Leadership During A Crisis With CEO Ed Bastian

Ed Bastian has had his hands full navigating Delta through the pandemic. If you think you’ve had a rough go, imagine being the CEO of an airline right now. It’s a war on all fronts to still have any business at all whenever this ends. Time will tell if he succeeds. Bastian recently appeared on …

Podcast Of The Week: The Real Story Of MTV As Told By The Founders

I’m already on the record as a huge fan of Bob Pittman and the Math & Magic podcast. His contribution to so many of my formative media experiences between MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, etc., is, literally, immeasurable. This week they posted a special combo episode taking highlights from everyone he’s interviewed about the early days of …

Rick Rubin, Beastie Boys, And The Power Of Confidence

They were just a bunch of high school kids cutting class. He was the inexplicably connected college kid with a sound system, two turntables, and a vinyl library* in his dorm room where they would all hang out. When they started to make music as Beastie Boys, they remembered Rick Rubin making them feel like …

Taking Science And Philosophy To Work

I’ve worked in businesses that were all numbers and watched them fall apart at the seams. I’ve experienced their atheistic death by abacus when a spreadsheet had the only answers. I’ve also worked in businesses that were purely driven by emotions and feelings and watched as they mushroom clouded into the ether. I’ve experienced the …

Custodians And Creatives

Every organization needs custodians and creatives. People to care for things, and people to bring new things in. People who maintain the operation, and people who reinvent it. People who hold onto the past, and people who chase the future. The combination is what makes it sustainable. We’d like to think custodians can protect the …

Our Spartan Shield

The Spartans would fine a soldier who lost a helmet or breastplate in battle. However if a soldier lost a shield, he would be put to death. By their logic, the helmet and breastplate were worn to protect the individual, but the shield, that was borne to protect the whole army. There was no excuse …

Sunday Music: April 29, 1992, There Was A Riot On The Streets Tell Me Where Were You?

When I first heard Sublime’s “April 29,1992” in the mid-90s I thought it was just some punk/anarchist stuff. These last few weeks it’s been one of the songs I’ve revisited several times. It’s not just about looting and rebelling, it’s about inequity. It’s about the dark side of our consumer culture, where when the things …

Lessons From The Rise Of Sub Pop Records

Sub Pop Records founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman said there were two critical things they got right in the early days of the label: wherever possible they cut out the middle man, and they focused on limited releases. Any business can borrow these basic principles. In the music industry, record labels would work with …

Sunday Music: Never Forget In The Story Of Jesus The Hero Was Killed By The State (New Run The Jewels)

Run The Jewels released a powerful and timely new album this week. See Killer Mike’s verse from “Walking in the Snow” below: The way I see it, you're probably freest from the ages one to fourAround the age of five you're shipped away for your body to be storedThey promise education, but really they give …

Podcast Of The Week: The Importance Of The Nationwide Protests Over George Floyd’s Death

Perspective matters. Seeking not just views that differ from our own, but also diverse life experiences that have greater nuances to their view than our own, it matters. I’m sharing three today, all that expanded my understanding of connecting what is going on in America this past week to our collective history. I know I …