Little things add up to big ones over time.

Often “boil the ocean” projects that attempt to make huge course corrections, cultural changes, or technology shifts in an organization (or life, for that matter). But I think the biggest lesson that I’ve taken from my own experiences is that it’s really about the little things that are done consistently over and over that add up to major long term impact.

While I try to steer away from “work specific” topics, the best example I’ve seen of this what I learned from reading a bunch about Bill Bowerman. He calculated that…

For no reason whatsoever, I chose to watch Ridley Scott’s 2001 film Black Hawk Down about an ill-fated U.S. military raid in 1993 in Somalia this week. In many ways, it could be overlooked as a typical war movie: good guys, bad guys. But few films have captured the sheer intensity of battle and the incredible courage of soldiers.

Through the well-orchestrated action sequences and amazing use of sound to depict the horrors of it all, there was something special in this film around the importance of teams. …

I was introduced to the concept of ‘Oblique Strategies’ several years back (a.k.a. ‘Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas’) which is a ‘card-based method for promoting creativity’ created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt back in 1975.

The fifth iteration of the the physical deck, consisting of approximately 115 cards, can be purchased over at EnoShop if you’re interested in a more tactile approach. I have an earlier version of the deck of my office desk.

What’s behind the concept of Oblique Strategies: if you get ‘stuck’ or have a creative impasse, pull a random card from the deck and it…

1992’s The Last of the Mohicans is the topic of this week’s Deep Links. Co-written and directed by Michael Mann (yes, Heat) is set in 1757 during the French and Indian War and tells the tale of a white man adopted by the dying Mohican tribe, who becomes the protector of 2 daughters of a British colonel from the vengeful Huron warrior, Magua.

The movie can be described as one of the best period films ever made; and I’d challenge you to find a better climax scene than the final 12 minutes of this movie. Interestingly enough, it’s almost completely…

A recent thread inspired me to revisit the 1995 film Strange Days this week. It was as trippy as I remembered it — the story of an ex-cop named Lenny, played by Ralph Fiennes, who hustles tech called SQUID; which is a headset that records the wearer’s experiences for others to later ‘plug in’ and experience it themselves. It virtually allows you not only to see and hear the experience, but to feel it.

In classic Hollywood form, he eventually uncovers a conspiracy when he obtains a shocking and violent murder; it leads him down an unescapable path that surfaces…

In an earlier post, I mentioned that it’s been really important for me to keep low stress in stressful times; and that I’ve tried to carve our 30 minutes to read, 30 minutes to write and 30 minutes to play.

Every. Single. Day.

Another thing I have been striving towards is some form of daily exercise. Doesn’t matter: run, bike, walk, strength, hike, etc. And while I haven’t raced a marathon or competed in 70.3 triathlon in almost 2 years now, the volume of “moving my body” has steadily increased through 2020 and into 2021.

I’ve heard this movie referenced as “the best movie you never saw”: 1984’s Streets of Fire stars Michael Paré, Rick Moranis, Willem Dafoe and a then 19-year old Diane Lane. Described as “A Rock & Roll Fable”, it’s a bizarre mix of mid-1980’s pulp inter-twined with a retro-1950’s look and feel; it’s the story of a mercenary is hired to rescue his ex-girlfriend, a singer who has been kidnapped by a motorcycle gang.

This week I needed mindless-retro-brain-candy to watch. Streets of Fire nailed it; on one hand, it’s an over the top terrible movie with terrible dialog; Yet at…

Decided to try something new to show appreciation to my team (inspiration from Omar Shahine); every month I have started to send a hand-written note to someone that my directs have nominated.

This month, one of my team members who is a massive Mandalorian fan, shall receive one piece of Beskar for going above and beyond.