recommendations
In recent weeks, I’ve read and watched tales of two very different entrepreneurs who both led their companies to calamity. They marketed a product or event well before it was ready in order to gain publicity and investors. In both instances, a contractor (among many others) hired to do marketing eventually challenged the CEOs to prove they could do as advertised or pull back on claims. This is perhaps one of the prickly parts of being...
The Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, and all things pumpkin have transitioned to everything peppermint. Perfect time to feast on a film, a feature and a podcast to both incite and inspire us during the next round of holidays. [watch] The price of monitoring online content. The PBS series Independent Lens recently aired an excellent documentary on offshore content moderators paid to screen and often block controversial pictures and videos. The filmmakers juxtapose young Filipinos hired to...
September 2018
Recommended: The Ingredients to a Great Cake Career
We all want to be better in our chosen careers, right? One of the places where I frequently find motivation and inspiration is in a handful of competitive television shows that bring out the creative in me. And one that I’m currently binging on is the start of this month’s recommendations. [watch] The Great British Baking Show. Season 5 is now on Netflix, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been a fan of this competitive...
I still recall that long weekend in San Francisco when the parking gods smiled down on me. With one exception, great, free, relatively spacious spots (for easier parallel parking) materialized right when I needed them. An empty parking space appeared in front of our Noe Valley AirBnB on an 8% graded hill; then upon visiting Golden Gate Park on a busy weekend; and later, across from my daughter’s apartment in the crowded Richmond District. Even...
July 2018
Sage Advice in (Almost) Five Songs
July Recommendations for What to Listen to Need a calming distraction from daily annoyances? Science reveals that listening to music can benefit our physical and mental health. Beyond the fact that structures within music can help to communicate happiness or sadness, a tune’s lyrics can further influence a listener’s emotional state … and offer some really good advice about life and business. Here are my picks for lyrics that encourage a different future action. #1 ...
July 2018
How to Pitch Like a True Influencer
Last month, The Atlantic published an article on luxury resorts struggling with requests for free stays from so-called Instagram influencers. Such exchanges are nothing new; in fact, the FTC mandates that bloggers and other social media users disclose if a product or service is given gratis in exchange for a review or mention. Typically this disclosure comes at the onset or closing of a post with a line letting the reader know this post is...
June 2018
The Sound of Music
Many, many years ago I befriended a disc jockey and requested a song on his popular radio station. It was October and the disc jockey’s response when rejecting my request: “That’s a summer song.” This was in the days of vinyl, when FM radio ruled. Now the music industry is highly fragmented and increasingly dependent on internet streaming services. But still the concept of the “summer song” endures. There’s that one piece that earworms its...
April 2018
Give It A Rest
Here’s three simple ways you can balance out the demands of your day—on and off the job. READ A 15-minute break each day may alter how your genes operate In an attempt to convince skeptics of the power of meditation to promote health and reverse disease, a new study by Harvard scientists reveals that people who meditated over an eight-week period had a striking change in the expression of 172 genes that regulate inflammation, circadian rhythms...
I spent part of this winter in central Oregon, where it snowed often and ice frequently accumulated on the roads. One early March morning I confidently headed out for groceries in a Nissan Pathfinder and very briefly lost control of the vehicle. I’d misjudged the Pathfinder’s four-wheel drive, my own competence and the road’s slick surface. So, with that event still fresh in my mind, I’ll open this month’s recommendations for what to read, watch...
March 2018
‘Bad’ News Really Does Travel Fast
I’m currently working in the Pacific Northwest due to a death in the family. I haven’t had as much time as usual to consume media, especially articles, podcasts and broadcasts that help fortify my career. That said, here are a few items I’d recommend this month. [read] Fake news really does travel fast. This article from the journal Science hit last week and continues to spread around the world – much like the questionable content...