Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

Getting a grip on the big picture

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Real perspective:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” ~ Steve Jobs

 

Featured Posts

Appreciating the teachers of Chicago Tech Academy

Grab a copy of this week's Forbes magazine for JJ Colao's great story about Chicago Tech Academy. It's fitting recognition for the school during a week the nation celebrates teachers:

Forbes is out with their list of Top Incubators and Accelerators in America, and it includes TechNexus. When we opened this facility five years ago, we did everything we could to avoid being called an incubator. The...

I’m 40, so my wide-eyed optimism has crow’s feet at its edges

Debuting my new Forbes column today; from my first contribution:
Am I getting too old for this entrepreneur’s game, maybe too cynical? Has my risk tolerance receded with my hairline? Have I become a midlife cliché after 25 years of being the youngest, most impassioned guy in the room? Screw all that. Everything is prelude. I’ve built some good organizations, but there’s still a really great company (or two or three) in me. I’ve know...

Chi Tech Academy featured in Inc Magazine

Nice write up by Christina DesMarais in Inc Magazine about Chicago Tech Academy:
If you think the next generation of start-up founders will hail from Stanford, Harvard, or some other university cranking out MBAs, you might want to expand your thinking. There’s a 3-year-old inner-city high school in Chicago—filled mostly with poor African American youth—grooming students who know how to think, act, and speak like entrepreneurs....

A shifting of my priorities…

I’ve been mostly silent for the past three weeks, and absent from community events. I’ve disconnected as much as possible from the routine, and shifted focus to my family. Here’s why… Four years ago, my 30-year-old sister Hilliary died after a courageous battle with a rare and insidious cancer. It was the f...