Jason's Blog

I have mixed feelings about New Year's Resolutions. On the one hand, it's good to spend time thinking about what you'd like to accomplish or change in the year ahead. We want to lose weight, find love, start a business, learn to play harmonica (that one was mine)......

The holidays are a time for giving and generosity. It's a time for love. But, if your life is anything like mine, the giving and generosity quickly turns into a shopping list and seemingly endless errands to run. The holiday season starts with such promise and hope,...

From my early days reading "Choose your Own Adventure," I've been in love with books. Reading the right book at the right time can change your life. It certainly has for me many times over. As the holidays approach, perhaps you'll be lucky enough to find some downtime...

Many of us are still recovering from four days of over-eating and over-spending from this past holiday weekend.  It was, I'll admit, a nice distraction from the chaos unleashed everywhere by the recent election season. Thanksgiving for me is a time to reflect on what...

I've been thinking a lot about courage lately. Courage seems to be a vital ingredient to so many of the things that are most important to making a real difference through our work and in our lives. That's because courage is only necessary in the face of vulnerability....

Over the past couple of years, I've been coaching a lot of really smart, early career professionals about how to advance their career. The concept of "letting go of who gets credit" is fequently at the heart of these conversations.  So, I decided to dust off this...

Last week, I was invited by my friend and colleague, Sally Elatta, to join a daylong think tank to tackle the question "What does performance management look like in an Agile environment?" Sally is the CEO and founder of Agile Transformation, a leader in helping...

This is the time of year in most organizations where decisions are made that affect what will be done and what will be funded in the upcoming year. Learning to compete successfully for these resources can make or break your career. To win in the fight for support and...

It's Halloween. Most kids love the holiday (I know mine do). Some adults love it too. They crave the opportunity to dress up, to express their creativity and maybe be a little silly. But, some adults also hate it. The thought of dressing up makes them nauseous....

In 1999, I saw the Blair Witch Project. It blew my mind. I thought it was brilliant. Going into the theater that night, I knew next to nothing about the movie. I had seen a couple of short television commercials for it, but that was it. I wasn't sure exactly what I...

My friend, Jason Seiden, years ago introduced me to the idea of thinking of your career (and life) as chapters in the story of our life. I love this metaphor. Every chapter has a purpose and also a beginning and an end.  And, each chapter sets a foundation for the...

If you know me personally, subscribe to this blog, or we are Facebook friends, you know that my oldest son is a Marine.  He's been a Marine now for over a year. Being the parent of a soldier is an experience that I don't know you can really prepare for and it comes...

One of the best books I've found over the past year is Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant.  As an accused non-conformist, I dove into this book expecting to find validation and reinforcement that my brand of making waves was somehow the "right...

"Dad.  Dad.  Dad!" I remember this ritual with my dad when I was a kid.  Trying to get his attention drawn away from whatever he was doing. And, now, I've recognized my kids doing the same with me as they try to rattle me free from scanning something on my phone or...

Since returning from my Global Village trip to Guatemala with Habitat for Humanity in December, I've had it on my list to write up some lessons I took from this experience. Suddenly, it's March and 2016 is briskly marching by. Before another week can pass, here are...

In December of last year, I had the opportunity to join a Habitat for Humanity Global Village volunteer trip to Guatemala. I spent the week with a team of volunteers from all over the US. Our time there was spent building a home, latrines, and smokeless stoves for...

Last fall, I had the opportunity to speak on a leadership topic as part of a Men's Leadership forum.  I was give 7 minutes to speak and the only parameters were that the topic be one related to leadership. I chose to use this as an opportunity to challenge myself to...

After a recent keynote presentation I gave with my partner in crime, Joe Gerstandt, a lady approached me.  She handed me a business card with note written on the back.  Our presentation that day had been about authenticity and the journey to becoming more authentic in...

Over the past year or longer, I've been searching a place to invest some of my time and talents towards making the world a better place.  Throughout my career, I've found that if I volunteer some time outside of work to an organization or cause that I care about, I...

If you aren't a golf fan, that you probably didn't pay any attention to the Open Championship over the weekend. It was a heck of a tourney to watch. As I watched the coverage over the first couple days of the tournament, one of the things that stood out was how the...

Making small talk has been pretty easy for me lately. When someone says to me, "What's new with you?" I say, "Well, the main news around our house is that we just sent our oldest son off to Marine Corps boot camp." Pretty easy to have a conversation from there. Either...

Wow, life is an exciting ride. But, time certainly flies when you are having fun and trying to do stuff that matters. The last post I wrote on this blog was nearly two and a half years ago. Yikes. That's a lifetime on the interwebs. Over the past two years, a lot has...

A few weeks back, I wrote about my process of finding focus and commitment for my path forward. It's been a quite a journey to learn this lesson and take my next step. The reason for this post is to share some detail about what I will be doing in 2013 and beyond.  The...

Joe and I started doing a session a year or so ago at Talent Anarchy called HackLab.  The idea behind the session was simple: to teach people how to use the basic principles of computer hacking to create innovation within their work--any kind of work.  Conceptually,...

As this year comes to a close, I have been reflecting on what I've learned or what lessons have been reinforced for me this year. While I acknowledge that this post is largely self-serving and reflective, I'm posting it as a way to "share my work" with you so that you...

Should. I should have said something. I should go back to school. I should have just said I was sorry. I should have stood up for myself. I should talk to my boss about how unhappy I am. I should have spent my time with my kids when they were smaller. I should have...