If you’re a little lost by the title, there’s a classic business idea of the “blue ocean”. If you’re in a competitive industry (read: sharks), you’re in a red ocean. There’s blood in the water. If you’re in an industry with no competition, you’re in a blue ocean. There’s lots of space. And no blood. […]
It’s OK to be wrong, but lazy thinking isn’t OK. In politics, in spirituality, in life, and in relationships, it’s easy to not process things intelligently. When we discuss ideas, we want to get to the root of those ideas. We need to understand how and why things work. We need to ask good questions. In […]
It’s easy to lose the main thing. When you are giving a talk, do you have a main thing you’d like to communicate? Does your business have a main goal? Do you have one big thing you want to accomplish each day? We miss the main thing because it’s hard to focus on the main thing. […]
The difference between a business and a freelancer is: Who does the work? In a business, you build systems and processes to use the lowest talent possible (not to say you don’t want talented people, but you don’t want to need them to function). With a business, you create systems and processes to help make […]
Many job postings today require a good bit of experience. 8 years here. 10 years there. And rightly so, they want hires who know what they are doing. What you need to make sure however, is that experience doesn’t replace hard work and innovation. What happens when things change so fast your experience isn’t relevant anymore? That’s […]
Recently I was re-reading the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10. One verse stuck out particularly. “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and […]
Have you ever had a big dream (start a non-profit, run a business, change something in culture) and someone offers you some free advice like “you’re more likely to get hit by lightning than for [that thing] to happen”? Besides being annoying, there’s one problem with this idea. Yes, it’s fairly unlikely you’ll get hit […]
“Most people wouldn’t even be the lead character in a movie about their own lives.” If you let that quote sink in for a minute, it can be a little scary. If a famous Hollywood director came up and asked to make a movie about your life, what would it entail? Are there any battles […]
In case you haven’t noticed, our culture uses our phones quite a bit. Call it an addiction. Call it whatever you want, but ultimately, I’d argue that the reason we spend so much time on our phones is because our lives are often very uninteresting. When you’re hiking in the mountains, meeting with clients, digging […]
In many of the churches I’ve attended, there seems to be an utter fear of culture. Specifically, a fear of being in the minority. The fact that culture is often running contrary to our “traditional” beliefs scares some people immensely. But when we read through scripture, it didn’t seem to bother Jesus. In fact, he […]