the imagery and their elegance and composition. RW: Did your dad discuss things with you from the newspaper? PVS: Yes. He was always plugged in. He worked for the McClatchy newspaper chain, which owned The Sacramento Bee, a very high quality newspaper. He was in charge of marketing for all of the McClatchy newspapers. RW: And you lived in Sacramento? PVS: Yeah. I remember as a kid going to the office with him. He would walk me around. My father loved the newspaper business and I think he kind of wished he’d entered the journalism side of it. He had great reverence for what they did. RW: What was it he revered do you think? PVS: He respected ... posted on Apr 18 2014 (9,125 reads)

presidents to hip-hop producers to poets, the last page of every issue of Harvard Business Review is always an interview with someone who has succeeded outside the traditional corporate world. Here, some of our favorite lessons from the class of 2013: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on having long-term colleagues: “Treat people well. Don’t mislead them. Don’t be prickly. Don’t say things that are aggravating. Try to be as agreeable as you can be. Try to be helpful rather than harmful. Try to cooperate.” Cartoonist Scott Adams on using his MBA: “When the comic strip first came out, it showed Dilbert in a variety of settings&... posted on Apr 23 2014 (25,545 reads)

evangelist for the power of consumer engagement and education. He is also a believer in our shared impact using social media – including its built-in metrics – to change public perception and stir public action. All of these beliefs led him to create Litterati. (Click the sound file to hear how Jeff started Litterati.) In Silicon Valley and the entire Bay Area, we are used to hearing about simple ideas that can change the world – mostly in the field of consumer and business technology. But what if a simple idea could help change an entire planet’s perspective on trash and packaging for consumer goods? That’s the good that Jeff Kirschner sought to cre... posted on Apr 27 2014 (9,170 reads)

Treasurer is one of my favorite business authors - not just because his books are good - but because he reminds me of the Wizard of Oz - his work always offers three important elements: brains, heart, and courage. His newest book, "Leaders Open Doors" is no exception. I've been eager to talk to Bill about it and he graciously made time for an interview. BJ: I love the story behind your new book, "Leaders Open Doors." Would you share it with me again, for the benefit of my readers? Bill: For over two decades I've been a senior ranking member of the Legion of Leadership Complexifiers (LLC). We're the folks who make our living out of plumbing, parsing,... posted on Jun 21 2014 (20,094 reads)

where to start, so instead, I tipped my head slightly as to nod. She smiled, deposited $5 into our money box and left. I’ve been thinking about what she said ever since. I do what I do and there is no amount of money that anyone could give me to make me feel that it is an adequate match to what I have to offer. Not $5, not $5000. Because what I have to offer is not quantifiable. What I have to offer is myself and it not only reflects in my practice of Chinese Medicine but how I run my business. It is what has evolved over my 16 years of thinking about medicine and health and how I would like to affect and be affected by the world I live in. It is a reflection of my understanding of... posted on May 28 2014 (23,760 reads)

anxiety. Photo by Asife/ Shutterstock. Do you consider yourself creative? If the answer is "no," you are not alone. We have been working as creativity facilitators for close to two decades, and whenever we ask people this question, shockingly few hands go up. It turns out that you don't have to be a great artist to be creative. Creativity is simply our ability to dream things up and make them happen. Cooking breakfast, planting a garden, even developing a business plan are all creative acts. But here is where the arts do come in. Participating in the arts—even as amateurs—unlocks our creativity and empowers us in our everyday lives. A re... posted on Jun 5 2014 (1,859 reads)

and asks ‘When disaster occurs, how will we bounce back?’ This seems a realistic position to hold. We are facing an uncertain future as a result of climate change; disasters do seem to be happening all too often. But does our emerging notion of resilience, as a result, become an alternate way of thinking about disaster management rather than a longer term means to consider how to make our cities more robust and flexible in the face of uncertainty? Resilience is now big business. And, as a result, the term can suffer from the allure of ‘solution-ism’ -- the desire that, by doing something, all shall be well. These solutions often take two forms: design in... posted on May 27 2014 (11,090 reads)

