1: Ever said, “It’s just quicker if I do it myself?”

Probably.

Yesterday, we looked at the powerful results of “the ownership program” at the New York City restaurant Eleven Madison Park where junior team members were given ownership of different types of beverages, including coffee, cocktails, and tea.

“I’m not going to lie,” General Manager Will Guidara acknowledges in his book Unreasonable Hospitality, “it’s much easier to … continue reading

It was September 2022.  Eliud Kipchoge set a new all-time world record for the marathon in Berlin.

“What many people do not know about one of the fastest marathoners in history is his habit of keeping a detailed diary,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

“This diary is not just a log of his physical training,” Anne-Laure notes, “it also … continue reading

1: We stare at the screen.

“Slowly and painstakingly formulating half a sentence, reading it over, deeming it to be inadequate, deleting it, staring at the screen some more, then trying again,” Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals.

The writing coach Stephen Lloyd Webber once noted that it’s ironic that we call this activity “writing,” since much of our time is spent not writing, not deleting what we’ve … continue reading

1: As leaders, what’s more addictive than flying in as Superman or Superwoman to save the day?

“It feels downright intoxicating,” Dan Martell writes in his book Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire.

The only problem with regularly donning our capes?

Our teams become dependent on us to provide all the answers.

“It may feel good,” Dan observes, “but over time one … continue reading

“Many of the opportunities you have in your life are generated by the energy you create around you.” —Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica

1: It’s Tuesday.  Time to take on the day.

There is, however, a hidden enemy working against us.

“Every time we switch tasks,” Dan Martell writes in his book Buy Back Your Time, our “brains have to switch focus.”

The technical term for this is “context … continue reading

1: “The world is watching,”  Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals.

The late Matthew Perry is playing a producer in the television drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He’s been hired to “rescue and relaunch a national weekly comedy show, based transparently on Saturday Night Live,” Oliver notes.

The stakes are high.

“Throughout the episode, anxiety builds visibly while a huge digital clock on the … continue reading

1: Startup success is often associated with young entrepreneurs.

The data says otherwise: “The odds of a founder in their fifties reaching a successful exit are almost double those of a founder in their thirties,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

“Similar patterns apply to creative breakthroughs in science,” she notes.  “The peak productivity of a scientist occurs around the … continue reading

1: New Year’s resolutions don’t work.

“A survey of over 31 million activities by the team at Strava found that most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by January 12,”  Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in her book Tiny Experiments, “which they called Quitter’s Day.”

So, why do New Year’s resolutions fail?

Because we “overcommit to a bunch of lofty aspirations,” Anne-Laure explains.  “The human mind has a love/hate relationship with … continue reading

1: Alexander Kallaway was just another high school student growing up in Russia.

“He had a quiet life, but the world called to him,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in her book Tiny Experiments.

“What new cultures and customs might he discover if he left this familiar environment?” he wondered. “What skills could he gain by learning from different perspectives?”

So, he figured out how to attend a Japanese university. … continue reading

“The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.” -John Maynard Keynes

1: If self-renewal is our goal, the biggest challenge isn’t a lack of time or money.  It’s figuring out where to begin,  Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments.

We may ask: “Should I … continue reading