Marketplace
Disneyland disaster! (or, why you should be trying to fail)
Failure is good. If you are not failing you are not trying. You are being too safe. You are too afraid of criticism. All those famous entrepreneurs we talk about (Jobs, Musk, Branson) all failed in huge ways throughout their lives. Let me give you an example in the spirit of July. Disneyland. It opened…
Read MoreListen to the Critics. Ignore the Critics.
Listen to the critics. Ignore the critics. Both are essential to being effective. I think there are people who live in delusion about their skills, gifts, callings etc., People sink too much money and time into business’ and ideas that go no where and even sacrifice their families for unwise directions in life based on…
Read MoreWorse with time?
It is counter intuitive to say this because we often talk about the fact that people get better at things the more they do it. Experience. Repetition. The 10,000 hour rule. Learning from mistakes, etc., But sometimes people actually get worse at what they do with time. In the world of film for instance, everyone…
Read MoreWhy sometimes you should give up
Did you know that C.S. Lewis only wanted to be known for one thing in life? His teaching at Oxford, and his work in Medieval literature and mythology was just his way to succeed at his real goal: to be known as a famous poet. Here is the thing. No one reads Lewis’ poetry today,…
Read MoreWhy paranoia is good.
In Walter Isaacson’s biography on Steve Jobs, he cites Steve’s father, who says that Jobs as a young man growing up and working on furniture, etc., was always crafting the backs of cabinets even though they were hidden. “He loved doing things right. He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see.”…
Read MoreThe advantage of disadvantage
Yesterday I was sitting sprawled out under a tree, watching my youngest daughter run around playing at the park. I was reading a biography on the great 18th Century evangelist George Whitefield. He was 21 years old when he started preaching to an England so messed up that in many ways it makes the western…
Read MoreWhy risk is right
In his book Don’t Waste Your Life John Piper has a chapter called “Risk is Right”. He explains that over and over again in the Bible it’s the men and women willing to take risks that God uses for amazing things (Daniel, Abraham, Esther, Paul). Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because these are the…
Read MoreOpportunity & Decisions
Leadership guru Bobb Biehl points out the following advice which has helped me immensely in my life: “A mature person asks good questions. Maturity is putting process between opportunity and decision. For example: The immature person gets the opportunity to buy a car. The person selling the car says, “Hey, how do you like my Jaguar?”…
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