From Mad Men to Influencers: How the Dream Ate Us
I don’t think Mad Men was ever really about nostalgia. I mean, It looked nostalgic. The suits. The cocktails. The cigarettes smoked ironically. But underneath it all…
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The Map That Ate the Territory
Once upon a time – long, long ago – symbols pointed to things that actually existed. We knew what reality was. Or at least, we thought we…
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Raison d’Être
There’s a French expression—raison d’être—that a lot of people in the English-speaking world have adopted. Literally, it means “one’s reason for being,” but English speakers tend to…
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Real Wealth Isn’t Monetary or Physical. It’s Social
I know. I hear it too. It sounds naive. Like something you’d find printed in cursive above an old hippie’s kitchen sink. But let’s not be quick…
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I’m So Over the Overton Window
I’ve had to look up the definition of this word, the Overton window, so many times. It never quite sticks, even though the idea itself has always…
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The Age of Unreason
When I was in my twenties, quite a while ago now, I became obsessed with learning a martial art called Ving Tsun, or Wing Chun. And being…
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Innovate or Die
I just finished watching the movie Jobs. It’s a very loose retelling of Steve Jobs and the early days of Apple, and if there’s anyone who has…
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Why Community Builders Should Read “Leading Change” by John Kotter
Most people in the community-building game don’t think of themselves as “change managers.” Most of us are not sitting in corner offices with PowerPoint decks and consultants. …
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Why I’m Obsessed With Optimal Outcomes
If I had a life motto, or a working framework by which I live, it would be this: maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Or, put another way, optimization.…
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Sometimes, I’m Almost as Good as I Think I Am
I’ve been accused, more times than I can count, of being arrogant, condescending, self-righteous. There are probably a few other adjectives in that same vein that would…