February 2013
1 post
January 2013
3 posts
21 tags
Right to Play
Most people know I am obsessed with two things Semester at Sea and One World Futbol. You might remember them from my post Monkey Business. I just did a guest blog post on their site about our journey on Semester at Sea with this indestructible soccer balls and the impact it made when we took them into one of my home stays in South Africa.
You can read the post HERE
Let me know what you...
10 tags
Pay Attention
I get asked a lot by friends and colleagues - how to “get” certain opportunities, build certain relationships, or be in proximity with people that the admire. For the longest time, I didn’t really have an answer. Usually, I would say something like - work hard, do well, and it will come.
The real answer is - pay attention. Sounds simple, but it is really a bit more complicated than...
December 2012
9 posts
13 tags
Fundamentals Beat Fancy Tools
If you know how to swim, you don’t need to build a boat. My reflections on 2012 and what is in store for 2013.
Read More
20 tags
Ripple
In light of Sandy Hook I am reminded of an evening I spent with the family of Steve Curnow, a victim in the Columbine Tragedy. Please join me in my support for @20Children in an effort to give all children positive choices.
You can read my latest @Medium post about Steve Curnow: HERE
1 tag
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Dear the Five NYC Taxi Drivers who Refused My Fare...
My new @Medium post about @Uber - Dear the Five NYC Taxi Drivers who Refused My Fare While I was Standing in the Rain,
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Concretize, don't Compromise
When building your startup, concretize, don’t compromise. My new post is up via Medium: Concretize, don’t Compromise, check it out and let me know what you think.
16 tags
Flirt Your Way to a Box of Cookies
I am not sure if this is something I should be proud of or embarrassed about, but I guess I am going to tell you anyways. I can have entire conversations with some of my friends in Friends quotes. I guess I just grew up at the right time in history. But one thing is for sure Ross was really bad at relationships and flirting because he was afraid of who he was, constantly changing...
14 tags
Popular v. Valuable
Do what is valuable to you not what is popular for you.
I have again posted on Medium. This time a little unsolicited advice to recent graduates that applies to us all. Wear your cape in public, not in the dark of the night. Click HERE to read more.
19 tags
Arrested Development
I am still really loving Medium and thus wrote another post on startup life, rules, reality and defining your own beliefs. I call it Arrested Development and if you read closely I might tell you about the first time I was arrested and how it shaped my view of entrepreneurship. READ IT HERE
11 tags
Remember Your Training
I recently got early access to Medium a new publishing platform founded by Ev Williams and Biz Stone, best known for co-founding Twitter. I love the concept and how it organizes information, super intuitive and easy to use. HERE is my first post on the new publishing platform about a recent brush with death.
October 2012
2 posts
24 tags
Circa, 2012: The Future of News
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” This was the battle cry of newsboys on the street corner telling the passerby about the afternoon, evening editions or “extra” to the local paper. People woul pounce at the developing story, a new story, or the latest gossip was printed in black and white for all to see. People would rush the newsboy if their battle cries carried the weight of...
22 tags
Work Horses v. Show Ponies
As a child who grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s I remember all the classic toys. My favorites were obviously the Ninja Turtles – I even had a Ninja Turtles themed 5th Birthday Party – it was so awesome that Santa came to the party to give gifts to all my friends and I. Oh my Birthday is the day after Christmas and my Mom is a friend of Santa so I always had the best party...
September 2012
1 post
22 tags
Say Less and Do More
Last week I had an afternoon lunch with my friend Nikhil, which turned into a four-hour conversation that involved the waiter leaving his shift before we left the restaurant. Nikhil is easily one of the smartest people I know and gave up a future of operating on people to operate businesses. He is a colleague at Tuition Specialists and Co-Founder of the Unreasonable Institute, with a...
August 2012
5 posts
12 tags
You Can Either Clear the Field, or Run Down the...
I have been head down the past two weeks. Back to reading, back to designing, back to social mapping, back to advising and consulting - and enjoying it all. I tend to focus my support for companies and people on identifying opportunities rather than barriers. Partly because experience has taught me that you cant embrace opportunity and defeat at the same time, as much as you may want...
10 tags
How Tender Greens Made me a Promoter in 5 Minutes
A couple months ago I came to Santa Monica, CA to visit @BenWhitehair and @AustinBis. We went to lunch at @TenderGreens because is said their salad was going to change my life. Just to be clear I am not a vegetarian, salad is usually an afterthought. Anyways, we went and the food was amazing – p.s. their mashed potatoes are like nothing I have ever had.
This weekend I came to...
11 tags
An Open Letter to @BizJournals
Dear @BizJournals,
Can we speak candidly? Great! The fact that we can speak candidly means we are friends, though you may not like me after this.
Here’s the thing, you are running #SocialMadness – a month long campaign that does exactly what consumers hate.
“Like Me!” “Friend Me!” “Follow Me!”
Hey, you just followed me. And this is crazy. But we wanna win #socialmadness. So vote for...