are we’ve all experienced a bout of shyness in our lives, whether it’s when we've walked into a party full of strangers or tried to shine in a job interview. And if you identify as a shy person, you’re definitely not the only one -- approximately 40 percent of American adults feel the same way. And yes, shyness has been associated with negative outcomes -- characteristics like difficulty maintaining eye contact, feelings of humiliation and sometimes even detachment are all known to be part of a shy person's M.O. It's these traits that tend to affect some shy individuals' ability to connect, says C. Barr Taylor, a professor of psychology at Sta... posted on May 22 2014 (24,160 reads)

essentially and the faster we ticked all these things off the list, the faster we could get back to what our lives had been like before. What it took us a long time to realize is that we were never going to go back to our lives as they were before in the practical sense until she died. MS. TIPPETT: Then life would not be like it was … MS. GROSS: It wasn't like we could solve these problem, you know, fix her, put the wheels back on the broken bicycle and then go back about our business. And the not knowing how long it's going to last and what's going to happen next, I think, you know, the more of a control freak you are to start out with, the more disorienting that ... posted on Jul 2 2014 (28,264 reads)

she your grandmother?” “Great aunt. Ninety-one. Had a good life,” he said, and proceeded towards the dumpster, our conversation apparently over. He placed the neatly folded sheets and blankets down carefully, as if this were now the room in which they would be kept. I’d seen dumpsters full of discards of all kinds, but never one like this, packed like a trunk for an ocean voyage. I stood fixed to the spot, bewildered by the odd juxtaposition of sudden death and business-like calm. The nephew soon appeared with the next batch, which he stacked on top of the previous one in the same perfunctory manner. Considering his lack of feeling, I figured I could peer in... posted on May 27 2023 (24,979 reads)

by Asife/ Shutterstock. Do you consider yourself creative? If the answer is "no," you are not alone. We have been working as creativity facilitators for close to two decades, and whenever we ask people this question, shockingly few hands go up. It turns out that you don't have to be a great artist to be creative. Creativity is simply our ability to dream things up and make them happen. Cooking breakfast, planting a garden, even developing a business plan are all creative acts. But here is where the arts do come in. Participating in the arts—even as amateurs—unlocks our creativity and empowers us in our everyday lives. A re... posted on Jun 5 2014 (37,678 reads)

songs and performing at small gigs around New York and Philadelphia. I always believed that my big break would come sooner rather than later. In fact, from 1998, while I was still at Penn, to early 2004, I spent each of those years always thinking that I would get that big record deal within the next few months. I always thought my moment was just around the corner. But I was rejected by all the major labels; some of them rejected me multiple times. I played for all the giants of the business -- Clive Davis, L.A. Reid, Jimmy Iovine, you name it. And all of them turned me down. But I did find a young producer from Chicago named Kanye West who believed in me. Kanye happened to be... posted on Jun 29 2014 (30,060 reads)

of creativity, I learned to get out of the way and let that creative force work through me… I learned to just show up at the page and write down what I heard. Writing became more like eavesdropping and less like inventing a nuclear bomb. It wasn’t so tricky, and it didn’t blow up on me anymore. I didn’t have to be in the mood. I didn’t have to take my emotional temperature to see if inspiration was pending. I simply wrote. No negotiations. Good, bad? None of my business. I wasn’t doing it. By resigning as the self-conscious author, I wrote freely. This concept of surrender seems closer to Eastern philosophical teachings about the unity of t... posted on Sep 3 2014 (25,141 reads)

