1: It was the first day of Harvard Law School’s Winter Negotiation course.  

It was “the Olympic trials for negotiating,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. “The best and brightest compete to get into this class, and it is filled with brilliant Harvard students getting law and business degrees and hotshot students from other top Boston universities like MIT … continue reading

1: “We’ve got your son, Voss. Give us one million dollars or he dies,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.

Chris was the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator.

He paused and tried to catch his breath.

“I was intimidated,” he recalls. “I’d been in these types of situations before. Tons of them. Money for lives. But not like this. … continue reading

1: Theodore Roosevelt spent almost every day of his childhood fighting severe asthma.

“Despite his privileged birth, his life hung in a precarious balance—the attacks were an almost nightly near-death experience,” writes Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. “Tall, gangly, and frail, the slightest exertion would upset the entire balance and leave him bedridden for weeks.”

When he was twelve, … continue reading

“Oh my,” Barry thought. “Peter, who has the power to block some of my initiatives, hates my guts.”

This flash of insight hit Barry while sitting in a leadership team meeting. Every time Barry spoke, Peter looked away. “As if the sound of Barry’s voice was causing him pain,” writes Marshall Goldsmith in What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.  

And, when Peter spoke, he would make eye … continue reading

“In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases.” -Seneca

1: “Because he has become more myth than man, most people are unaware that Abraham Lincoln battled crippling depression his entire life,” writes Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art … continue reading

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”  -Marcus Aurelius

1: The year was 1966.  Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a contender for the middleweight boxing title.  

Then, he experienced a bewildering fall.  At the height of his career, he was “wrongly accused of a horrific crime he did not commit: triple homicide. He went on trial, and a biased, bogus verdict followed: three life … continue reading

1: Don’t just stand there.  Do something.

Really?  Not always, Ryan Holiday writes in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.

Certain situations call for a different approach.

As in: Don’t just do something.  Stand there.

“Sometimes, staying put, going sideways, or moving backward is actually the best way to eliminate what blocks or impedes our path,” Ryan writes.

Yesterday, we looked … continue reading

1: George Washington, father of our country.  “Brave and bold general, towering over everything he surveyed, repelling the occupied and tyrannical British.”  

This image is the one most Americans hold of our First President, writes Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.

The reality is a bit less glorious but much more interesting.  

George “wasn’t a guerrilla, but he … continue reading

1: Yesterday, we looked at why we must tell a positive story with a happy ending to spark change.

But what if things are difficult right now? What if times are tough?

“Sometimes people tell me that there are no happy endings in their organization,” writes Stephen Denning in The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling. “Everything is terrible. It’s as if they work for the Doom Channel.”

So be … continue reading

1: As leaders, one of our most important responsibilities is communicating new, sometimes complex ideas and inspiring action to implement change.

What’s the best tool we have to accomplish this critical objective? We tell a “springboard story,” writes author Stephen Denning in The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative.   

In past RiseWithDrew posts, we’ve looked at key elements of this specific type of … continue reading