2008–2026
1,372 posts
2026 4
August 2026
July 2026
January 2026
2025 7
November 2025
October 2025
July 2025
May 2025
February 2025
January 2025
2024 10
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
July 2024
April 2024
March 2024
January 2024
2023 17
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
- Relaxed Concentration Unlocks a Secret to Winning: Not Trying Too Hard
- Fintech Preferences from the Unbanked of Cambodia
June 2023
May 2023
February 2023
January 2023
2022 8
September 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
2021 12
October 2021
August 2021
July 2021
May 2021
April 2021
- Planet of Cops
- Two Podcast Interviews: Michael Balaoing (Public Speaking Coach) and Elliot Shmukler (Legendary PM)
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
2020 19
November 2020
October 2020
- The More Success You Have, The More You Can (and Should) Hire Appropriately-Rated People
- Book Reviews: Killing Commendatore and Americanah
September 2020
- What I’ve Been Reading (September, 2020)
- Podcast Interview on the Full Ratchet About Village Global
- Questions Worth Pondering
August 2020
July 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
2019 25
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
- Burning Man 2019
- My notes from leading a session on Oral Communication
- Keen on Resurfacing Interesting, Old Articles? Paid Internship
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
- Village Global: Hiring, Network Catalyst, Founder Retreat
- How I Officiated a Wedding
- Book Review: An American Marriage
March 2019
- Smart Is Not Enough: What Marc Benioff Taught Me When I Was 15 Years Old
- I’ve Been Off Instagram in 2019 (and Book Review: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport)
- The Wisdom of Eric Ries
- Book Notes: The Point Is by Lee Eisenberg
February 2019
January 2019
2018 25
December 2018
November 2018
- Friendships: Frequent Quick Hits vs. Infrequent Deep Dives
- The Wisdom of Eric Schmidt and Tyler Cowen
- The Wisdom of Bob Iger
October 2018
September 2018
July 2018
- Book Review: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
- What I’ve Been Reading
- “Happiness Is Just Like This”
- Book Notes: Motherhood: A Novel
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
- Lessons on Confidence, Criticism, and How to Thrive as an Underestimated Founder from Sara Blakely
- Lessons from Ben Silbermann, Founder of Pinterest
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
2017 27
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
- Samatha Meditation Practice
- Time Simply Slipped Away Without Any Meaning
- Book Notes: The Undoing Project
June 2017
- Stop Asking Busy People to “Catch Up” With You
- Book Notes: My Struggle by Karl Knausgaard
- Leap When You’re Almost Ready
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
- Asking Acquaintances About Mutual Friends
- Knowledge Accumulates Over Generations
- Book Short: The Checklist Manifesto
January 2017
2016 36
December 2016
November 2016
- Impressions of Malaysia
- The Factor That Colors Happiness and Unhappiness the Most
- What I’ve Been Reading
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
- When Giving Advice to Peers…
- Haunting Photo of the Day
- Book Notes: The Road to Character
- Quote of the Day
July 2016
June 2016
- 10 Day Awareness+Wisdom Meditation Retreat
- Impermanence Thought of the Day
- From Anxiety Attacks to Mindfulness Startup
- 10 Day Meditation Retreat
May 2016
April 2016
- What It Means to Lead a Global Life (For Me, Anyway)
- What We Actually Say in “The Alliance”
- Impressions of Japan, Spring 2016
- Book Review: Purity by Franzen
- You Need to Have Secrets, and Have Them Known
- New Essay on Pros and Cons of Wealth
March 2016
- Lessons and Impressions from Colombia (2016)
- A Little-Things Agenda
- “Close Friends” Who You Don’t Talk To Often
- Developing a Reputation as a Career Launch Pad
February 2016
January 2016
2015 48
December 2015
- Book Review: Deep Work by Cal Newport
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Book Notes: Drive by Dan Pink
- Lessons and Impressions of Egypt
- Relationship Building vs. Networking via Reid
November 2015
- Book Notes: Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed
- The Hidden Chambers in the Heart
- Using Your Mind to Watch Your Mind
- How Much Does Passion Matter When Founding vs. Joining Something?
- Lessons and Impressions from Israel
October 2015
- Big Think Interview on Future of Work
- Compassionate Management and Career Conversations
- Adam Davidson on the Hollywood Model of Work
- Book Notes: Master of the Senate
September 2015
- The Pros and Cons of Being an Insider vs. Outsider
- Product Hunt Podcast and AMA
- Burning Man 2015: Impressions and Lessons
- From Communal to Individual. From Future to Present.
August 2015
- Book Review: Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux
- Live Chat on Product Hunt Tomorrow
- Visiting the Balkan Ghosts
- Poem of the Day by Billy Collins
July 2015
- Impressions from an African Safari
- Examining the U.S.-Germany Relationship
- Returning to Zurich
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Attending Alcoholics Anonymous as a Guest
June 2015
May 2015
- Me on Network Intelligence, Lifelong Learning, and Beginner’s Mind
- Millennials in the Workplace
- Turkey: Impressions and Lessons
April 2015
- Blurring the Professional and Personal Lines at Work
- What Possessors of Maxims and Scriptures Can Teach Us
- Strengths and Weaknesses Are Connected
March 2015
- The Dangers of Empathy
- Book Review: The David Foster Wallace Reader
- Book Review: The Unspeakable
- What Makes America What It Is
- Markets vs. Central Planners, An On-Going Series
February 2015
- Why You Need Network Intelligence in Your Company
- Book Review: The Path to Power by Robert Caro
- “Life Will Take Care of the Rest”
- Travel Reminds You: “This is Just One of Many Possible Worlds”
January 2015
2014 54
December 2014
- Grammar Wars
- How Michael Lewis Slows Down Time
- Claims About Childhood
- What I’ve Been Reading
- The Dead-End Road of Self-Pity
November 2014
- The Writing Ability of James Wolcott
- Speaking at San Quentin Prison
- Questions About Life from Jonathan Safran Foer
October 2014
- Lessons and Impressions from Korea
- “Waking Up” and My On-Going Meditation and Buddhism Explorations
- The Wisdom and Wonder of Kevin Kelly
- What I’ve Been Reading
- “Don’t Compare Yourself to Others” – The Envy Problem
September 2014
August 2014
- Unintended Consequences of Messing with Complex Systems
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Book Review: Stoner by John Williams
- Econtalk on The Alliance and Future of Work
- Book Review: Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff
- Charlie Rose on The Alliance
- Movie Review: Boyhood
July 2014
- Talking with Jeff and Reid About The Alliance
- “The Must-Read Book of the Summer”
- Visual Summary of The Alliance
- Your Company is Not a Family
- How Do You Get Employees to Open Up?
June 2014
- Impressions of Italy, 2014 Edition
- Network Literacy in the Networked Age
- He Was Himself. And He Knew What He Had Been.
