Sydney, Australia, 1989. So here I was… making it in the super-competitive business world. I was: heir apparent in a major multi-national ad firm, marketing writer, national new-business director, just voted in the top 10 across the country, blah blah. An ‘80’s Mad Man. And then we had a third child, unexpectedly. I came home one night late (as usual) from the office and my wife asked me to […]
Pregame members aren’t known for taking the simpler path. As creators, entrepreneurs, and all-around ambitious individuals, we’ve consciously chosen lifestyles that don’t always follow the norm. As such, we’re presented with particular challenges. Even the mundane can carry new dimensions depending on our circumstances any given day. Is my business making a positive impact? How can I be present as a parent and partner? How can I make a living […]
Girl Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Success, Sanity and Happiness for the Female Entrepreneur Cara Alwill Leyba Portfolio/ Penguin Random House, 2015, 2017 The Idea If you are a male entrepreneur, you may want to skip this month’s book review. This month, it’s all about the women, as Cara Alwill Leyba shares her coaching philosophies in the cloak of bright shininess and luxe living. This book evolved from her blog, […]
Who among us hasn’t felt—in a moment of heartache or sorrow or rage or any other or so-called “negative” emotion—that if we just could change X about ourselves (or someone else) we could achieve Y, Z, or maybe the entire rest of the alphabet? The allure of this sort of magical thinking compells me to write frequently about the perils of positive psychology and for good reason: the more obsessed […]
The other day I was having coffee with someone who is in the field of video production and he brought up an interesting question. He asked: “What do you do when you’re meeting people and they keep telling you that they don’t need your service right now, but to send your information because they could use it someday?” He explained how this dynamic was causing his business to have a lot […]
Lao Tzu famously wrote that the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, which despite its face value, “yeah, no shit” philosophy, tells me that even the greatest achievements and distances are realized in the smallest of increments, and that paramount to all, is that there is a start. One must simply start, as small a step as it may be, in order to get from here to […]
The day that I left Indiana I had to pull over to the side of the road after passing the Illinois border to cry. I couldn’t contain myself and didn’t want to swerve into the median or off into the corn. I finally did it. I always wanted to leave Indianapolis, and for years I put it off. I was so afraid of what the possibility of self-actualization might look […]
Retrospection is well-established as a critical business tool. Whether we’re comparing this year’s sales results to last year’s, providing employee feedback, or analyzing a project’s success, we all agree on the value of looking backward in time, to see what it can teach us. However, when it comes to the personal, we often discourage each other from too much looking back. We have a library of cliches and platitudes. “Don’t […]
Pregame is all about goals, but lately, we’ve been talk about souls. The daily “workouts” at the Pregame Clubhouse focus on business: clarifying your goals, creating a game plan, staying accountable for your actions, and connecting with the people who will help move you forward. But why are we doing it? What is the point of building a business? For Pregame members, it’s about building an extraordinary and authentic life. […]
In today’s culture, entrepreneurship is glorified. But for all the wrong reasons. We elevate founders – well, the conventionally successful ones – to heights previously reserved only for rock bands and movie stars. Success, the ultimate American value, is exemplified by the narrative of the solo dreamer who had an idea and then through grit, determination, and deserved good fortune, achieved fame and material wealth within his lifetime. Of course, […]