About 20 years ago, I read one of my all-time favorite books, The Children, by David Halberstam, about a group of young people, including the late Congressman John Lewis, who put themselves in harm’s way to advance the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. In that book, I read…
The last couple of years have been challenging, to say the least. I write a lot about health and wellness, most often focusing on the importance of exercise and eating well. I also espouse what I call “Proactive Positivity.” In posts and speeches, I explain the way negativity tends to…
Ten year ago, I published my book, Six Simple Rules for a Better Life. It’s been an eventful decade for me in many ways, and the book has been a very nice part of it. While the book didn’t become a bestseller (and I didn’t expect it would), it sold…
My career has mostly focused on business development (aka sales) and I have been an active “networker”. I was recently introduced to a cleverly constructed networking organization that groups people who are looking for similar customers. I sat in on a sample session (virtual these days) and greatly enjoyed it.…
If you bought a house or a car or made another major purchase, you would likely put a lot of thought into it. You wouldn’t just jump in. You would pause, digest all the available information, and respond to the situation in a way that makes sense to you, and…
In 2013, I sold a business I had run for many years. I learned more during that year than I did in almost any of my 35 years in the business world. Besides everything I learned about the process of selling a business, I learned a lot about myself. I…
About 30 years ago, my wife and I moved with our first-born into an apartment located five minutes from my office. At first, I loved the idea. A five-minute commute was essentially no commute at all. After years of much longer commutes, I was thrilled. A year later, we moved,…
One year. Incredible. This week marks one year since most of our lives were turned upside-down by the pandemic. For me, the days before COVID shut things down in New York have become one of those “remember where you were” times. On Tuesday, March 10, we had dinner with a…
A few years ago, as we were about to try an Italian wine during a guided tour in Italy, the tour guide taught us how to clink glasses over drinks. Most of us, when we tap the other person's glass, look at the glass to make sure we are tapping…
Happy New Year! This has been a horrible year for all the reasons I don't need to list here. Nonetheless, as I have done for quite a few years, here are some of the experiences I enjoyed this past year: what I listened to, what I read, what I watched,…
This year has been one of the most challenging years of my life. Of course, everything is relative and there are many people who faced much worse challenges than I did. As I struggled through some situations, I jotted down a number of reminders to help me have the best…
With so much suffering this year, it can feel awkward to talk (or write) about silver linings from the pandemic. Nonetheless, it can be helpful to think about them as part of a practice of gratitude. Last week, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, the Morning Brew newsletter solicited from their…