Banker To The Poor by Muhammad Yunus

The other day I gave a lift to two kids who were walking to school. I was very saddened by the distance they had to cover walking to and from school. I could see that they were wearing worn out school clothes but they were not that much worried about that. Poverty strips you of…

Average is for Losers: How to Stand Out and Be Remarkable From the Ground Up

It’s the question that’s on the mind of every business-owner, CEO, and entrepreneur: how do we make our products and services stand out from the crowd? While this idea has always been relevant to some degree, never before has the fate of our success relied so heavily on distinguishing ourselves from the competition. What’s the…

Average is for Losers: The Spectator Problem…

Talk shows, from Noeleen, Oprah or shows such as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, have always been about spectating. Comedy, TV, graphic arts, business leadership, politics, they have been sold to us as spectator sports. Selling spectatorhood is pretty easy. It’s safe and fun and easy. You hit the remote. You pretend you have…

Reality is not a show

The media-pundit-advertiser industrial cycle has discovered that turning life into a sporting event (with winners and losers, villians and heroes and most of all, black and white issues) is profitable. By turning our life into a game and our issues into drama, the media-industrial complex profits. And the rest of us lose. Politics get this…

The shortcut that’s sure to work

  Bullet points, step by step processes that are guaranteed to work overnight, proven shortcuts... If it was easy, everyone would do it. Worth noting that doctors don't sign up for medical school because they are told that there is a simple, easy way to do open heart surgery. It's not that we are unable…

The decision before the decision

  This is the one that was made before you even showed up for the meeting. This is the one that sets the agenda, determines the goal and establishes the frame. The decision before the decision is the box. It makes you believe you have the freedom to think and successfully recommend ideas whiles it…

Which are you?

...competent, inspiring, passionate, obsessed, provocative, impatient, hungry, driven, adoring, inspired, an innovator, an artist, a genius, someone who cares...? With all these remarkable, powerful, important options available to each of us, why do so many of us default to competent?

With an open heart and an open mind

It might not be warranted, but you won't get far without it. Don't bother going to that meeting or reading that book unless you can momentarily assume the message comes from a place of goodwill and generosity. Skepticism does not help you hear. Once you decide to be skeptical, it becomes difficult to see things…