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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…

Opposites attract, but that doesn’t mean they stay together. I spent several years with someone who, in many ways, was the mathematical opposite of me. Different attitude, different lifestyle, different goals, different everything. Which, admittedly, was kind of endearing at first. Our personalities seem to compliment each other nicely. But as we got more serious, and as my friends started dropping more hints, I learned that what we lacked…

Not everything needs to be understood. That’s hard for a lot of us to understand. Especially if we’re the kind of people who think, reflect, evaluate, replay and over analyze everything that happens to us, in an effort to make sense of our own existence. But in the portfolio of life experience, whatever happens to us will always be a part of us. The hard part is trusting that…

It’s okay to ask people to be there for us. In those moments when the fury of the tempest leaves us tossed and tattered, we should never hesitate to call in the cavalry. They love it. People want nothing more than the opportunity to show up for someone they care about. That’s why they became our friends in the first place. Not because we have the same shoe size,…

Nobody commits anymore. Not just because it’s hard to commit, but because it’s easy to bail. When picking a vendor, picking a university, picking a home, even picking a mate, technology dissolves loyalty. With instant access to an unlimited reservoir of choices, every additional option makes it harder and harder to stick with something. The problem, then, is not just our fear of commitment – it’s our surplus of…