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The concept of “craftsmanship” or being a craftsman (or an “artist”) has been a strong recurring theme for me this year. Godin talks about it in Linchpin. Pressfield talks about being a “professional” or “artist”. Graeme pointed me to an article from Robin Sharma (“60 Tips for a Stunningly Great Life”) where number 3 is [...]

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In case you haven’t noticed – in the last 30-50 years – the world has moved on. This has been made very clear in the last 3 years or so where the U.S. has gone through the worst financial crisis since the depression. The way we work has changed. You can’t be a cog in [...]

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I just finished reading The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. I got here from Godin’s Linchpin but I’ve read some of Pressfield’s other work. He writes historical fiction. Don’t be confused by the subtitle. It’s not a book to help you be more creative. [...]

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Over the last week, our intern and our receptionist left to go back to school. MBA and undergrad respectively. Neither school was teaching either of these smart, high upside, people the skills that they need to be developing and nurturing TODAY. To me, those skills are: Networking. Personal Marketing. Skill Evolution and Development. Networking – Its [...]

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We’re coming up on the sixth year anniversary of writing this blog. It has come in a few different looks. I started it as “Diligentia” which is just laughable now. I really can’t remember why i thought that was a good idea. BUT – I did start off with a tagline of “a blog about [...]

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I finished Seth Godin’s Linchpin a couple of weeks ago. I loved it. It is a very compelling read. It certainly makes you think. It is provoking. It is meant as a challenge. Artists think along the edges of the box, because that’s where things get done. Godin disputes thinking “outside the box” – and [...]

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I am reading Seth Godin’s new book: Linchpin. I love it. He is posting some snippets on his site. I like this one a lot: Jacqueline Novogratz on how to recognize a linchpin from Seth Godin on Vimeo.

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John Porcaro directed my attention to a Time magazine posting about the future of work. “The Last Days of Cubicle Life” paints a compelling picture of our work future. Like John, I like this quote: Most of the best jobs will be for people who manage customers, who organize fans, who do digital community management. [...]

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Seth has a great take on making the ask. He’s right. So go read it. …invest some time and earn the right to ask. Do your homework. Build connections. Make a reasonable request, something easy and mutually beneficial. Yes leads to yes which just maybe leads to the engagement you were actually seeking. It is [...]

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I recently started getting involved with a non-profit. It offers a program for 6th-12th graders on creating, funding and launching a business.(It is amazingly cool. I am helping them with some operational elements as they prep to expand from 4 schools to 17!) Seth has a compelling post about business models. Seth lays out his concept [...]

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