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Some of you know that I used to produce a sketch comedy TV show in Seattle called Almost Live! It was on the air for fifteen years, and number one in its time slot for ten straight years. During those fifteen years, my team and I won more than 100 Emmy Awards. At the risk of sounding immodest, we were really, really good at what we did. Our ...
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It was 4:00am yesterday morning, and I was driving to the airport for a speaking engagement in Pittsburgh. This is a pretty common occurrence for me (not necessarily the Pittsburgh part, but the rest of it). All of a sudden I had one of those, “Oh no, did I leave the iron on?” moments. I forget what it was that I was actually worried about—it wasn’t the iron. Probably, “Did I lock the door?” or “Did I water the plants?” ...
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I’m getting ready to board a plane, something I do several times a week. Each time, I’m putting my trust—and my life—in the hands of the pilot. This is, in all likelihood, a person I’ve never met, and never will meet. But I rarely, if ever, think about it, and I’ll bet you don’t either. The trust ...
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Last night I heard a television commentator say that the Republican nomination is going to come down to “who wants it more.”
I sincerely hope that this is not the case.
Republican or Democrat, I sincerely hope that we’re not going to choose our leaders on the basis of who wants it more. I mean, really, would you make any ...
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Would you hire you?
A friend and I were talking recently about Michael Gerber’s seminal book, The E-Myth Revisited, and that got us talking about the by-now-almost-cliched concept of “working on the business” rather than “working in the business.” The basic idea is that a baker (to use Gerber’s example) decides to open a bake shop, and then spends all her time baking rather than running a baking business. To grossly oversimplify, Gerber is saying that, as business owners, we need ...
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Today we’re going to do a bit of reverse engineering to see just what it is that makes us tick. Ready? Here we go:
Our life—which includes our job, our relationships, our income, our health—is determined, to a large extent, by our actions.
Our actions are determined, to a large extent, by our beliefs.
Our beliefs are determined, to a large extent, by our thoughts (and vice versa). But what determines our thoughts?
Our thoughts are determined, to a large extent, by the questions ...
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I had a speaking engagement in Indianapolis this past Saturday, which meant that I flew in to the Indianapolis airport on Friday. At least, that was the game plan. Those of you who watched the news over the weekend know that much of Indiana was devastated by massive thunderstorms and tornadoes. The actual weather conditions ended up being ...
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Seth Godin wrote an interesting blog today pondering whether there will ever be a time when being uninformed is cause for shame. It’s a good question, particularly in a culture that seems to equate “uninformed” with “real.” A culture that thinks having an “elite education” is a bad thing (and it’s especially ...
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A couple of friends and I went to a little jazz club in Seattle on Saturday night. The quartet, led by vocalist Greta Matassa, was outstanding. My friends and I had a wonderful time, but here’s the thing that really struck me:
Towards the end of the last set, late into the night, there were only about fifteen to twenty people left in the club. Yet the band ...
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What will your one thing be today?
Back when I was producing my sketch comedy TV show, Almost Live!, I had one cardinal rule that I followed, for each and every show, during the entire 15-year run. That rule was this:
Continue Reading →For each show, there had to be at least one element that would make the audience ...