenging, unrisky and unrewarding work, no matter how many of our ego and financial needs they fulfill,…

That’s the sound of the world gasping. We’ve exhausted entirely too much breath over vain pursuits like driving traffic, getting hits, gathering followers, increasing views, gaining exposure, accumulating likes and attaining celebrity. And maybe I’m blessed with a broken sense of priorities, but doesn’t anybody want to change the world anymore? Are we so spellbound by the size of our own fire that we’ve forgotten to leave the campsite…