Despite What Harvard Says, You Don’t Need a Crucible

My Inc.com post, "Despite What Harvard Says, You Don't Need a Crucible" begins Despite What Harvard Says, You Don't Need a Crucible While some have become leaders by overcoming great challenges, don't believe the myth that you need to. In September 2002, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas wrote in Harvard Business Review's, Crucibles of Leadership, In interviewing more than 40 top leaders in business and the public sector over the past three years, we were surprised to find that all of them--young and old--were able to point to intense, often traumatic, always unplanned experiences that had transformed them and had become the sources of their distinctive leadership abilities. We…

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These two surprisingly touching Vince Lombardi quotes reveal the source of his winning leadership

For Vince Lombardi's birthday, I wrote in Inc.com, "These two surprisingly touching Vince Lombardi quotes reveal the source of his winning leadership." The piece begins These two surprisingly touching Vince Lombardi quotes reveal the source of his winning leadership For the great coach's birthday, how to create winning traditions in your teams. I'm writing this article exhausted and sore because two days ago I started researching for this article. Having hurt my leg running, I decided to skip a workout to recover. Then I read Vince Lombardi. His birthday is tomorrow. Most people think of him as a hard-core tough…

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At Princeton’s ELab: How to get job offers by acting entrepreneurially

I got a few short clips from my presentation on entrepreneurship when I spoke at Princeton’s Elab recently. In this clip I describe how to use behaving entrepreneurially to get job offers. If you want similar experiences, take my entrepreneurship course. It develops you in small steps to work up to handling interactions like this. Even if you don’t, call valuable people. Err on the side of making things happen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6LbymltzNA

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The Unmistakable Creative podcast interviews me

Listen to the podcast The Power of Experiential Learning with Joshua Spodek The Unmistakable Creative podcast just released its interviews of me. The interview covered leadership, entrepreneurship, education, and a bunch of my life and growth. Their lead quote from the interview: "No one who is learning to play a musical instrument, no one who wants to learn a musical instrument would ever take a class where they would lecture you for a year on theory for putting it into practice. And in fact if you did want to learn piano theory or music theory, you still learn to play…

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RIP Ali

About few people in few fields can we say there is a before and after. Muhammad Ali is one of them, and beyond "just" boxing, but to sport in general, and free and open expression. Every athlete today lives in his shadow. Every war resister. Every public speaker. Every person who works for fairness. Nobody before him did anything like what he did. Compare athletes of today. Michael Phelps and Michael Jordan dominated their sports, but what social change did they create outside it? Who speaks with his honesty? Compare public speakers today. What public figure spoke with such openness?…

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At Princeton’s ELab: How to become a “genius” entrepreneur that people want to help

I got a few short clips from my presentation on entrepreneurship when I spoke at Princeton’s Elab recently. Entrepreneurs are often so busy pitching their ideas, they miss opportunities to attract people to help them. They don't realize their pitching is leading people to evaluate them, which tends to separate them. Here I talk about how to talk to people to Improve your project Feel vested in your success See you as a genius Put you in touch with others who can help and more. https://youtu.be/cANE9fdoMZ0

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A student interviewed me!

My in-person leadership course, being project-based, has a project. One of my students last semester for his project created a web page---partly to express himself, partly to meet and interview people he wanted to create connections with, partly to share with the world his passion for marketing. Here he is: His name is Joe Yaqian Zhang. His blog is here. He shares his perspective on marketing things and interviews relevant people. Here is his post on interviewing me, "Tips from the Pros: Joshua Spodek." I hope he doesn't mind my sharing the video here. It's not yet professionally edited, but…

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Listen to Outlier Magazine’s podcast of Joshua Spodek, published today!

