My proposal and rationale for the next amendment for the United States Constitution. It will sound crazy, impossible, and too hard at first, as it did with me. But the more you consider it, the more the objections will fade. It is the right tool for the right job. Nothing else is. I'll write more about it later. For now, just the audio. The United States Constitution
Yes, I shifted my lifestyle a bit and did things not everyone can, but for the overwhelming majority of people living in cities and rich cultures minor compared to that I'm not living in the woods or separate from society. I lived in Manhattan, maintained a professional lifestyle and used zero electricity from the grid to my apartment for a month with minimal planning and only a portable solar panel and battery that I could only use by carrying them eleven flights to the roof. I allowed myself to use my computer at NYU, which charged the phone and computer…
I'm in the middle of trying my first month disconnected from the electric grid. I started that month on May 22, so it only half affected my most recent bill: May 6 to June 7. Sixty-two cents plus fixed charges: My average so far this year: 11.8 kWh per month ($1.162 per month + fixed costs)
Today, April 20, in 1964, Nelson Mandela, on trial for sabotage with about a dozen other men, for which they would be found guilty, instead of a defense, spoke for almost four hours, closing with the words entitling this post.
Today, April 20, in 1964, Nelson Mandela, on trial for sabotage with about a dozen other men, for which they would be found guilty, instead of a defense, spoke for almost four hours, closing with the words entitling this post. Here is the full text he read from. I recommend taking a moment today to review the story. Here is one video among many others and the Rivonia Trial Wikipedia page. I consider a leader's story in changing a nation and world as poignant today as ever. People call me extreme today for eating vegetables and not flying. I don't…
When I list the people I think would benefit from my podcast and could use it to influence most, I think of the people with the greatest potential to lead the most number of Americans. The names roll off my tongue from mentioning them so many times and from trying to think of who would add the most value: Oprah, LeBron, Serena. Do I need to mention their last names? When I list the people who most influence me and whom I consider role models: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela (not American or Diaspora), Gandhi (who started his leadership work…
Last week I wrote about my latest step in going a month off-grid in Manhattan: buying (used, off Craigslist) the solar panels to power the battery I bought last year. First: solar panels and batteries are not sustainable. They require fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources for manufacture, with no end in sight for that dependence. I don't pretend using them is clean. Cleaner than burning oil or coal isn't clean. I see them like methadone: as part of a plan by someone intending to quit an addiction, they can help. But giving methadone to addicts with no intent or…
I learned more from the Cadets at West Point than they could possibly have learned from me, but retired General Lloyd Austin III invited me there to co-lead workshops on leadership My mentor Frances Hesselbein introduced us. As I type, the Senate is holding hearings on his nomination to Secretary of Defense. I wrote an Inc. story on the experience, “6 Lessons I Learned Teaching Leadership With a 4-Star General at West Point,†6 Lessons I Learned Teaching Leadership With a 4-Star General at West Point My years of working with department heads at West Point and reflection on the…
Corporations and governments are pledging to lower emissions, maybe to net zero (What “net zero†and “closed loop†mean.), by 2030 or 2050. Nearly everyone recognizes goals past the pledgers' retirement close to meaningless. What will give them meaning is not hope or appreciation, but accountability, especially imposed from without. Even with accountability, these pledges could set earlier targets. We all know they can. The tragic message from everyone except, as far as I know, me, is that these changes are a burden, chore, obligation, distraction, and sacrifice. I say they're opportunities and sources of joy. Anyone who understood my…
Growing up I thought the strategy of mutually assured destruction, while tragic, kept the peace. Speaking to Nobel Peace Prize honoree ICAN member Seth Shelden, I learned that we've advanced from that line of thinking and our world changed to where it doesn't apply any more. As much as I'd like to hold on to something that made me feel comfortable or at least content, I have to drop believing that maintaining nuclear weapons keeps peace. Too many people can start wars. ICAN---the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons---led the UN to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear…
I talk a lot about Nelson Mandela during the lock down. Americans lose our shit after a month or two locked down. We can access all the culture, music, art, literature, etc that's ever been recorded. We can buy food from all over the world. We can talk to friends and family with video. Yet we act like we can't handle it. Here was Nelson Mandela's cell for 18 years on Robben Island, their Alcatraz: The red bucket was his toilet. People around here are barely wearing masks---maybe 20 to 25 percent---let alone acting on significant problems of the day.…
People keep praising my polluting less by avoiding packaging and avoiding flying, but few change themselves. Would-be leaders talk about how others should change their behavior while they don't change themselves. Here's an article by the CEO of Coca-Cola, Why a World Without Waste is Possible, describing some change other people did but not change he did. Maybe he's reduced his personal pollution, but I don't see it. I suspect he flies a lot and has all the excuses in the world justifying his flying. Most people I talk to about their personal pollution claims that their pollution Doesn't hurt…