May 2014
- My New Book — The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age
- Marc Benioff Commencement Speech
- The College Premium
- Write About What You Know (So Don’t Write About Yourself)
April 2014
- RIP Seth Roberts
- Book Review: Floating City by Sudhir Venkatesh
- Is Employee Job Tenure Really Shortening? (Yes, It Is)
- My Favorite Podcast: The Always-Enlightening EconTalk
March 2014
- 2 AM Friends
- Happiness vs. Meaning, Continued
- Short Term Profit Taking vs. Long Term Value Creation
- Felix Salmon on the Economics of Online Content
- Pursuing Happiness or Meaning in a Career
February 2014
- Impressions of Dubai
- What To Do If You Worry Too Much
- Teamwork Wins in Real World, But School Teaches the Opposite
- What I’ve Been Reading
January 2014
2013 76
December 2013
November 2013
- Book Review: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
- Reciprocity and Lust, Built Into Our Brains
- How One of Twitter’s Largest Shareholders Launched His Career
- LinkedIn’s Series B Pitch Deck to Greylock
October 2013
- Practice vs. Practice That Leads to Refinement
- San Francisco’s New Entrepreneurial Culture
- Nassim Taleb on Living in the City vs. Country/Nature
- Who Today is Driving a Herd of Symbolic Bulls Through the Gardens of Convention?
- Book Review: In the Plex by Steven Levy
- The Materialism Trap
- Why Older People Fire Friends More Aggressively
September 2013
- India for a Second Time
- Disrupting the Diploma
- Number of Job Openings Go Up; Actual Hiring Not So Much
- Left-Handedness With a Touch of Righty
August 2013
- Book Review: Breath by Breath
- The Beautiful vs. Sublime, Instagram Edition
- The Problem With Walking Meetings
- Quiet Celebrations
- Book Review: Help! by Oliver Burkeman
- Would You Rather Enjoy Today, or Have Great Memories Tomorrow and Forever?
- What Questions Are You Thinking About?
July 2013
- What I’ve Been Reading
- The Power of the Word “Yet”
- We Flit About Joyfully in the Light
- Knowledge & Networks Enabling More Youth Entrepreneurship
- Map of the Day
- Book Review: Sum by David Eagleman
- Experts Take Notes.
June 2013
- “Self-Absorption is Actually the Most Boring Game in Town”
- Immigration and Tech Leadership
- Simple Yet Hard, Public Market Investing Edition
- Learning to Own the Room
- Book Review: The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking
- “He’s a Grown Man”
- On the Airwaves…
May 2013
- Invest in Yourself at the Low End and High End
- You Never Truly Leave High School
- The New Employer-Employee Compact
- “My Last Days”
- Status and Power Drive Social Dynamics in Business
- Career Advice for New Grads
- Awe, An On-Going Series
- 3 Day Silent Meditation Course
April 2013
- “Sadness is a Lucky Thing to Feel”
- How to Improve E-Books
- Book Review: The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman
- Book Review: The Expats
- Chinese Prison Torture, 2013 Edition
- Subtle Inaccuracies and Reader Trust
- Quick Impressions of Paris, 2013 Edition
- Quote of the Day
March 2013
- Book Discussion: “Future Perfect” by Steven Johnson
- The Skill Developed in Meditation
- Audiobook Review: This is How You Lose Her
- How Busy People Find Time to Think Deeply
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Growth by Learning: Does Progress Accelerate with Mastery?
- Book Short: Republic, Lost
February 2013
- “What Would I Need to Believe For This to Be the Right Decision?”
- One Year Anniversary Slideshare: Start-Up of You Executive Summary
- Book Review: The Best American Essays of 2012
- The Order of the Paragraphs
- Meditation, Six Months Later
- Regrets Caused by Action vs. Inaction
January 2013
- The Writer For Our Time?
- Founders Hiring “Professional” CEOs to Run Their Company
- With Whom Are You Comfortable Sharing Your Shitty First Draft?
- Department of Cultural Differences, Book Cover Edition
- Aaron Swartz: He Inspired Me to Think in Public
- Book Notes: Religion for Atheists
- Being Behind, Effort, and Comparing Yourself
- New Year’s in Moose, Wyoming
2012 87
December 2012
- Book Notes: What Technology Wants
- Best of My Tweets
- Book Review: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
- A Life Worth Ending
- How Large Is Your Network? What Does Dunbar’s Number Really Mean?
- You Don’t Need to Be Nomadic to Be Focused
November 2012
- Book of Mormon
- Bezos’s Insistence on Full Narrative Prose
- Writing = Thinking, Jeff Bezos Edition
- Colin Marshall and Ben In Conversation
- Optimistic Technology Luminaries
- Why Are We Kind to Strangers?
- Relationships Matter, A Never-Ending Series
- How to Get Useful Feedback on Your Projects: Avoid Like/Dislike
October 2012
- When People Remind You of Your Younger Self…
- You Learn From People Who Mostly Agree With You
- So Much Better Than Yours That You Hug Criticisms of It In Self-Defense
- When to Obsessively Focus and When to Court Serendipity
- Faith, Community, and Friendship
September 2012
- Book Review: Startup Communities
- Book Review: Why We Get Fat
- Book Review: So Good They Can’t Ignore You
- Getting Feedback: Diagnosis and Remedy Are Different Things
- Admiring Excellence, An Ongoing Series
- Lessons and Reflections from Publishing the Start-Up of You
August 2012
- Bootcamp Model of Learning
- The Wisdom in India
- Different Messages From Different Women
- Political IQ is Like “Overall Athleticism” and “Court Vision”
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Reflections and Impressions from a 10-Day Meditation Course
July 2012
- Something I Think I Could Fail At: 10 Day Silent Meditation Program
- Passive Gentleness vs. The Goodness of Being Able to Act in the World
- Start-Up of You Student Fellowship
- Mexico’s New President and the War on Drugs
- The Fragility of Health
- A Magical Dinner Spot
June 2012
- Book Notes: An Economist Gets Lunch
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Where the Hell is Matt? 2012 Edition
- What’s Driving Class Bifurcation?
- How to Take Intelligent Risk and Become Resilient to Anything
- Book Review: Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
- The Privilege of Standing in an Airport Security Line
- How to Make Past Experiences Meaningful
May 2012
- “I Want Some Nasty”
- Memorial Day Weekend
- Are You Network Literate?
- Mike Moritz is Chasing Daylight — The Adjustments He’s Making As a Result
- Quick Impressions of Italy, 2012 Edition
- If You Could Be Brutally Honest With Your SO, What Would You Say?