away broken stuff has never been an easier choice. For some items, prices have never been lower; for others, instant obsolescence means you always have an excuse to upgrade, as if you needed an excuse. Can the possibility of repair begin to change consumer habits? New York City’s Pop Up Repair Shop was a one-month experiment this June “aimed at breaking the cycle of use-and-discard goods.” It was the first step of a larger exploration of the issue, led by Sandra Goldmark, a set and costume designer and theater professor at Barnard College. Sandra and her husband Michael Banta, a theater production manager at Barnard, launched the shop using funds from an Ind... posted on Oct 6 2014 (14,337 reads)

or Captain Homji as he is known, sat outside the theatre in disbelief. Was this really happening? Should he dare hope? Hvovi was a BCom graduate, an only child to a Parsi family from Mumbai. Since she was diagnosed with an enlarged heart four years earlier, her father, a merchant navy sailor, had quit his job to take care of her. Terms like ‘cardiomyopathy’ rolled off his tongue with unfortunate ease. Hvovi’s mother Amaity, a former banker, ran a franking business that was suffering neglect since the hospital visits had increased. Captain Aspy Minocherhomji, father of Hvovi. Hvovi’s heart was enlarged, sluggish and failing h... posted on Aug 11 2014 (16,087 reads)

to be when I grow up don’t want me to make a poster anymore. They want me to fill out forms and hand them rectangular cards that say HELLO THIS IS WHAT I DO. I went to an arts conference in Manhattan last spring and everyone was scrambling to meet everyone, asserting their individuality like sad salesmen. This is my idea, I would say, this is my thing. We stood in cocktail circles and exchanged earnest interest. Hoo, hoo! Open spaces! Ohh yes! The avant garde! I didn’t have a business card. It didn’t even occur to me. It might have been funny or endearing but I ended up just being embarrassed. I don’t have one, I’d say again and again. (Ha Ha!) Then I&rsq... posted on Apr 6 2021 (59,809 reads)

are born with true wealth, but constantly forget to realize the wealth we already have. Failing to acknowledge our true wealth we keep grasping for more, like hungry ghosts who are never satisfied while constantly eating! Thus, we go about despoiling the earth, corrupting relationships, and twisting societies into grotesque forms that promote needless suffering for ourselves, others, and the earth-at-large. Realizing true wealth leads to personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal fulfillment. Furthermore, the long term survival of life on earth depends upon true wealth realization. We need deep psychological and spiritual healing of individuals, groups, communities, nations and the... posted on Nov 24 2014 (21,370 reads)

This experiment aims at a surprisingly sticky problem: honey bee extinction. Honeybees are dying off in droves in parts of Europe and America and their survival, and much of our food, increasingly relies on beekeepers—an occupation threatened by an ageing workforce. Bybi was British social entrepreneur Oliver Maxwell’s idea to bring millions of honeybees to Copenhagen to create a sustainable honey industry. Working with the city, social organizations, beekeepers and Danish businesses, the project trains formerly homeless people and the long-term unemployed to become independent beekeepers. The city’s disadvantaged gain meaningful work (maintaining beehives on the ... posted on Oct 27 2014 (11,618 reads)

materials sourced from the polluted waters and coastlines of the Philippines, but also by generating jobs for residents of small fishing villages throughout the Philippines. Washed up and improperly discarded fishing nets collected and sold to the company bring both an immediate and long-term benefits to Philippino coastal villages, explains Interface. Not only are people paid for the nets they collect, but by cleaning up trash they are working toward a healthier and more lucrative fishing business in the future. 5. Water bottle catamaran In March 2010, the Plastiki—a sail boat made entirely of plastic bottles and other upcycled plastics—set sail on an 8,000-... posted on Oct 29 2014 (19,828 reads)

says the researcher. Of those who had received the compassion training, around half stood up to offer their chair to the woman, and for those who had not, the figure was just 15%. They concluded that our willingness to help strangers is flexible, and can be shaped by small changes in perception. 3: Kindness can help the bottom line: The single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce. A decade of research proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a myriad of health and quality of life improvements. Yet even those companies that... posted on Sep 23 2014 (142,865 reads)