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My Generosity Experiment
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Monthly Archives: May 2010
Employee since 2007
The next time you’re in CostCo, check out the employees’ badges. Right under the employee’s name, the badge say “Employee since _______”. Subtle, but powerful. From what I know about CostCo, this is the real deal – they care about … Continue reading
Commencement job blues
Graduation is in the air, and I can’t help but think about students finishing their degrees and marching off to their new jobs. It’s a stressful enough time, and I suspect that even though the economy is no longer in … Continue reading
Which purpose?
Having started my professional life as a management consultant, I’m all too familiar with the snarky refrain of people exiting the sector, “I got tired of flying around the world to make the world safe for Fortune 500 companies.” Clever … Continue reading
The only blogging advice I have ever taken
There’s a lot of advice out there for how to be a successful blogger, and most of it feels like it either should be ignored or needs to be taken for what it is – advice on how to game … Continue reading
Pitching you, without apology
Everyone knows knows that if you run a startup you need an “elevator pitch,” a description of your business that’s pithy enough to capture the attention of a potential investor in the length of an elevator ride. You know what … Continue reading
A new tool
I participated an interesting conversation tonight of about 30 people all interested in the “impact investing” space which, broadly defined, is focused on taking an investment-based, market-based approach to solving major social problems. Acumen Fund, where I work, is one … Continue reading
Posted in Acumen Fund
Tagged Acumen Fund, impact investing, philanthropy, social change
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90% or 5%
I recently heard a speaker who suggested, to a roomful of hyper-productive multitaskers, a radical reorientation of how to spend time. This speaker, a successful investor and investment adviser, doesn’t write emails, doesn’t multi-task, and doesn’t have a Pavlovian response … Continue reading
One good sign
In early 2008, about a year after I started at Acumen Fund, I noticed something surprising. Even though I was busier than I had ever been, I started reading again– first fiction, but then all sorts of things including a … Continue reading
Work like a freelancer
Twice in the last 24 hours I’ve come across two glimpses into the life of the freelancer / writer that struck a chord. Chris Guillebeau, who is the author of an inspiring and useful manifesto called 279 Days to Overnight … Continue reading
Posted in Linchpin
Tagged Art of Nonconformity, Chris Guillebeau, freelancing, Linchpin, Work
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Yesterday’s salad
Traveling on Monday morning, and hoping to avoid on-board food, I picked up a $9 Caesar salad at the Balducci’s in the Delta terminal at JFK. A few hours later, my laptop dead, I popped open the plastic box to … Continue reading