- The Loneliness That Should Worry Us
- Start-Up of You: Odds and Ends
- Simile of the Day
- People Don’t Want to Be Blamed for Giving Bad Advice
April 2012
- Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose
- The Sweep of Nostalgia
- The Upside of Taking a Chance
- Sentence of the Day
- Book Short: Creative Capitalism by Michael Kinsley
- Quick Impressions of Qatar
- Rahm Emanuel’s Ideas for Improving Higher Ed
March 2012
- Steve Jobs Focused on Network Intelligence
- Free Webcast Thursday Night
- Photo of the Day
- Build On Your *Underlying* Strengths When Adapting
- To Live Unseduced by Media Sirens and the Gleam of Envy in Others’ Eyes
- Oprah and Charlie Rose Are in Permanent Beta
- Appearing on Charlie Rose
- A Couple Weeks After Liftoff…
- Have Heroes Outside Your Industry
February 2012
- Individual Competitiveness –> National Competitiveness
- Reading in Print vs. Electronic
- The Entrepreneurial Spirit in All of Us
- Book Reviews From Our Book Giveaway
- Notes from Books About Jobs and Work
January 2012
- May the Muses Embrace You
- Fortune Excerpt on Networks and Relationships
- The Jammed Career Escalator: Old Premises, New Realities
- When Talent Can Easily Find New Opportunity, How Do You Retain Talent?
- Pre-Order The Start-Up of You
- One Earth
- U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East and China
- “I’m Not as Smart as I Thought I Was”
- NCAA Student-Athlete Commits to Alabama
- Book Notes: Launching the Innovation Renaissance
- Book Review: The Art of Fielding
2011 69
December 2011
- Book Review: The Rational Optimist
- Eat Global, Not Local
- When We Tell Ourselves Stories
- Selective Excerpting to Reach the Masses
- What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger?
- One Simple Question to Test Dating Compatability
November 2011
- The Compensations and Losses of Old Age
- Things Men Will Never Understand About Women
- Steve Jobs Brainstorming at NeXT
- Knowing a Man vs. Knowing About a Man
- Insiders, Outsiders, and the Invisible Wink
October 2011
- Everything is on Fire…Slow Fire
- What Finance is About
- Our Ability to Forget
- The Effects of Going Off the Grid and Exploring Nature
- Impressions and Lessons from Greece
- Remembering Steve Jobs
- Book Review: Loyalty by Eric Felten
September 2011
- Admiring Excellence
- Are Online Reviews Making Brands Irrelevant?
- Hard-to-Define Jobs Are More Secure
- No Such Thing as Different Learning Styles?
- Culture Matters, An On-Going Series
August 2011
- Continuous, Real-Time, Semi-Structured Feedback Instead of Annual Reviews
- Unbundling Education: Separate Out the Grading Process
- Why Might Jobs Not Come Back This Time?
July 2011
- Formula for an Instant Story
- “A New Mindset and Skillset to Compete”
- Serving the Audience vs. Doing Your Thing (and Other Links)
June 2011
- Chris Rock on Job vs. Career
- Assorted Paragraphs and Links
- The Risk of Working Hard
- Randomness and Serendipity on the Internet
May 2011
- Why to Move to a New Place: It Slows Down Time
- Knowing Your Audience in the YouTube Era
- I Loved You, I Loved You, I Loved You
- The Situation Room Photo
April 2011
- Will Smith Quote of the Day
- A Pithy Sum-Up of the Structural Ailment of U.S. Government
- Arnold Schwarzenegger: Look Beyond the Mirror
- The Difference Between Politeness and Tact
March 2011
- Hiatus
- Editor of Modern Love Column: “Hard Stuff” More Interesting than Romance
- Las Vegas: Authentically Unauthentic
- Being Wrong vs. Realizing You’re Wrong
- Imagine No Self-Censorship
- Friends: People Who Have the Same Flaws as Us
February 2011
- 27 de Febrero
- Good Marketing is Good. Bad Marketing is Bad.
- Understanding Your Customers, Brazil and Senior Citizen Edition
- Sometimes It’s Faster to Do It Yourself
- Kicking the Kid Down the Road
- The Four Types of Entrepreneurship
- Tom Friedman from Cairo
- The Opposite of Love is Indifference
- The Best Books on Start-Ups for General Reader
- Guilt-Free, Pain-Free Solitude When Abroad
- How to Identify Empty Rhetoric
January 2011
- The Fantasy That There’s Always Someone Better Just Around the Corner
- Why “Sputnik” Doesn’t Fire Up Americans
- Skeptoid’s Skeptical Take on Myers-Briggs
- Iconoclasts
- Links from Around the Web
- Top Performers Maniacally Prepare for Job Interviews
- James Franco and Matt Taibbi: Leading Full Lives
- Cities Built Around Airports (and China Fact of the Day)
- Twitter, Transience, and Tempo
- Book Reviews: The Personal MBA and What They Don’t Teach You at HBS
- The Sloppy Casualness of American Men
2010 194
December 2010
- The Quotations-in-Stories Litmus Test
- Asking About a Person’s Weaknesses
- The Mindset of the Ambitious Educational Elite
- The “I’m Proud of You” Litmus Test
- Fear: Using the Word Matters
- The (Charity) Work of Diplomats
- The Media’s Real Bias: Subservience to Power
- Quotes from The Elegance of the Hedgehog
November 2010
- Personal Identity and Decisionmaking
- The 30 Steps to Mastery
- TSA Bumper Stickers
- FedEx Truth-in-Tracking (China Edition)
- Live Together, Die Alone
- Regrets of the Dying
- How to Draw An Owl
- Four Characteristics of the Outstanding Scientist
- Seeing What Everyday Writing Looks Like
- Zadie Smith on Technology and Philosophy
- Best Sign at the Rally for Sanity
- Art: Mirror or Prism?
October 2010
- Nike’s New Ad: The Hymn of Individualism
- Airport Departure Boards and Imagination
- What 17 Million Americans Got from a College Degree
- China Fact of the Day
- Opportunities in Old, Stodgy Industries
- I’m Hiring — Internship Opportunity
- Hiring and Business
- Steven Johnson’s Invention of Air
- The Wisdom of Your Former Self
- Why Did Malia Obama Take Photos of Inaugration?
- Rolling the Dice When Young and In Love
- Book Review: Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Start-Up
September 2010
- Last Words of the Day
- “I Know What It’s Like to Feel Thirsty”
- Book Review: The Element
- Three More Litmus Tests
- Feeling More Awake Than You Have Ever Felt
- Assorted Musings
- Book Review: Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile
- Graciousness Here and Viciousness There: The Cordoba Mosque
- What’s Remained Constant?
- Is Being in a Relationship a Time Sink?
