Today, Seth Godin linked to a venture capital company’s anti-portfolio. Most people (and companies) are eager to tell you about their success stories. BVP, the VC firm, created an anti-portfolio to show some of the investment opportunities they missed. They had listened to the proposal and said, “no thanks.” BVP’s anti-portfolio contains an amazing list [...]

In the United States, Memorial Day marks the start of the summer-vacation mindset. Many families take trips and visit amusement parks. This quote, from a recent AP article caught my attention today: “Any guest paying full price at our parks is probably not doing their homework,” said Steve Brown, vice president for ticket strategy and [...]

While I was outside this weekend, one of the neighbors’ children walked over to me and made a compelling offer. The young boy, named Justin, is about seven years old, and he said, “Would you like me to mow your yard every Saturday for you?” I smiled warmly, and I asked him how much he [...]

When we communicate, through speech and writing, we often present our ideas from our current perspective rather than the perspective of our readers and listeners. If you want to guide someone to an aha-moment, you can’t start with the conclusions that seem so obvious to you. You need to guide them from their present position [...]