Organizations & Culture
Vacation is a poor substitute for leisure: Rethinking the role of rest in the modern world
More than two thousand years ago, the Roman stoic philosopher Seneca wrote a letter to his friend Paulinus, urging against a certain type of rest: I do not summon you to slothful or idle inaction, or to drown all your native energy in slumbers and the pleasures that are dear to the crowd. That is ... Read more
Experiments In The Gift Economy
In early 2018 I stumbled upon the idea of the “gift economy” and decided to experiment with embracing it in my work. From an economic lens where making more money is the goal, it was a poor decision. However, from a learning standpoint, it has been a gift in itself. My MBA education and experience ... Read more
November 2018 Self-Employed Financial Statement
Here is my self-employed life financial statement for October 2018: Income: $372 I spent most of the month working on launching the Strategy Toolkit, which was an absolute delight. I ended up making two sales ($198) and also made some “internet money” from Amazon affiliate links via my Quartz article (accidentally left the link in ... Read more
October 2018 Self-Employed Financial Statement
Here is my self-employed life financial statement for October 2018: Income: $960 Consulting Fees: $150 Gifts: $20 Coaching Gifts: $600 Teaching: $0 Patreon: $31 Courses: $0 Digital Products: $160 Affiliate/Medium Writing: $5 Personal Cost Of Living: $1,511 Room & Board: $433 Food, Shopping, Misc.: $679 Health Insurance: $99 Travel & Transport: $300 Business Expenses: $99 ... Read more
Three Sacred Beliefs Undermining Universal Basic Income
When one first encounters universal basic income, it is a radical idea. When you read a bit more about it, however, you come to realize that our current system may be the radical one. There are a number of sacred beliefs that support our current system. In order to embrace an idea such as universal ... Read more
The Tom Brady Principle: Don’t Promote Your Best People
Imagine after Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl in 2001, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft sat Brady down and told him, “Tom, you had a fantastic season. We want to see you keep growing with the organization. We are going to promote you to General Manager.” In sports, we would quickly question Kraft’s ... Read more
Five Lessons From Grant Achatz on Unleashing Creative Potential
My mind was blown as I watched the Alinea episode of Chef’s Table featuring Chef Grant Achatz. I am not sure I have seen a better story for understanding how we can unleash our creativity while carving our own path. Here are five big ideas I took away from the episode: #1 People rarely set ... Read more
How many freelance consultants are using talent platforms?
The “gig economy” is one of the hottest terms in the business world right now. As someone who is a living, breathing consultant who has done work via multiple talent platforms the coverage is a bit mystifying. Companies who have thousands of full-time workers are writing about the great benefits of the gig economy while ... Read more
35+ Books Recommendations To Help You Quit Your Job
While I was entertained in my Intro to Philosophy class in college, I was not fully “awake” to ponder the questions I pretended to understand in my essays. In college and in grad school I studied Engineering and Business, which is to say that most of my mental energy was focused on the optimization type ... Read more
The list of reasons we are scared to quit our jobs
There are many forces us keeping us in a state of misery that are challenging to unpack. Here are some ideas from people I’ve worked with: Identity: We define ourselves as workers, as someone that “doesn’t quit,” as someone that works hard Relationships: We are scared that people will not accept us if we step ... Read more