August 2010
- Lessons and Impressions from Indonesia
- The Origins of “Think Different”
- Cultural Values, Power, and Event Protocol
- Lectures at Home, Homework at School
- “I Suck”
- Against Occupational Licensing
- Instructions for Life
- Start-Up Chile: $40k to Live There and Start a Company
- The Wisdom of Mike Tyson
- Clayton Christensen’s Purpose-Driven Life
- Book Notes: Lords of Strategy
- Impressions of Brazil
July 2010
- I Know That You Know That I Know
- A Question Men Ask Themselves
- Book Review: How to Be a High School Superstar
- How to Think About Money
- The Feel-Bad Effect from Not-So-Close Facebook Friends
- Five Nights in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Chris Sacca on How International Travel Informs Entrepreneurship
- The Secular Church, Continued
- Tim O’Reilly: A Splendid Life
- A Jr. MacArthur Foundation and Colin Marshall
- How to Cook Restaurant-Quality Food
- Tacit Liberal Support of Afghanistan War
- Andreessen: Smart = Curiosity + Drive
- Cached Thoughts in Conversation
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Living Out the “Do One Thing That Scares You” Advice
- July 4th Fun Fact of the Day
- How to Get Hired
June 2010
- The Procrastination Risk in the Maker’s Schedule
- Do Love and Sex Naturally Go Together?
- Russian Ballet Comes to Santiago; Theatrics Ensue
- The Effect of the “Like” Button
- It Was a Mistake to Play a Flawless Game
- Time Allocation Goals vs. Output Goals
- Assorted Paragraphs
- If You Want to Know How Things Are in Reality
- Movie Review: 500 Days of Summer
- Singular Competence = Passion = Happiness
- World Cup USA vs. England
- Shanghai: 1990 vs. 2010
- Age Matters to Multitasking and Information Diets
- A Personal Letter from Steve Martin
- What Happened in California Yesterday
- Disintermediation in Education: The Kahn Edition
- What the Net is Doing to Our Brains
- Cool, Calm, and Collected
- La Serena and Valle de Elqui
- The Chessmaster and the Computer
- The Narcissism and Idealism of Millennials
May 2010
- Slowing Rate of Change and Tech Innovation
- The Values at Your Funeral
- Fall Becomes Winter in Chile
- Man and Movement Overturn the Natural Order of Things
- Seven Thoughts on the Airline Industry
- Mark Mobius on the State of Emerging Markets
- Targeted Clothes and Footwear Purchases
- The Age of Early Self-Conception
- The Two Schools of Strategy
- Cerro Pochoco in Outer Santiago
- 50 Ways to Expose Yourself to Randomness
- What MJ Had That LeBron Does Not
- Career Lessons from Elena Kagan vs. Richard Posner
- Who Are the Masters in Your Field and How Do You Learn from Them?
- Grumpily Subdued Emotional State Sparks Creativity
- Effectual Reasoning: What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial
- Assorted Musings
- Disturbing Chart of the Day: Public Sector Pay
- “If I Were Able to Live My Life Anew”
- Book Review: The Monk and the Riddle
April 2010
- 8 Steps to Starting a Start-Up
- Know Yourself: Principal or Lieutenant?
- The Mind as a River
- So Good It’s Bad
- Quote of the Day
- The Four Chords of Every Pop Song
- Optimal Number of Embarrassing Shock Experiences
- “How Are Your Relationships?”
- What Makes Something Interesting?
- The Atacama Desert
- Robert Solow on Markets and Their Limitations
- Self-Centric vs. Reader-Centric Uses of Social Media
- Norman Mailer on a Vagina
- Who Should and Should Not Be Going to College?
- Luna de Vieja, Atacama
- Atacama Day 1
- Approaching Love with Utter Openness and Reasonable Caution
- Free Riding on the Innovation That Emerges from America
- The Unreliability of Self-Knowledge
March 2010
- Sonia Sotomayor Has Pursued Her Calling
- Do You Want a Family or a Calling?
- Make a Trivial Concession That Allows Other Person to Feel Like the Winner
- The Murky, Complicated Reality of China
- The Difference Between Banality and Profundity
- The Wisdom of Magnus Carlsen
- The Rice Cooker
- The “It” Quality
- Spirituality Fuzziness and The God Within
- The “Easy Out” Email Technique
- Retiring Old Friends to Make Room for Better-Fit New Ones
- Obvious and Non-Obvious Reasons For and Against Casual Sex
- The 10 Dollar Rule
- All Entrepreneurship is Social
- The Torturous Inner Life of the Man Who Seems to Have it All
- The Impact of the New Tech: Use, Then Judge
- This Week’s Newsweek
- The Power of the Phrase “It Turns Out…”
- Colleges Work to Maintain an Information Deficit About Their Effectiveness
- Quote of the Day
- Update from Chile
February 2010
- Experiencing the 8.8 Earthquake in Chile
- Culture Matters to Entrepreneurship
- Men Are From Mars…
- On Describing a Human Being
- The Myth of Efficiency
- Epic Beard Man: Another Day in Oakland
- Kant’s Moral Maxim of Universality Applied to Buying Drugs
- Why Have I Not Done Drugs? And Should I?
- A Human Platitude Who Radiates Blandness
- Social Inequality Between Elites and Non-Elites
- In Praise of Memorization
- Psychology Paragraphs of the Day
- RIP Privacy and Identity Synthesis on the Web
- The Condom and Other Links
- The Paradox of Attitudinal Self-Help Books
- The Unbearable Lightness of Travel
- How to Write Funny
- Is Amazon Evil?
January 2010
- The Contradiction in Steve Jobs’ Famous Commencement Speech
- A Smattering of Impressions from Chile
- Book Review: The PayPal Wars
- Book Review: Boomsday by Buckley
- The Case Against Credentialism
- Fathoming People’s Emotions and Motives from Afar
- Driving from Puerto Montt to Santiago
- Chilean Patagonia
- Assorted Musings
- Women’s Pornography
- Exploring Patagonia
- Why Nassim Taleb Walks
- Quote of the Day
- McKinsey, the World’s Epicenter of Risk Aversion, Still Produces Entrepreneurs
- If Economists Were to Write the News Stories About Trade
- When Personal Brands Become More Important than Media Brands
- Does Travel Make You Smarter?
- Short Story of the Day by Deb Unferth
- California’s Governor Race: Idealism, Cynicism, and Tom Campbell
- How Much Are Cheap Chinese Toys Worth to You?
- 14 Thoughts on Advice Giving and Receiving
- Book Review: Chief Culture Officer
- What I’ve Been Reading
2009 323
December 2009
- Links From Around the Web
- Brad Feld and Paul Kedrosky: “This Shit Is Really Messy”
- Merry Christmas
- Loyalty: An Overrated and Dangerous Virtue
- Book Review: Norwegian Wood by Murakami
- What You’re Really Trying to Say…
- Finding a Person’s Idiosyncrasies Charming
- When Day Becomes Dusk
- Inequality and Perceived Social Mobility
- Peter Thiel on Baby Boomers and Bailouts
- One Quote Does Not Belong
- Tweet of the Day
- The Perils of Youthful Fame (Tiger Woods Edition)
- Keepers of Private Notebooks
- The Ideal Mix of a Start-Up Advisory Board
- 10 Easily Implementable Life Problem-Solving Strategies
- The Selfishness of Public School Teacher Unions
- Reason is the Steering Wheel. Emotion is the Gas Pedal.
