Do you have a story to tell about change? It could be your own or someone you know or admire. Maybe it’s a business that’s reinvented itself. I would love your input on stories you would like to read here. If you would like to write a guest blog post, I’m open to that. If you want to share a…
I recently started reading The Geography of Bliss — our friends Matthew and Lisa bought it for John and he enjoyed it so I’m taking my turn. Here’s how the author’s Web site describes it: Eric Weiner’s The Geography of Bliss signals the arrival of the next great category of literary nonfiction: the philosophical self-help humorous travel memoir. Weiner, a…
Preservation Hall Jazz Band is making an East Coast swing this weekend — Kent, Conn. on Saturday and Lancaster, Pa. on Sunday. Just ahead of the band’s journey up here, I plan to interview Ben Jaffe, who took over the jazz institution his parents started in New Orleans and has balanced a reverence for tradition with an infusion of new ideas. Ben serves…
Matt and Rene Greff run two popular businesses – Arbor Brewing Co., a brewpub in Ann Arbor, which spawned Corner Brewery, a microbrewery in Ypsilanti where they bottle beer for retail distribution. Both places draw big crowds and reviewers praise their beer. It’s quite the successful little empire. Matt and Rene are two of our very favorite people back home, and…
Editor’s note: Many visitors are arriving on this post after searching for “Manhattan map” or “New York map.” If that sounds like you, some resources you might want are a subway map or Manhattan bus map. The New York State Tourism site might also be helpful. After you check those out, I hope you’ll come back and spend some time…
I love getting confirmation that I’m not the only one interested in reinvention — like a recent e-mail from Mediabistro promoting a “Reinvent Yourself” seminar this Saturday. If you’re available Saturday afternoon and live in the New York area, instructor Latia Curry’s class is described like this: You’ve been dissatisfied for a while. Maybe you woke up this morning and realized…
Have you ever had the experience of hearing someone articulate what you need better than you could yourself? Keith Ferrazzi, author of the hit business book “Never Eat Alone,” spoke at the Mediabistro Circus conference I went to this week. He has a new book out called “Who’s Got Your Back?” and I expected a talk that would be part…
Whether there’s a shared sense of the narrative of the recession, or perhaps some collective wishful thinking, certain stories seem to be popping up frequently: The recession is causing Americans to re-examine their consumerist spendaholic ways Layoffs are prompting Americans to pursue new, more fulfilling career paths I think the common thread in both these themes is a hope that…
Randy Pausch has gotten about 9 million views on his YouTube “Last Lecture” so there’s a decent chance you’ve already seen this — but in case you haven’t, or it’s been a while since you last watched it, I’m asking you to set aside the hour to do it. C’mon, you watch some TV shows that waste an hour of …
Newvine Growing’s audience is growing each month, but I still have Chuck Close to thank for lot of my visitors. I blogged about artist Chuck Close’s reinvention back in January, just a few weeks after launching this new effort, and that entry continues to lead many people here. Maybe even you? Here’s a sample of some search terms that landed…
I’m a big believer in the silver lining — that what initially looks negative can turn out to be a real positive. You might just need to be willing to accept that disguised gift. The New York Times recently ran a story headlined Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own. Part of the story says: Plenty of other…
Welcome to all my new visitors. Thanks in large part to Jim Carty’s Paper Tiger No More, I’ve had a huge spike — for me — in blog visitors. Jim gave my interview with Tony Dearing props on his blog last night, and my Monday stats were about four times my previous best day. Since I suspect many of you…
Reincarnation could be described as the ultimate reinvention: in death you leave behind one body and your soul goes on to another life in a new body. Not everyone believes in reincarnation, but it would appear the Newhouse family does, at least in business. Their company, Advance, announced this week that the 174-year-old daily newspaper The Ann Arbor News would…
If you’ve taken even a single management seminar, you’ve heard about how people hate change. You’re warned that no matter how terrible the problem you’re solving, your staff will likely cling to the way we’ve always done things and resist the new way. But we don’t just resist change when it’s imposed from outside. We often put blinders on to…
Editor’s note: This post is by far the most popular on my blog, thanks to people landing here searching for Chuck Close. If you are interested in art and painters, please check out some of my other posts with those related tags. In the green bar on the right, scroll down until you see “tags” and click on any word…
