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: 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

“As we mature we progressively narrow the scope and variety of our lives. Of all the interests we might pursue, we settle on a few. Of all the people with whom we might associate, we select a small number. We become caught in a web of fixed relationships. We develop set ways of doing things.” –John W. Gardner

1: Imagine we are going to visit our doctor.

We already … continue reading

1: Our brains are uncomfortable with the in-betweens.

“Imagine, for a moment, that we are traveling alone on a long-leg airline flight with no onboard Wi-Fi,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

“There we are at 30,000 feet, suspended in the sky, transitioning from one place to another, neither here nor there,” she writes. “The places and people who normally … continue reading

1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. 

At the end of the weeks to follow, we will begin an exploration of author Oliver Burkeman‘s Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.

Perfectionism is something we all know something about. 

Perhaps we are … continue reading

Yesterday, we looked at how  Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Tom Clancy, and Andy Warhol spent their time.

How can we apply the lessons from this diverse group of incredibly successful people?  Dan Martell asks in his book  Buy Back Your Time.

We begin by creating a 2×2 matrix where we analyze how valuable each task we are doing in terms of (1) money and (2) … continue reading

1: “Crafting effective prompts is like writing a recipe,”  Geoff Woods writes in The AI-Driven Leader.

“The ingredients we include and the way we combine them directly impact the taste of the dish,” Geoff notes. “With training and lots of practice, I identified several key ingredients that consistently lead to high-quality results with AI.”

Ingredient one: “Describe the Task,” he writes. “Just like when delegating to our team, … continue reading

1: Back in 2014, business was booming at Google and Apple.

Not so much at Microsoft. The one-time tech leader was stumbling.  

“As the world shifted to mobile and cloud computing,”  Geoff Woods writes in The AI-Driven Leader, “Microsoft was falling behind, gasping for breath. It was out of touch and slow to adapt.”

In February of that year, Satya Nadella became just the third CEO in … continue reading

1: “Some Scandinavian canoeists succeeded in getting through all the rapids of Scandinavia.”

Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, was delivering a commencement address to the 2007 USC School of Law graduates.

“They thought they would continue their success by tackling the big whirlpools in northwest America,” he continued.

Things didn’t work out so well. “The death rate was … continue reading