- Quotes of the Day
- Things I See in Chile
- Chileans Don’t Eat Breakfast or Dinner
- 50% of the Stuff I Do is Bad
- “Let’s Just Add Some Virality”
November 2009
- Elitism vs. Populism in Politics
- The Intrapreneur’s 10 Commandments
- Adjectives to Describe Impressiveness
- Blogs As Filters for Interestingness
- One of the Best Anti-Poverty Solutions: Immigration
- Book Notes: From Poverty to Prosperity
- Experts Who Predict the Future
- Quote of the Day from Cormac McCarthy
- Book Review: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- Reasons to Follow Sports (and Bill Simmons)
- The Very Best Are Obsessed
- Forgetting My Briefcase in a Taxi in Cyprus
- The Ethos of Casualness
- Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit
- Contrasts in How Google Suggests Searches
- Cultural Attitudes Toward Language (and Learning Spanish)
- Goal: More At-Bats Per Unit of Time and Money
- Religion for Atheists: A Secular Church
- How to Dodge a Difficult Question
- Budgeting Time to Think
- Working Out With Nothing but a Floor
- Your Customers Lie to You
October 2009
- Knock-Offs in North Cyprus
- Book Review: Truman by David McCullough
- The Best Time to Have Sex (and Do Other Things)
- How to Kill It: Passion and Patience
- Impressions and Lessons from Cyprus
- Creativity: Loving, Knowing, Doing
- Obtaining Honest Feedback
- We Like to be Shocked Because It Means We’re Innocent
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Language Learning in Cyprus
- Agia Napa, Cyprus
- First Experience KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
- My Commonplace Book – Words and Phrases
- The End is Not Fixed
- The Evolving Uses of Twitter
- Tragic vs. Utopian View of Human Nature
- Feeling Known and Noticed
- “What Is That?” A Short Story on Film
- A Mind Capable of Not Thinking
- Book Review: Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
- Say to Critics: Watch and See
- Can Incremental Reform Hurt Your Chances at Comprehensive Reform?
- The Five Discovery Skills of Innovators
- Assorted Musings
September 2009
- Parenting Line of the Day
- Life: Your Adventure in Entrepreneurship
- Being Individuals in an Increasingly Individualistic Culture
- The Contrarian Heroes
- The Meta-Data That Comes from Certain Interview Questions
- Happy Days: The Pursuit of What Matters in Troubled Times
- “Minor” Word Choices That Are Revealing
- The Nationalism of Liberals vs. Conservatives
- Links from Around the Web
- My Icons
- Scanning the Horizon for Greener Grass on the Other Side
- Book Notes: The Time Paradox by Zimbardo
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Simple To-Do List Systems
- Short. Bursts. Of Advice. To Do Something.
- Why I Travel
- A Chat with Penelope Trunk: IM Transcript
- The Substantive Bottom Line
- Quote of the Day
- Why is it Interesting to Write About Sex?
August 2009
- Lessons and Impressions from China
- Sports Fandom is the Same the World Over
- The Great American Roadtrip
- Village Outside Beijing and Spending Two Hours in a Police Station
- Is Writing Advice Around “Voice” Like Career Advice Around “Passion”?
- Six Strategies for Overcoming “Chicken and Egg” Problems
- Book Notes: Walden by Thoreau
- The Scale of China
- Sanitation and Health in China
- The Secular Church
- Unconventional, Entrepreneurial Lives and the Challenge of Loneliness
- Chinese Masseuse Plays Shuffleboard on My Ass
- The Complicatedness of Los Angeles
- “The Rules Have All Changed”
- The Wisdom of Alain de Botton
- My Current Moment
- I’ve Decided Not to Follow the Healthcare Debate
- Etiquette at Dinners
- Book Notes: Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Beware of Advice from Meta Careerists
- Eating in China
- A Rural Village Outside Beijing
- The Business of Self-Help
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Back in China
- If I Told You I Were Leaving, How Hard Would You Work to Keep Me?
- Impressions and Lessons from Uruguay and Chile
- Strange but True Cultural Preference in the Southern Cone
- Myths About Chile
- Valparaiso, Chile
- Gone Fishing
- Getting Robbed in Buenos Aires
July 2009
- Most Important Revenue Number in the B-Plan
- Santiago, Chile
- Vigilance on the Travel Trails
- Environmentalist Follies: The Spiritually Rich Global Poor Must Be Protected
- Culture of Intelligence in Chile
- Assorted Musings
- Terremoto – Chilean Alcoholic Drink – Literally Translates to “Earthquake”
- Rising Tide Lifts All (Nation-State) Boats
- Overcoming Adversity and Facing Reality
- Inspirational Video of the Day
- The East Coast of Uruguay
- Almost Missing My Flight from Montevideo to Santiago
- Hunger and Bathroom Needs
- How to Be a Genius, via Piotr Wozniak
- Latin Dancing
- Montevideo, Uruguay
- “Best” over “Better.” Gifted vs. Special Needs Children.
- Impressions and Lessons from Argentina
- Cordoba, Argentina
- Comparing Modern Education to a Placebo
- Shrinking the “Stuff I Really Care About” Box
- Drinking Mate in Argentina
- Do Less. Do Better. Know Why.
- Iguazu Falls
- Intellectual Stimulation in Life and Romance
- Price Discrimination
- Quote of the Day
- Business in Argentina Gets Done in Cash…No, Really, Cash
- Buenos Aires
- Back Pain Made Simple: Just the Facts
- Systematically Cultivate Bonding in Orientation Sessions or Retreats
- Are Big Picture Thinkers Neglected by Our School System?
- Urban Nomadicism: The Sources of Unhappiness for Serial Travelers
- Swine Flu Mania in Argentina
- The First Discovery of Personal Agency
- The Keys to Life: Running and Reading
- Book Review and Essay: Create Your Own Economy and Internet Info Culture
June 2009
- Cater to Your Inner-Completionist
- Priestly Believed in Randomness and Side Projects
- Links from Around the Web
- Ignorance is a Precious Resource
- Four Personality Types and Romance
- Appealing to the Classiness Aspiration of Young Men and Women
- Best Reference Check Strategy Ever
- What I’ve Been Reading
- How To Be Interesting
- Keep Your Door Open at the Office
- I’m Scared to Death. But Supremely Confident.
- Think Different TV: Colin Marshall and Me
- Book Notes: Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters
- Teaching Entrepreneurship via Business Plans
- Upcoming Travel: Latin America and Asia
- A 30 Year-Old’s Colorful Advice to 20-Somethings
- An Appreciative Approach to People
- Store Thoughts in the Appropriate Place as Soon as You Have Them
- The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short
- Assorted Musings
- Understanding What Keeps a Person Up at Night
- The Wisdom of Colin Marshall
- Don’t Hold Back or Water Down Your Thoughts
May 2009
- Book Notes: Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writer’s Guide
- On Criticism
- What Did You Learn at the Meta-Level?
- Farmers Didn’t Invent Tractors. They Were Busy Farming.
