Best of Berkun 2003-2015
I’ve written 1400+ posts, and seven books, on many topics over the 16 years this blog has existed. If you’re new to my work, here’s some of the most popular posts, including those featured in other websites or magazines.
In 2011 I published Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds, a collection of my best essays, which you pick up here. If you like what you see, follow me by email or on twitter. Thanks for reading.
Creativity
- How To Be Creative: the Short Honest Truth
- Creative Thinking Hacks* (video)
- Why You Get Ideas in The Shower
- How to be a Genius
- How to Pitch an Idea*
- How to Survive Creative Burnout*
- How to run a Brainstorming Meeting
- Don’t Be Precious (With Your Ideas)
- Idea Killers: Ways to kill ideas and countermeasures
- John Cleese On Creativity (with notes)
Philosophy of Life
- The Cult of Busy*
- How to Learn From Your Mistakes*
- How to Be a Free Thinker*
- How to Give and Receive Criticism*
- Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts*
- How to Stay Motivated*
- Attention and Sex*
- How to Make a Difference*
- Hating vs. Loving*
- The Three Piles of Life
- Why It’s OK to Be Obvious
- How to Be Good At Anything
- Should You Always Trust Your Gut? (NO)
- How to Discuss Politics with Friends
Innovation
- Good beats “Innovative” nearly every time
- Innovation vs. Improvement: How do you know what you have?
- Stop Saying Innovation / Why Jargon Feeds on Lazy Minds
- Where do Your Ideas Die?
- How to Diagnose Creative Failures
- How to Innovate Right Now
- The 5 Best Books on Innovation EVER
- Inside Pixar’s Leadership
- The Simple Plan: My speech at The Economist
- 9 Ways to Understand How Ideas Spread
- The Idea Approval Index
- The Secret About Innovation Secrets
Public Speaking
- How to Prepare: A Checklist for Great Talks
- How to Fix Boring Lectures
- How to be Passionate
- The Attack of the Butterflies – how to overcome fear (PDF)
- An Open Letter to Speakers
- An Open Letter to Conference Organizers
- How to Give a Perfect Demo
- How To Speak to A Bored Audience
- Why Panel Sessions Suck and How to Fix Them
- How to Get Paid to Speak
- The Myth of the Tough Crowd
- How To Present Well Without Slides
Writing
- How to Write a Book – the short honest truth
- How to Write a Book, part 2
- Is Your Book Idea Good? Yes, I promise
- On Insecurity and Writing
- Why you Fail at Writing
- Writing Hacks Part 1: Starting
- How to write 1000 words (video)
- How to Find Your Voice
- Confessions of a Self Published Author
- How to Start Writing a Book
Working Life
- How to survive a bad manager
- Why You Must Lead or Follow*
- Why Smart People Defend Bad Ideas*
- Ten Reasons Managers Become Great
- Ten Reasons Managers Become Assholes
- Advice for New Managers
- How to Manage Smart People
- How to Convince Anyone of Anything
- An Open Letter to Micromanagers
- How to Call Bullshit on a Guru
- Why Do Big Companies Suck?
- How to Keep Your Mouth Shut
- Experience is Overrated
Interface Design / Making Software
- The Myth of Optimal Design
- The Myth of Discoverability
- The Top Mistakes UX Designers Make
- Why Software Sucks
- How to Run a Design Critique
- 5 Dangerous Ideas for Designers
- Software is Not Epic
- The Future of UI Will Be Boring
- Why Ease of Use Doesn’t Happen
- Asshole Driven Development
Project Management
- Why Project Managers Get No Respect
- Are You a Leader or A Tracker?
- How To Fix A Team
- How to Make Things Happen
- What To Do When Things Go Wrong
- How to Stop Over-communication
- How To Start Meetings on Time
Posts marked with * appear in Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds.
Did I miss a post you think belongs here? Leave a comment.
FYI, “An Open Letter to Micromanagers” link is not working.
Thanks Fabio. Fixed now.
Hello Scott,
Sorry Cant remember my comment , hope my comments didnt offend you, cant remember leaving one . ,memory must be going with age
Jane Owens
Scott, thanks for compiling this list. Mindfire really helped me get out of a creative rut, and I am looking forward to devouring the rest of your blog.
Thanks Maggie. Happy devouring.
Hi Scott,
Now finishing The year without pants, really enjoyed it. Any great posts on remote working for people considering starting a business of that kind?
Thank you!
Awesome blog! Some very good ideas. I would be honored if you visited mine. God bless.
BFT
Love it!!
Will Chou
Thanks for assembling these in one place. I feel a wee bit less overwhelmed now. :)