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Category: Culture

Why has innovation slowed down? (Or has it?)

Posted on January 26, 2015February 3, 2021 in Culture, Innovationby Scott Berkun

I do not like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. My reason is that while it seems sensible, it’s largely made…

What I learned at the Civil Rights Museum / MLK

Posted on January 19, 2015January 18, 2016 in Culture, historyby Scott Berkun

The hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4th 1968, is now the primary site of the…

How To Get Out Of A Bad Habit

Posted on July 21, 2014July 22, 2014 in ask berkun, Culture, Philosophyby Scott Berkun

I regularly take the the top voted question from readers and answer them in a post. With 62 votes, today’s winner…

Why You Are Not Drowning In Data

Posted on June 25, 2014February 1, 2018 in Culture, Philosophyby Scott Berkun

[This essay appeared in issue #9 of Offscreen magazine] We love to blame the world because the world can’t…

A Critique of “Don’t Fuck Up The Culture”

Posted on April 21, 2014March 31, 2016 in Culture, Managementby Scott Berkun

I enjoyed Brian Chesky’s recent post Don’t Fuck Up The Culture, where he proclaims to the employees of Airbnb…

How do *you* eat Pho?

Posted on March 18, 2014 in Cultureby Scott Berkun

I rarely write about food here, but eating and cooking are two of my favorite things. Pho, Vietnamese rice…

Should you ban Woody Allen’s films?

Posted on February 23, 2014March 6, 2014 in Culture, Philosophyby Scott Berkun

The resurfacing of Woody Allen’s past is sad from many perspectives, amplified by how a daughter and a family…

Why Speed Reading Is For Fools

Posted on February 6, 2014September 10, 2015 in Books, Culture, Generalby Scott Berkun

‘There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”…

When Did You Last Change Your Mind?

Posted on February 3, 2014August 7, 2015 in Culture, Philosophyby Scott Berkun

When was the last time you changed your mind about something important? As children we changed our minds frequently…

What is the nature of friendship in an era of Facebook? An opinion

Posted on January 29, 2014 in ask berkun, Cultureby Scott Berkun

I’m back on the reader suggestion horse, and what a fun horse it is. The current top voted question…

Can Free Speech Survive The Social Media Mob? (Video / Slides)

Posted on January 23, 2014February 27, 2014 in Culture, politics, Web 2.0 / social softwareby Scott Berkun

Thanks to SeattleSMC for hosting me to speak at Seattle City Hall on Free Speech and The Social Media Mob. Additional…

Compiled list: Legal cases related to online harassment & free speech

Posted on January 21, 2014January 13, 2017 in Culture, politicsby Scott Berkun

In preparing for my lecture on Free Speech and Social media, I’ve been looking for examples where these issues…

Social Media, Free Speech and the Mob: input wanted

Posted on January 8, 2014January 13, 2014 in Culture, politicsby Scott Berkun

I was invited to speak at Seattle’s Social Media Club on Wed 1/22 (registration here) on the topic of Free…

Working For Free: An Argument

Posted on October 28, 2013September 16, 2015 in Business, Culture, Writing Wellby Scott Berkun

Tim Krieder, author of the excellent We Learn Nothing, wrote in the NYTimes about the mistake of working for…

Should you marry and have kids?

Posted on October 10, 2013October 10, 2013 in Cultureby Scott Berkun

In a series of posts, called Ask Berkun, I write on topics people submit and vote for. Here’s an old…

You are not what you measure

Posted on January 25, 2013February 13, 2018 in Culture, Management, Philosophyby Scott Berkun

On the day you die, what will your friends and family remember about who you were? At work, they…

On Free Speech vs. Religious Respect: in five sentences

Posted on September 19, 2012 in Culture, Philosophyby Scott Berkun

Either people believe in free speech or they don’t. Some cultures do, but many do not. It’s inevitable that…

9 ways to understand how ideas spread

Posted on September 17, 2012May 11, 2016 in Business, Culture, Innovationby Scott Berkun

A reader named Niko, who is working on a PhD in social network analysis, asked me for my favorite…

The Idiot Theory of News

Posted on May 23, 2012January 10, 2014 in Cultureby Scott Berkun

One of the simplest stories for a reporter to tell is “An important idiot did something stupid.” This can…

How to understand the media (Review of The Influencing Machine)

Posted on November 30, 2011December 4, 2015 in Culture, politicsby Scott Berkun

We often talk about “the media” as if it were as singular monolithic thing, which it isn’t. Any argument…

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Scott Berkun is the author of eight popular books on creativity, design, leadership and public speaking. You can hire him to speak, ask him a question or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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Scott's Awesome Books

How Design Makes The World

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“Nobody’s better at explaining how the world really works than Scott Berkun.” – Jeffrey Zeldman, co-founder of A List Apart

The Dance of the Possible

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"You'll find a lot to steal from this short, inspiring guide to being creative. Made me want to get up and make stuff!" - Austin Kleon, author of How To Steal Like An Artist

The Ghost of My Father

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The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com & the Future of Work

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Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds

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Confessions of a Public Speaker

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The Myths of Innovation

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Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management

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About Scott

Scott Berkun is the author of eight popular books on creativity, leadership, philosophy and speaking (more about Scott's background).

You can hire him to speak, ask him a question or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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