Software Is Not Epic
[Updated August 6th, 2019] “The whole world is pretending the breakthrough is in technology. The bottleneck is really in…
Latest Blog Posts
How to become a motivational speaker
I get asked about this often. Most of the news here isn’t good. There is a stigma around the…
What does “motivational speaker” mean to you?
Update: A post based on these survey results was posted: How to become a motivational speaker.
On Writing vs. Speaking
Paul Graham wrote recently on his perspectives on the written vs. spoken word. Graham admits he’s more confident as…
On Truth, Daisey and This American Life
The news: Mike Daisey presented a story from his one man show about Apple’s labor practices as journalistic fact to This American…
Upcoming speaking events
The spring / summer calendar is shaping up. Here are the public events I’ll be speaking at over the…
Are societies more against individuals than ever?
Imran Farouk, one of my kickstarter supporters for Mindfire, had this request for a blog post: Q: How has…
Syallabus for my Creative Thinking Course
I used to teach a class at the University of Washington on Creative Thinking. I’d love to teach it…
Quote of the day: Woody Guthrie / Born Naked
Quote of the day: “I see worlds and worlds of rooms and desks where men and women are gathered…
Mindfire #33 book on Kindle for Philosophy
Thanks to all your support and word spreading, Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds is the #33 book on…
Creative Thinking Hacks: Video
Here’s my fast track course on creative thinking. Everything you need to know in about 20 minutes, with some…
Glass & Glass on creativity
Ira Glass, of This American Life, interviewed his cousin, the famous composer Phillip Glass. Here are some excerpts on…
The problem with The New Groupthink
I’m an introvert. I like being an introvert. I’m glad someone is clarifying what introverts are or are not,…
Quote of the day
Here’s a good one from Grohl’s Grammy award acceptance speech: “To me this award means a lot because it…
In Defense of Brainstorming
Periodically popular articles arise decrying brainstorming as flawed (Jonah Lehrer’s article in the New Yorker, Groupthink: the brainstorming myth, is…
Edison vs. Tesla: two approaches to problem solving
Two heroes in the pantheon of inventors are Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. Of their many contrasts (ethics being…
Livestream 9am PST: Creative thinking hacks
I’m speaking today at Creative Mornings Seattle on Creative Thinking Hacks. I just learned there will be a livestream. You can…
The 5 best books on Innovation EVER
Before I share the list of the 5 best books on innovation, here’s a list of 5 things you…
The top mistakes UX designers make
Last week I spoke at the Puget Sound SIGCHI meeting. Since it’s a group of designers and user researchers,…
Is speaking easier than writing? Some advice
I get many emails asking about writing, in response to the popular posts I’ve written about writing. Recently Shawnee M.…