- When to Trust Your Gut
- Lessons from the Tropicana Rebranding Disaster
- Does Travel Narrow the Mind?
- The Quarter Life Crisis
- Quote of the Day
- Compassion in the Form of Equation
- What I Learned at St. Gallen
- Underground World of Neuroenhancing Drugs
- Links from Around the Web
- Can “Generic” Critical Thinking Be Taught?
- Why Setting Goals Can Backfire
- Language Thoughts
- Impressions from Switzerland ’09
- There’s No Vocabulary for Love Within a Family
- “Emotional” Doesn’t Mean “Irrational”
- My Information Diet
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Enhancing Our Truth Orientation
- Book Notes: Due Considerations by John Updike
- We Think We Know the Ones We Love
April 2009
- What We Say Without Words
- I Believe in Overcommunication
- Symbolic Lip Service in the Form of Small, Ineffective Actions
- Book Review: To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife
- Procrastiflation: Procrastination + Inflation
- Role of Side Projects in Innovation
- The Capacity to Surprise
- When the Blinders Come Off…
- The Best Jokes are Hardest to Recall
- The Many Sides of Friendship
- Of the 30 Teams in the MLB, 12 of the Managers are Former Catchers
- Spiritual But Not Religious
- Assorted Musings
- What I Learned from 1.5 Weeks in Colombia
- Cartagena, Colombia
- The “Typical Mountain” Dish from Colombia
- Ex-FARC Musical Performance
- Every Group Needs an Outcast
- The -isms Are Running the Academy
- Quote of the Day
- Fashion Sense of the Job-Hunting Student
- Damn It Feels Good to Be a Lefty
- Why Are Women Always Complimenting Each Other on Their Looks?
- Stamps in Passports
- Travel Helps You Understand What You Don’t Like
- Book Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
- Universally Loved vs. Loved and Hated to a Greater Degree
- Random Thoughts from Colombia
- Bogota Day 2
- Bogotá Meetings Day 1
March 2009
- The Right Mix of Independence and Interdependence for Group Decision Making
- Email of the Day, Youth Sports Edition
- Native English Speakers Don’t Say “Clever” Much
- Horseback Riding in the Countryside
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Colombia: Uribe, Clinton, Barrett, Reid, and Others
- Length of Meals in Latin America
- Better to Start a B2B Company in a Recession
- In Defense of Downtime
- Colombia, Day 1
- Mexico City Traffic
- Most Natural “You” Emerges When Masks Collapse
- Infidelity and Trust: Boardroom vs. Basketball Court
- An Egg vs. Hard, High Wall
- Book Review: I Will Teach You To Be Rich
- Highbrow Personal Praise and Description
- Assorted Musings
- Being Behind by a Little Yields the Greatest Possible Effort
- In Defense of Those Peculiar and Freaky
- When Looking for Smart, Attractive Adult Women…
- Quotes of the Day
- Clinging to the Wreckage
- Focusing on the Fundamentals
- Oldies But Goodies From the Archives
- The Deadly Earnest Hunt for Identity
- Predicative Index Behavioral Assessment
- Love Is Something You Do
- Scalable vs. Non-Scalable Careers
- Inspirational Video of the Day
- Observations on Restaurants, Tips, and Bread Baskets
- Capacity of Spirit > Any Special Talents
February 2009
- Book Review: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
- Think Different TV: Marty Nemko and Me
- Book Notes: Ambition by Joseph Epstein
- “Someday I’ll Pursue Higher Things. First, I Make Money.”
- In-Person Conversation Skills
- Grand Unified Theory of Economics of Free
- The “Soundtrack of Your Life” Delusion
- A New Status Anxiety is Infecting Affluent Hipdom
- Rep. Peter Stark: An Exemplary Public Servant
- Three Things I’m Doing to Become Healthier and Smarter
- Four Types of Value a Product Offers to a Customer
- The Underrated, No-Stats All-Star
- Congressional Testimony as Literary Genre
- Steven Korman’s Open Letter to CEOs
- Intellectual Honesty Includes Things Like…
- Manifestos on Management and Happiness
- Sub-Conscious Synthesis of Experiences
- The Far Realms of Lust and Longing
- Random Assorted Musings
- Criticalness of Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Inspirational Figures, and Adam Gopnik on John Updike
- Eminem Has Put in His 10,000 Hours
- Honest, Vulnerable Career Self-Doubt
- The Entrepreneur’s Creed
- Favorite Sentences and Paragraphs from Infinite Jest
- Think Different TV: Josh Kaufman and Me
January 2009
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Quote of the Day: Wisdom Cannot Be Taught
- A State of Tolerable Vapidity Overlaid with Entertainment
- Larry King’s Son Wants to Be Black
- The Art of Self-Overhearing: Metacognition and Decision Making
- A Morning of Self-Consciousness…
- Probe Alternative Causal Explanations
- Bodyweight Exercises and Perfect Pushups
- How Friendships Evolve Over Time and the Quest for Platonic Intimacy
- Looking for a Summer Job? Reach Out to a Hero
- Evaluate Quality of Decision Based on Process Not Outcome
- Nuggets of the Day, Inauguration Special
- Have You Changed Your Mind Recently?
- Think Different TV: Ramit Sethi and Me
- Funniest Review Ever of “The Secret”
- Failing Forward: Dealing with and Learning from Failure
- Do You Have a Shit List?
- Quote of the Day
- 2008 Personal Executive Summary
- Think Different TV Episode 1: Cal Newport and Me
- Why Love is Intentionally Vague
- Cities and Restorative Effect of Nature
- Pursue a Side Project in 2009
- Emphasizing Disagreement of Degree Not Kind
- How to Have Savantlike People Skills: Ask A Question About the Other Person
- Best Books I Read in 2008
- Quotes from Jonathan Franzen
- Quote of the Day & Recent Tweets
- How to Evasively Answer Two Common VC Questions
- Sundown for California?
- Community by the Numbers: Thresholds and Personal Circles
2008 331
December 2008
- Presentation Theory: Against Highly Interesting Details
- Would You Trust Less a Biz Partner Who Cheats on His/Her Spouse?
- Assorted Wisdom from John Stuart Mill
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Beware of Comparatives (“Than”) Part Two
- To Be Totally Vulnerable With Someone
- The Myth of Urban Loneliness
- Michael Lewis and This American Life on Financial Meltdown
- Assorted Links and Musings
- Quote of the Day: The Little Daily Habits
- Start-up World = More Fun
- Hail Caitlin Flanagan
- Me on Happiness
- The Day Job vs. Side Passions Dilemma via Baron Davis
- Easier to Deny or Rationalize Behavior Than Evolve Your Own Identity
- How to Get the Other Person to Pay for a Meal
- Why So Many Struggle Finding a Job or a Calling
- Michael Lewis: Do You Want a Job or a Calling?
