There are no detours in Life
After graduating college (age 21) I worked the following jobs: Film Projection specialist at a movie theater Television writer at a children’s show Theater producer Art/Gymnastics teacher Bartender Collections agent Administrative assistant It took me seven (7) career changes to get to what I wanted to do, which I didn’t figure out until I was […]
D&T DAY!
Happy DOM & TOM day! DOM & TOM day is a company-recognized holiday for everyone at D&T to take a 3-day weekend in April. Because, April’s AWESOME and everyone should go out and enjoy this springtime No update for today – hope you celebrate this beautiful day! booyah!
You don’t need a good reason…
My friend Rich has a great story to share: He wanted an 8 pack set of abs, so he started the Paleolithic diet. The End. Bam – that’s it. That’s his reason. Eat better, live better, for better abs. I love this story tremendously. See, in the story he feels embarrassed that he’s doing all […]
Why most advice is contradictory
“Take risks, but keep your overhead low.” “Crowdsource ideas, but work in stealth mode.” “Work in an open floor plan to keep communications open but leave your developers alone.” Is it me or does most business advice feel contradictory? Here’s my theory: 1.) Specific approaches are valid at specific circumstances in the company. So perhaps […]
We, the Willing
“We, the unwilling,led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.” — Mother Teresa I remember first reading that quote when I was 16. In the past years I’ve seen it quoted by army […]
Emotional endurance
My father taught me that if you have enough will and enough time, you can out-last any opposition. If I see one problem with startups, is that they lose heart too quickly. They cave, they balk, they don’t have the battleship armor of emotional strength to weather the numerous setbacks that will inevitably happen. Every […]
Choose your relief
Coming to New York in 2001, I realized that the city had(has) a lot of energy. So much energy that I found these things out: 1.) You’ll lose an hour off your regular sleep right off the bat 2.) You’ll find a desperate craving to drink everything from coffee to clamato juice constantly, sometimes simultaneously […]
Please keep me in the dark
The less I know, the better the company works. I mean, at least it seems that way. I’ve tried both ways – micromanaging and completely hands-off. I tend to err on the side of “find the right person for the job and then let them do it.” It’s the Jim Collins approach: “First Who, then […]
Stop trying, dammit
Excerpt from an interview with Charles Bukowski: Charles: ‘What do you do? How do you write, create?’ You don’t, I told them. You don’t try. That’s very important: ‘not’ to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It’s like a bug high on the wall. […]
I’m so glad I don’t work for a living
I remember when I had a real job, like when I was totally unqualified and could potentially get fired. – me explaining to an employee why I hated my work-days after college. I don’t ever want to work for a living again. Working for a living is extremely stressful. In fact, I hate the word […]