Handling Trigger Warnings, Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and Other Outrages Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff's new book, The Coddling of the American Mind, takes on offense and outrage with calm resolve and effective insight Jonathan Haidt's latest book, released today, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, coauthored by Greg Lukianoff, takes on one of the issues of our time—public discourse, especially in higher education—expanding on their widely discussed Atlantic article of the same name. Whether leading a small team, a company, a nation, a family, or oneself, research…
I've quoted Martha Graham many times. At last I got the video of her saying the words. She describes how a performer achieves freedom through conforming and discipline better than anyone, in my opinion. I believe what she says holds for any active, emotional, expressive, social, performance-based field, including leadership and entrepreneurship. The dancer is realistic. His craft teaches him to be. Either the foot is pointed or it is not. No amount of dreaming will point it for you. This requires discipline, not drill, not something imposed from without, but discipline imposed by you yourself upon yourself. Your goal…
RJ and I talk about the early success of LEAD Palestine, the organization he began to teach leadership to youths that most of the world abandoned in Palestine. Where their environment made it natural to respond with hopelessness and what comes from it---desperation to the point of aspiring to blow oneself up---RJ is bringing social and emotional development to create hope themselves. They happen to have been born into a world where leadership meant in politics authoritarianism and militarism, which bled into personal relationships. Nobody taught alternatives and those who acted on those models succeeded, however much at others' costs.…
My post the other day on LinkedIn, "Google Revealed Donald Trump's Favorite Words," began In leadership, words matter. Leaders care about the people they lead and results, which often means caring about others' interests ahead of their own, even when they disagree. Leaders know others will always have some different values. The challenge is to lead without getting mired in conflict. The most effective leaders influence the people they disagree with most. Consider Nelson Mandela negotiating with the presidents of Apartheid South Africa, Vaclav Havel influencing the authoritarian leaders of Czechoslovakia to resign, or Gandhi negotiating with the King of England. Consider Americans' response to the…
Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's birth. I've waited to share something I discovered reading his autobiography a few months ago. First some context. It's the day of your release. You're a revolutionary, fighting Apartheid, imprisoned for 27 years, much of it in an 8 foot by 7 foot cell or, if outside, breaking rocks. Meanwhile, you've become a global celebrity. Over 200 million people watched your London birthday event in absentia. Meanwhile, you're a 72-year-old man, recently recovering from tuberculosis and have barely seen your family for decades. On the day of your release, what do you…
My Inc. story today, "Bill Clinton on Nelson Mandela, for His 100th Birthday," begins Bill Clinton on Nelson Mandela, for His 100th Birthday The father of his nation was born 100 years ago today. Bill Clinton's anecdote reveals the change he created in the world. Nelson Mandela was born on this day in 1918. Few people become the father of a nation. He was imprisoned for 27 years beginning at age 45. Where most people would give up, he persevered. Eventually he negotiated from prison with the presidents of his country. He later got their job. Think about that the…
Columbia University offered me nearly $10,000 to fly to Shanghai to teach an entrepreneurship class, block-week style, meaning a semester in a week, 9-5 each day. I've taught that way before and got great results. I love teaching entrepreneurship. I'm not bragging to say that my reviews say I'm exceptional at it. I love my alma mater, Columbia, and as an adjunct professor, experience teaching at Ivy League schools helps my career. I had developed the relationships with the department that offered me to teach with them for years. I had worked on making this opportunity happen for years and…
I comment these days that I'm becoming friends with the people interviewing me in podcasts and Jared Angaza's interview of me, "Do the Thing," is a perfect example. I've also said lately that if you put yourself out for public scrutiny, to succeed you can either create a persona and act like it or you can express yourself more openly, but to mix them---to mix acting like someone else with acting authentically---doesn't work. I'm trying to use these interviews to open up more and to speak more freely. I think I'm succeeding. I'm sure I have blind spots, like anyone,…
Steven Shalowitz, host of The One Way Ticket Show podcast, posted yesterday our interview, "Josh’s one way ticket is back to this historic time in American history," which covers the time in history I would choose to go to if I could magically go there with no chance to return, as well as Leadership Step by Step. Click here to listen! I find the show fascinating, as well as his guests, who include Nobel Prize winners, heads of state, heads of industry, and more, including, at last, me. From the podcast's about page: There was one question Steven Shalowitz thought…
Sami Honkonen records Boss Level Podcast Interviews with interesting people doing awesome things Boss Level is a podcast on people and organizations aiming for the boss level. Boss level is the status a person or an organization achieves by making a better quality of life for themselves and others by doing what they need to do regardless of all the haters and obstacles out there. I love his interview of me, "Joshua Spodek and seven years of burpees," which he posted today. If you like my material and, especially, if you're curious about my long-term direction and goals for it---my…
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?…
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?…
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…