- To Be At Once Serious and Self-Mocking
- And Women Shall Inherit The Earth…
- Benjamin Kunkel on Colorado
- Help People Save Money/Time…Or Waste It
- Inaugural Video Blog Post
- You’ve Just Landed in Bangkok…
- Success and High Expectations for Happiness Can Feed Depression
- Rule of Thumb of the Day
- Best Paragraph I Read Today
- Are Your True Colors Revealed in Crisis?
- The “Everyman” Caricacture Continues
- Trust and the Failed State
- A Close Reading of Prose
- So You Want to Get on the Speaking Circuit…
November 2008
- You Just Have to Keep Breathing
- Where You Grow Up: Interestingness vs. Safety
- Evisceration Quarterly
- Regret Aversion
- Passive vs. Active Questions
- Splatch of Assorted Musings
- Thanksgiving Time: Thanks Dad and Mom
- In Praise of Feeling Utterly Confused
- Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”
- Main Side Effect of Some Drugs: Identity Confusion
- Presidential Security Nugget of the Day
- Conformity, Loyalty, and Group Identity
- Where Do People Meet Their Spouse?
- Quick and Dirty Guide to Starting Up
- Do People Change?
- Book Short: In Pharaoh’s Army
- When All Your Phone Numbers End in 1776…
- John Stuart Mill on Eccentricity, Elitism, and Sarah Palin
- Business People vs. Academics
- On Dining Alone
- Pledging Abstinence Is Only Cool If I’m Alone
- What Do You Do Day-to-Day?
October 2008
- Quote of the Day
- Accepting a High Failure Rate for Creativity
- Explain Your Opponent’s Perspective
- Tom Peters and Seth Godin On Stage
- Trusting Your Friends vs. “The Authority”
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Nurture Matters: Inter-Household Conflict Mail
- Hail Charlie Rose
- Prop 8 on California Ballot: Gay Marriage
- Is It Worth It To Preserve Dying Languages?
- Should You Start a Company in a Downturn?
- “I Support Obama Picking Sarah Palin”
- Links from Around the Web
- Movie Review: Religulous
- Make an Extraordinary Effort
- “Tell Me a Story About How Things Will Get Better”
- Can You Be Shy and Still Succeed in Business?
- D.C. Elites: Middle America Loves Palin’s Folksiness!
- Cal Newport and Ben: IM Conversation
- Don’t Vote! No, Seriously, Don’t Vote
September 2008
- Relative Perception Differences in Hotness and IQ
- Is It Better to Have No Ideas Than False Ones?
- Lead an Idiosyncratic Life and Envy of Others Goes Down
- Karl Rove and James Fallows Up-Close
- The Remarkably Prescient Jim Cramer
- Twitterings and Odds & Ends
- The Social Lubricant of Self-Awareness
- The Best Three Paragraphs I Read Today
- Networking: It’s Too Late to Get to Know a Fortune 500 CEO
- The Peter Thiel Worldview
- DFW Tributes and My Essay on His Kenyon Speech
- Remembering David Foster Wallace
- How Boulder Became a Start-Up Town
- Definition of the Day: A People Person
- Very Simple Writing Advice from James Wood
- Jon Chait on Naomi Klein
- A Weekend in the Smoky Mountains
- Links from Around the Web
- Memo to Americans: For Many in the World, Identity is Something You Die For
- Decision-Making Ability Matters More Than Experience
- Journeys Are the Midwives of Thought
- Quote of the Day: The Soldier
- Organizing the Rhetoric Around Why to Go to College
August 2008
- Should We Consider Preparation Time When Evaluating Someone’s Performance?
- Pixar on Creativity (Find Good People, Ideas Will Come)
- The Best Paragraph I Read Today
- Try More Stuff Than the Other Guy
- Visualizing the Book Review Before Writing Your Book
- Identity is That Which is Given
- What I’ve Been Reading
- “Of Course” and “Obviously” In Writing
- Disrespecting Credentialism
- Email Dialogue on Business Books, Self-Education, and Mental Models
- Advice is a Form of Nostalgia
- Consequences of Infinite Stimulation
- Tom and I Talk Co-Founders, Ideas, and Customer Feedback
- Book Notes: The Entrepreneur’s Manual (Best Book on Entrepreneurship I’ve Read)
- Fascinating Nuggets About Traffic
- China Bashers: Freedom is Not Bimodal
- The Sign of a Developed Country: Old, Crumbling Stuff
- Why to Engage More Than One “Expert”
- Time to Start Believing in Global Warming Again
- When Does “Diversity” Live Up to Its Hype?
- Links from Around the Web
July 2008
- To Find Good, Underrated People, De-Emphasize Popular Filters
- Don’t Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up
- Wisdom from John Steinbeck
- Creative Destruction in Newspapers
- De-Stress Tip: Playing Out the Worst Case Scenario
- The Best Phone Conversations Happen When Both Are in a Similar Physical Environment
- Let European / Asian Airlines Fly U.S. Domestic Routes
- Does Travel Make You Happier?
- How Many Times Have You Called?
- Can Making Money Be the Main Driver for Entrepreneurs?
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Are We More Self-Absorbed Nowadays?
- Follow Up: National Service, Earnestness, Acting
- Book Notes: The New Asian Hemisphere
- Definition of Entrepreneurial Judgment
- Taxi Hounds at Third World Airports
- Ziplining Through a Forest Canopy
- Pictures of Hike Thru Rincon de la Vieja
- La Fortuna – Arenal: The Lake
- Lost in Translation Moments
- School Goes on Vacation…
- Price of Tour Depends on Where You Buy It
- Arenal Day 2: White Water Rafting
- Links from Around the Web
- On Earnestness
- Annoying “Gotcha!” Conversation Stoppers
- Listening to Customers is Harder Than It Seems
- Attack on Every Pitch – AOEP
- Rincon de Vieja – Part 2 – The Hike
- Monster Hike in Costa Rica and Resilience
- Rincon de Vieja Nat’l Park – Part 1
- Best Paragraph I Read Today (on LA)
- The Global Tongue of the World: Panglish
- Japanese and Korean Editions of My Start-Up Life
- Why Costa Rican Weather (During Rainy Season) Feels like a War Zone
- Is “Just Get Started” Bad Advice?
June 2008
- Not Getting Boxed In as a Do-Gooder
- “Those Sound Like Surface-to-Air Missiles”
- Those Late Night Dorm Conversations!
- Moments Thus Far That Have Stuck w/ Me
- Rice and Beans
- Those Dove “Real Women” Ads Were Re-Touched
- The Art of the Job Offer
- Playa Samara Beach at Sunset
- Travel Doctors are a Scam
- Staying with a Family in Rural Costa Rica
- Arriving in Playa Samara
- Hong Kong Status Report ~10 Years Later
- When In Doubt, Start a Company in a Big and Growing Market
- If I Were You…The Giving and Receiving of Advice
- Do Speculators Create Social Wealth or Just Shift it Around?