13 tags
Cat's Meow: Jungle and Jingle Kings
For the past couple weeks I have been talking with a few different companies and individuals about identifying opportunities. All too often, we look at what we can do based on what we have seen being done, what we see our peers do, and what we are told or shown is possible. Because we are trained to see with this lens, we miss opportunities. Important ones. From a very...
15 tags
Sweat Equity and the Olympics: Reputation >...
I usually go to sleep between 4 AM and 6 AM each morning and wake up around 10 AM. All those news and corporate emails that we all read every morning, I see as they ping my inbox. Over the past two weeks I have unsubscribed from a lot of them. But, apparently @Zazzle has not unsubscribed from me. I ordered business cards a while back and was auto signed up for their...
July 2012
9 posts
18 tags
The Bieber Rule
In college, about the time that Tuesdays with Morrie came out, Megan and I set a standing meeting to have breakfast at every opportunity. We called it Breakfast with Canon – her last name is Canon. We bonded over campus politics, love of pancakes, and embracing the fun and laughter in every moment. Last fall, Megan responded to a craigslist ad seeking a new roommate to join a group of young...
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Proximity of Values and People
When I graduated from college, I was in a weird place. I accomplished everything I had set out to in college and some things I didn’t expect to. I also learned lessons that can only come from stepping onto a big stage and taking big falls. I stepped into the world with the optimism that came with a feeling of a job well done. I was now taking on the world with a mixed bag of...
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Beyond the Legend: National Tequila Day
I spend a considerable amount of time listening to and telling stories. In this process, I sometimes confirm the truth, and sometimes I discover the truth. But, I really love finding the story behind the story – what really happened, who really invented the Internet, and is Hitch real. For the record it’s Tim Bernes Lee and yes the movie was based on a real man. Sometimes we get so...
16 tags
Socialcam: The Biggest Little Acquisition
I like to lunch. I do it a lot, mostly, because I love to eat. #Foodie. Today, I was lunching with my friend Trent. Trent and I talk daily about everything from how much better 90’s video games were to what companies are doing wrong or right and how they could improve for the sake of their users. He is easily my first point of contact when talking about mobile apps. Today our...
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Call Me Maybe: How Not to Close a Sale
About a month ago when I was out to lunch with Jack and Obi in Boulder. I was approached by a woman who told me she was a personal stylist rep from J. Hilburn Here was her opening line:
“Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I noticed you when you walked in. You dress really well and obviously have an appreciation for style. I am a personal stylist with J. Hilburn, we make custom...
12 tags
Relationships > Transactions
On my first Semester at Sea Voyage in 2009, I sailed around the Mediterranean visiting ten countries along the way. Every student on the ship had to take what was dubbed as Global Studies, an interdisciplinary course that allows you to learn in context about the countries and cultures you engage with on your journey. To be honest, I don’t remember much from the course, except for two...
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What I Learned from the Real-life Dating Doctor
My senior year in high school I made a dating video. Yes an actual video, none of this digital stuff. To answer those questions you are thinking right now: No, I wasn’t sitting in front of the camera for some dating service, and no, I didn’t get any dates out of it. I played an elusive “Dr. Love” advising my friend Derek on how to win the hearts of our high school ladies for that Friday night...
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Amazon Blackberry: Why We Need Amazon to Buy RIM
The secret is out, it has been out for a while – Research In Motion is plummeting, and fast. As I see it, they have two choices:
1. Stay and Sink
2. Salvage
There is no question that history will remember BlackBerry as the pioneer in mobile and enterprise email. But, RIM doesn’t need to be remembered, they want to be revived. They have needed reviving for years. RIM can no longer survive on...
June 2012
5 posts
17 tags
Monkey Business
Every other week I have lunch with my friend Jack. Jack and I both attended the University of Colorado – I on the Boulder Campus and Jack on the Denver Campus. We met during my last year at CU as we were both transitioning student leadership positions on our respective campuses and had a chance to work together for a year advancing student issues that we shared a vision for. We developed a...
8 tags
Refresh
My biggest fear as a third grader was going to fourth grade. Do you want to know why? That meant I would have Mrs. Mueller (Hi Mrs. Mueller! Don’t worry this wont be bad, I promise). Mrs. Mueller was not scary at all, but she had high expectationss. The only one I remember: CURSIVE! Who still uses cursive? Not me, I know that for sure - that’s a lie, I sign my name in cursive, but that...
7 tags
Congruent Authority
About six months ago the Denver Broncos were facing the New England Patriots in the playoffs. Now, the 2011-12 season was ripe with emotion and varying degrees of expectation, much of which can be attributed to the rise of Tim Tebow’s leadership on and off the field. There were a lot of people going back and forth talking about “fit” and whether or not Tebow’s playing style would fit the demands...
7 tags
Introduce, Yourself
For those of you who are reading this article expecting to learn something about how to make a great first impression when you meet someone, or how to introduce yourself in front of people, in a new group, school, or at work – stop reading.
It’s not about you.
I want you to think about a time when someone told your story in front of you – better than you could tell it yourself. How did it make...
3 tags
Sarnath, India