Outlier Magazine's Ever Gonzalez interviewed me recently and posted the podcast today, "Ep 331: Joshua Spodek Interview – Finding Your Hudson River" We talk about Learning entrepreneurship Learning leadership Swimming across the Hudson River Failure and learning from it My last book, ReModel (and hinting at the next one) Increasing your self-awareness through mental models Sidchas Check out the podcast here. If you prefer using Stitcher, here's that link. If you prefer using iTunes, here's that link. Thank you Ever, Paige, and the Outlier Magazine team! Or listen here:

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One Way Science and Business Don’t Match

My Inc.com post today, "One Way Science and Business Don't Match" begins One Way Science and Business Don't Match Learning facts about leading doesn't teach you to lead. Practice does. I stopped reading Daniel Pink's bestseller Drive before chapter 1. I bet it's entertaining, but if you read it to improve yourself and your career, it helps less than you think. Not to single-out Drive. I'm only using it to illustrate what a big category of books, TED talks, and others do, that people think help more than they probably do. Read the rest at One Way Science and Business…

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What You Can Learn from the Best Leader in America’s Bold Job Interview Strategy

My Inc.com article today, "What You Can Learn from the Best Leader in America's Bold Job Interview Strategy" begins What You Can Learn from the Best Leader in America's Bold Job Interview Strategy Interviewing for the job that brought her national prominence, she prepared and behaved differed from most standard advice, but was incredibly effective. Of those responsible the Girl Scouts camping out on the White House lawn, Frances Hesselbein may have been the most important. As the CEO of the Girls Scouts from 1976 to 1990, she helped turn the organization around, tripling minority enrollment, and increasing their focus…

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Have a Great Plan? Without Answering These 2 Questions You Don’t.

My Inc.com article today, "Have a Great Plan? Without Answering These 2 Questions You Don't." begins Have a Great Plan? Without Answering These 2 Questions You Don't. Plans are easy. Executing them is harder and takes a lot longer--and not for what you can plan for. Here's how to prepare for the unexpected. A client showed me his ambitious plan for professional development. It showed he had developed a lot, learned his values, learned what he was capable of, set high standards, and listed many SMART goals. He also said it would entail more than an hour a day every day for…

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How not to be afraid to be yourself, Italian style

The other day I was interviewed for a podcast (I'll link to it when they edit and post it). The interviewer asked me how I accomplished so much. I told him and his listeners to look up sidchas on my blog. Everyone who aspires to greatness knows the importance of building discipline, integrity, dedication, and other skills. I accomplish things by acting by my values. I practice with small challenges like daily exercise, daily writing, cold showers, and so on. Almost nobody does these things or their equivalent for them, yet they want the benefits. You have to do things…

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Op/Ed Fridays: How travel distorts your values

My Inc.com story today, "On the Road Too Much? How Travel Warps Your Values and What To Do About It" begins On the Road Too Much? How Travel Warps Your Values and What To Do About It Everyone cares about the environment until they get on a plane Would you mind someone burning your house down if they gave you a dollar for your troubles? Would you do an activity that led you to lose perspective so much that you couldn't tell the difference? This article is about values, the most important foundation of leadership, business, and relationships, or close to…

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Video: What a leadership course can deliver, part 4

Here is an interview with a student who took my online leadership course, Chris, a born salesman and entrepreneur. Hear how the leadership course increased his business while calming his life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzm7iL6reFY Reach your potential in business and life. My courses don't take time from the rest of life. You work with people in your life that you care about on projects that you care about without distracting from the rest of your work and life. Learn more about the course and register here Read testimonials about my courses here I look forward to having you aboard.

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Wasting less, could still waste yet less

On January 27th I made a video about starting a new trash bag for my waste. I predicted I would take six months to fill it. With a guest staying over, we ended up filling it in just over four person-months. I think I can produce less waste, but I'm pleased with how I did so far. In no way did I feel constrained. On the contrary, I felt less confined by stuff and certainly less dirty, having less garbage around. Here's a video about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MYxs6wAdUk Efficiency and Responsibility Why do I post about garbage? Who cares about it?…

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Six Lessons I Learned at Lunch With the Best Leader in America

My post on Inc.com today, "Six Lessons I Learned at Lunch With the Best Leader in America," begins Six Lessons I Learned at Lunch With the Best Leader in America Experience trumps everything in leadership and she has more than you do. From the Girl Scouts to the White House. Is Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford, whose stock price went up 18 times under his watch, a fair judge of good leadership? How about Peter Drucker, the "founder of modern management"? How about Marshall Goldsmith, named the #1 leadership thinker in the world in 2015? If we can accept them as reasonable judges, they all named…

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Video: What a leadership course can deliver, part 3

Here is an interview with a student who took my online leadership course, Isabeaux, an undergraduate at NYU who hadn't taken an experiential course before, which initially threw her, before she came to find it led to more growth than she'd ever seen, despite going to an elite university. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxo-msa9dGQ Reach your potential in business and life. My courses don't take time from the rest of life. You work with people in your life that you care about on projects that you care about without distracting from the rest of your work and life. Learn more about the course and…

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America’s Best Leader Doesn’t Waste Time in Airports. Why Are You?