- Passion in Action: Kevin Garnett’s Post-Game Interview
- If You Don’t Know Who the Sucker Is, It’s You
- Give Me Your Feedback – Take a Survey on This Blog
- Joseph Epstein on the Lavishing of Attention on Kids
- Can Japan Become More Entrepreneurial?
- George Packer on Andrew Sullivan on Obama
- Some Careers Are Better to Do Young
- The Forgotten Continent (and My Trip to Costa Rica)
- Are You Your Team’s Motherfucker?
- Nassim Taleb’s Top 10 Life Tips
- Understanding the Virtues of Meritocracy via Brazil
- Communication Lesson of the Day: Smile
- Three Observations About Western European Higher Ed
May 2008
- Impressions of Prague, Czech Republic
- The “McWalk” in Prague (and Haifa, Israel)
- Kafka Musuem
- From Prague Old Town
- You Aren’t Criticized for Things You Fail to Try
- The Components of Killer Instinct
- Our Collectivist Candidates
- Do Men Have to Wear a Jacket in Restaurants in Your City?
- In McDonald’s in Prague
- How to Find New Books to Read
- Thinking in Public Is Not Done
- Leadership: Nothing Has Changed
- St. Gallen Symposium 2008
- Supporting Mexican Cuisine Abroad
- Prague Tourist Items
- LA and NY on Each Other via James Frey
- People Making Out in Public
- You Know You’ve Entered an Italian Family’s Home When…
- A Good Summary of Soros’ Philosophy
- Why Most Business Books Suck
- Offer Three Options When Persuading
- Exercise: Push-ups, Pull-ups, Crunches
- Links from Around the Web
- Notes from Spring Speakers ’08
- Fundamental vs. Instrumental Reasons
- Quote of the Day
- Book Review: Smile When You’re Lying
- America and High Tech Entrepreneurship
- Unhelpful Predecessors and “Most Influential” Lists
- What I’ve Been Reading
- The Saddest Paragraph I Read Today
- Why China’s Infrastructure Projects Zoom
- What People Remember or Relate To: Other People
- People Who Make You Want to be Smarter
April 2008
- Getting to the Point of “I Can Do This!”
- The Surest Defense Against Evil
- CEO Pay Gap – Research Summary
- Peter Thiel’s Optimistic Thought Experiment
- Are You a Golden Juggler?
- What is the Meaning of Democracy?
- Jack Welch: Least Helpful Predecessor
- Should You Take Notes in a One-on-One Meeting?
- The Guilty Sense of Privilege
- Cuckoo for Switzerland
- Quote of the Day on the Media
- Assorted Links from Around the Web
- You Have to Make People Give a Shit
- Six Habits of Highly Effective Mentees
- My Day in Airline Hell Last Week
- Blow-by-Blow of Airline Hell
- Court Reporter Tackles Razor-Wielding Defendent
- Why Americans Aren’t That Good at Ping Pong
- Another Honest Blog Post About Failure
- Marketplace: Who’s Benefiting From National Service?
- Marty Nemko Enters the Blogosphere
- Book Review: Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
- When Your Friends Succeed, Are You Happy for Them?
- The Centenarian Strategy: Life / Career Issues When You Will Live to 100
March 2008
- Assorted Links
- Don’t Pick up the Soap
- Cocktail Party Factoid of the Day
- Paralegal Jobs: It Will Be Worth It, Right?
- Explaining Complex (Economic) Ideas in a Simple Way
- How to Get a Book Deal
- The Gritty Reality of the Publishing World
- Clarity Matters Above All Else
- Assorted Pet Peeves
- You Can’t Give Advice Until You’ve…
- Book Review: Lasso the Wind by Tim Egan
- How Short Stories Can Suck (Tips on Writing)
- Rule of Thumb of the Day
- What Should You Focus On In a Clutch Moment?
- Should You Have a Resume?
- TechStars 2008 – 15 Days Left
- The Definition of True Friends
- I May Be Wrong, But I’m Not Confused
- The Lyric Essay and the Effect of Art
- Quote of the Day from Tiger Woods
- Individual Happiness is Mediated by Personality
- To Learn Basic Economic Institutions or River Society Rulers?
- David Sedaris on Grieving and Business Class
- Jarvis on the Zuck Interview
- Questioning the Wisdom of Crowds
- With Humor, It’s All About Timing
- Being the Doer or the Analyzer
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Book Notes: American Creation by Joseph Ellis
- Explanation of the Day
- Charles Handy: The Curve of Life
- Convergence Will Be at the Data Level
February 2008
- Notes from Warren Buffett
- Finding the Unexpected: Creative Accidents
- Ten Laws for Being SaaS-y
- Quotes on The Meaning of Life
- Assessing What Matters in School: Intelligence and Beyond
- A Quote from War
- Every Saint Has a Past, Every Sinner Has a Future
- No Kidding: Childfree By Choice an Unpopular Sentiment
- Does Experience Have a Negative Correlation with Success?
- We Juggle Five Balls in the Air
- Travel: Go, Go, Go
- With Blame Comes Hope
- How to Know You’ve Truly Disconnected
- Movie Review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- It’s a Transparent Society, So Get Naked
- When Hiring Recent Grads, How Should You Factor Grades?
- Why Ultramarathons Are Easier than Marathons
- Victoria’s Secret Models vs. Football Cheerleaders
- Awesome Advice for Writers About Money
- When Trying to Improve an Idea Does More Harm
- Formal Book Review / Essay on Entrepreneurial Capitalism
- The Right to Offend and Be Offended, Higher Ed Edition
- Some of the Best Speaking Advice Ever
- In Praise of Insider Trading?
- The Politics of Fear and Environmentalism
- The Atlantic Opens Its Doors
- Performance Enhancing Drugs…For Your Mind
- You Are Freakishly Insightful
- Myth of Eureka Moments (Continued)
- Is the Tipping Point Theory False?
January 2008
- The Years Are Short
- Obviousness Hinders Your Persuasion Ability
- Tell ‘Em What You’re Gonna Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em…
- Optimize Activity for Location
- The Illusion of Knowledge
- Helping Students Find Their Way
- Book Short: Libertarianism: A Primer
- “Our Technology is Disruptive”
- Best Excerpts from the Best American Essays 2007
- Best Excerpts from the Best American Essays 2001
- Assorted Musings
- Tim Russert’s Obsession with Consistency
- Quotes of the Day
- Your Calendar Never Lies
- Little Things: Tone of Error Messages
- “How Happy Are You?” Is Unreliable
- Looking Back at 2007 Reading
- Countries of the Future – Latin America?
- Buckingham: Engage in the World in Imbalanced Fashion
- Surviving in the Amazon Jungle
- The Jungle Day 3 + 4
- The Amazon – Day 2 in the Jungle
- The Amazon – Entering the Jungle and Day 1
- The Amazon – Getting to the Jungle
- The “What I Am Going to Do With My Life?” Anxiety
- What I’ve Been Reading
- Soups and Juices
- Raising Money on Facebook With “Causes”
- The Humbling of Eliot Spitzer