Thought Leadership Essays

entrepreneurship

Are You Listening To The Whispers Of Your Heart?

March 15, 2018

Over the years, I have used this blog to evangelize the merits and virtues of purpose-driven entrepreneurship and living. Early in this journey, especially as things started to pick up and grow, I viewed entrepreneurship as a powerful way out of the daily grind of corporate life. It was a ticket (if not THE ticket) […]

Keyhubs – Our Evolving Blueprint

October 24, 2015

Pollen recently wrote an exceptionally hip article about Keyhubs. Unlike many business publications, Pollen is an incredibly cool, artistic and creative medium for fostering community. I had been tracking their feature stories for some time and greatly admired how they integrated visuals and story telling to put together remarkably engaging content. When they reached out […]

Teaching – How the Students of MCTC Touched My Heart and Soul

May 29, 2015

Sometimes the best things in life happen by “accident”. You don’t really plan it – it just sort of happens – naturally, organically. I never really planned on becoming an entrepreneur. It just sort of happened. The same thing occurred with teaching. It all started with this blog. When I started blogging 4+ years ago, I […]

People – The Greatest Books Ever

March 21, 2014

A lot of people ask me what books I read. To be honest, I don’t read very many books. I have never been a prolific reader, although I spent 7 seven years reading this book – not exactly what you would call “light reading” – 2000-plus pages of fine print. Maybe that sucked the reading life out […]

Meaningful Work Starts With Love

January 25, 2014

I have given a lot of talks in the last few years – mostly about Keyhubs and the business applications of social network analysis. About a year ago, I was invited to address the Entrepreneurship Club at the University of Minnesota. If you have been following my blog, you know that I like to write […]

Oh, the Places We’ve Been!

December 21, 2013

It is that time of year again – holidays, end-of-year, family gatherings, business reflection and planning. It is a time of convergence, a time when generosity, winding-down and looking ahead all meld together in a flavorful, festive spirit. This time of year often gets me thinking about Dr. Suess – playful rhymes mixed with meaningful wisdom. […]

Active Disengagement – Is the Spirit of Commerce at Odds With the Human Spirit?

October 4, 2013

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the alarmingly high percentage of actively disengaged employees in the workforce. There are many factors that affect employee engagement – job fit, company culture and manager / employee relationship to name a few. When I reflect on my own career and the times I felt more […]

Hobbies Are Underrated – The Case for Heart-Centered Entrepreneurship

July 23, 2013

I have written about many aspects of the entrepreneurial journey via this blog – the metaphor, the mystery and the back-story to name a few. But I have not written about one of the most important, critical and soulfully satisfying parts of the ride. It is what I refer to as the “Hobby Phase”. If […]

Entrepreneurship and Spirituality – An Unlikely Combination?

December 8, 2012

When I first embarked on the entrepreneurial journey 3 years ago, all I could think about was “surviving”.  Will it work? Can I make it? What if I fail? In 2010, I had about a 7 month runway to get Keyhubs off the ground. By month six we still had no revenue.  There was interest from potential clients, but nothing to […]

Ode To My Wife – The Entrepreneur Behind the Man

September 25, 2012

I am nearing the 3 year mark of when I quit my day-job to pursue Keyhubs full-time. I still remember the fateful day I gave notice and the pivotal events that followed in the days after. During the six months up to that point I was growing increasingly dissatisfied with work. My peers were getting […]

Find Your Passion and Bring It Forth

June 23, 2012

Have you ever checked out Yahoo’s Second Act stories? It is a webby-award winning, growing collection of short (5 minute) video stories, chronicling the reinvention of everyday people, through passion and purpose. I don’t watch much TV, but I do eagerly await the newest installment of “Second Act” stories. There are about 150 of them […]

Shake The Tree and Fruit Will Fall – Entrepreneurial Lessons in Business Development

April 5, 2012

When you are launching a new business (or even if you are a fairly established business) you experience peaks and troughs when it comes to monthly or quarterly revenue.  When things are flowing, you think they are going to flow forever.  And when things dry up you feel like you might have to close shop […]

Why I Need To Thank My Enemies – Confessions of an Entrepreneur

February 3, 2012

Becoming an entrepreneur has been one of the most thrilling adventures of my life – certainly the most fulfilling of my professional career.  I am not sure I could say that two years ago when we were still in the dark aftermaths of the recession and had no revenue. At times, I definitely felt like […]