My Inc.com article yesterday, "America's Best Leader Doesn't Waste Time in Airports. Why Are You?" began America's Best Leader Doesn't Waste Time in Airports. Why Are You? Business class and travel apps exist for a reason: because traveling is awful. If the most effective leaders can do more while traveling less then so can you. Ask someone at home about travel and they may think of the Eiffel Tower, but traveling is more like long lines at dirty, intrusive airports, traffic congestion, and wasted time. Plus your flying causes more pollution than nearly any other activity. Why do you think…

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Video: What a leadership course can deliver, part 2

Here is an interview with a student who is taking my online leadership course, Ellen, who is an entrepreneur who recently sold her latest business. As you'll see, she is also finding that the lessons she's learning apply to other deeply challenging areas in life.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnblmP_VlHg Reach your potential in business and life. My courses don't take time from the rest of life. You work with people in your life that you care about on projects that you care about without distracting from the rest of your work and life. Learn more about the course and register here Read testimonials…

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Hope Is For Losers. Here’s What Winners Have Instead.

My Inc.com story yesterday, "Hope Is For Losers. Here's What Winners Have Instead." begins Hope Is For Losers. Here's What Winners Have Instead Mainstream society values hope. If you're in business, relying on hope means you've nearly failed and you should know why. In a scene in the great TV show Cheers where Sam is down on his luck, Diane says in a chipper tone to cheer him up, "At least you still have your health." Everyone at the bar -- Norm, Cliff, Woody, etc -- suddenly groans, like they just saw a puppy die. "What? What did I say?"…

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Video: What a leadership course can deliver, part 1

Here is an interview with a student who took my online leadership course, Bethany, who is an Associate Partner at IBM and has an MBA from Columbia Business School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoL4zWav8Hw Reach your potential in business and life. My courses don't take time from the rest of life. You work with people in your life that you care about on projects that you care about without distracting from the rest of your work and life. Learn more about the course and register here Read testimonials about my courses here I look forward to having you aboard.

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You’re lying if you say you don’t have time to exercise

"I don't have time to exercise." Everyone has said it at some point. It's a lie. At best, it's ignorant. If you want to lead others, you better know how to lead yourself. Effective exercise can take a few minutes a day. The hard part about effective exercise is that you don't feel motivation to do strenuous things. I'm not saying it's easy. The point is that if you talk about time when the challenge is motivating yourself to overcome demotivation, you're focusing on the wrong issue and you won't solve the problem.

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“How to Break Rules and Succeed Like Kobe Bryant”

My Inc.com piece today, "How to Break Rules and Succeed Like Kobe Bryant," begins How to Break Rules and Succeed Like Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant polarized and broke rules most of us can't, yet earned admiration and support. Why can some people break rules, yet get support? The LA Times called Kobe Bryant "the most polarizing figure in the history of L.A. sports." He spoke out against his team. He publicly quarreled with his teammate. These are transgressions that could end many people's career's, no matter how talented. Yet Kobe leaves the game admired and supported. Why can he break…

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If you think business is about money, people will control you with it. If you offer value, they’ll want to hire you.

If you think business is about money, people will control you with it. If you want money and they have it, you'll do what they want. What do you think looking for a job is? It's finding people with money and asking them what you can do for them. It reminds me of a student of mine at NYU who came to me asking for referrals for a job. After a short conversation explaining that I didn't find that method of looking for a job helpful, I suggested doing something to give to a community. We decided to organize a…

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Hustling

What do you do when they cancel your flight? In the late 70s, a man and his fiancée were visiting the Caribbean. They found themselves stranded in an airport when their airline canceled their flight to Puerto Rico. The man was disappointed, but based on his experience running a record business that he had founded, he took initiative to solve the problem. Noticing other people from the same flight were also stranded, he called a chartering company to find the cost to charter a plane. $2,000. He agreed to charter it. He divided that cost by two less than the…

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