When it comes to the way we earn a living, whether entrepreneurs or employees, we tend to get stuck in the unfortunate middle... We are taught, from a young age, to exist in the middle. Everything in moderation. Don't be a tall poppy, nor a shrinking violet. Good enough is good enough. The middle way,...

Entrepreneurship, starting anything from nothing, is brutally hard. “Conscious” entrepreneurship--building a business that doesn’t just serve a consumer need and generate profit, but also makes a bigger difference--is even harder. Because it’s not just about money, it’s about unleashing expression, connection and potential, and making meaning. Helping others rise. I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs...

A few summers back, we flew out to San Diego and spent a month driving slowly up the coast to Marin County. Just me, the wife and the kid. I hadn't spent a lot of time in southern California, especially along the coast. So I'd never heard of or experienced the phenomenon known as the...

Most people look at entrepreneurship as a project. You start with an idea, then turn it into something real, build a business around it. And all is well with the world. But that's the wrong approach. Because entrepreneurship, in the wild, doesn't work that way. What really happens is you get an idea, it may...

Step into life. Engage on a level that strips illusion. See so clearly the possibility beyond the haze. Breath it in. Live it out. Long enough for its essence to bind your DNA. It becomes you. A vein opens. Then you transmit. Pure. Unadulterated. Jazz. You cannot create change in others. Until you embody the...

My usual writing spot is a 10-minute drive. But on Sunday, I walked. An hour each way. No cell-phone. Nothing. Just me, my backpack and a path that wound across a bridge from Da Bronx to Manhattan, through the woods, along a river and through a park. Walking instead of driving, I lost nearly two...

So, here's the interesting thing about the early days of any visionary journey, there's a whole lot of thrashing that goes on. It needs to go on. But most visionaries don't talk about that "dark" time. Because it's not sexy. It doesn't feel good or look good to others. Nor do the great creators tend...

I spent 90-minutes yesterday interviewing Bob Taylor, the legendary founder of Taylor Guitars, at his San Diego compound. What an amazing person, company and and experience. But that's for a future post. This is about something Bob shared with me after I stopped recording and asked a personal question. Since selling my last business and...

Great work, brilliant ideas, extraordinary art requires space. Time away. Room to process, synthesize, allow connections between seemingly disparate parts to effervesce out of the ether of the mind. Genius is the offspring of the in-between. But, increasingly, technology is removing the in-between. We don't just walk in contemplation, we walk, talk and type. We don't just...

Motivation to do anything comes in two forms: push or pull. Push... Push is generally about the avoidance of pain. It's the "away from" side of the motivational spectrum." You're actively pushing yourself away from either a source of current pain or the perception of an anticipated pain. So, if you're overweight and feeling bad...

The ring is my wedding band. Simple sterling silver with four words etched around the outside in the oldest known language, Sanskrit. What are the words? The four immeasurables from Buddhism—Loving-kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy and Equanimity. I think about them a lot, each serves as a constant reminder of how I strive to live in...

1. Failure to evolve. Markets change over time. People’s needs change over time. One of the biggest problems that I see with entrepreneurs and small businesses is that they start the business based on a single solution, or set of solutions, products or services, that satisfy one particular need or pain point in a market,...