Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
I was struck today by the juxtaposition of two different stories on two different, extremely successful people. On Sunday, Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon passed away at the age of 59. Simon had been told that he had only months to live back in 2012, but he defied those odds, and lived long enough to give … Continue reading Life, Death, and Living
Provocative assertion of the day: People don’t really believe in equality of opportunity. In order for there to be true equality of opportunity, every child has to have the same opportunities to succeed. Yet what parent among us has ever resisted the urge to give our child an advantage? Move to a better neighborhood for … Continue reading People Don’t Really Believe in Equality of Opportunity
I finally got around to trying out the Dataclysm “Relationship Test”. The theory is that your spouse or partner should be one of your closest connections (more on this later). What’s interesting to me is how my Facebook network reflects the key networks in my life. The biggest cluster of connections is what I call … Continue reading The Dataclysm (Facebook) Relationship Test
I was delighted when my friend Ben Casnocha published his essay about what he learned from working with Reid Hoffman. Ben described the subject of his essay as “10,000 hours with Reid Hoffman,” but its roots go back even further. Ben had long been interested in learning from the massively successful; one of the book … Continue reading Ben Casnocha and Reid Hoffman
Even if we’ve moved on from the “Great Man Theory” of history, the very human desire for simple stories with clear protagonists continues to affect us today. I was reminded of this fact by a Fast Company story on how Jeff Bezos and Amazon designed and launched the (at this point) unsuccessful Amazon Fire Phone. … Continue reading Trust In Process, Not People
One of the big dangers that entrepreneurs (and everyone else) face in Silicon Valley is the temptation to conflate money and self-worth. I was reminded of this by an entrepreneur that I’m coaching, who has been dealing with the whipsaw effect of fluctuating net worth and income. Making money and/or getting a big payday through … Continue reading The Dangerous Conflation of Money and Self-Worth
Dear readers, I’d like to ask for your help. This year, I realized a lifelong dream when Harvard Business Review Press published The Alliance: Managing Talent in a Networked Age, the book I co-authored with my friends Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. The book became a New York Times bestseller (on the advice list, but … Continue reading Spreading the ideas of “The Alliance” with Allied Talent
Fast Company put out a fantastic package of stories covering the role of race in Silicon Valley. The centerpiece is a deservedly glowing profile of Tristan Walker, but my favorite was an interview with a group of African American startup folks titled “An Honest Discussion of Race in Silicon Valley.” One thing that I failed … Continue reading Risk and Race: A Modest Proposal To Encourage Investing In Minority Entrepreneurs
As a happily married man, I can confirm what the latest research indicates: The secret to a happy marriage is kindness and generosity. When I was a kid, I was mystified by altruism; I couldn’t understand why my parents would always let me have the best share. At the time, I just figured that they … Continue reading What Entrepreneurs and Leaders Can Learn From Happy Marriages
Once upon a time, swagger was considered a negative. Think of the phrase, “swaggering bully.” Now, however, swagger has become a quality that many view as a major positive, and try to adopt for themselves. Swagger-philia has proliferated across numerous industries and fields. No longer just the province of entertainers and professional athletes, now even … Continue reading Ditch The Swagger