"Dream Bigger, Change History"

On October 31, 2013, I moderated a roundtable discussion at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, Austria. The "Explorers Panel" including Ariel Fuchs of SeaOrbiter and Bas Lansdorp of Mars One, both of whom are working on incredibly ambitious entrepreneurial ventures. The Festival was a 3-day celebration of technology innovation, with 50+ speakers, 25+ startups, and 2500+ attendees.

There were some technical glitches that prevented the introduction and conclusion from going exactly as planned, but overall the entire session went quite smoothly.

It consisted of 4 sections:

• Part 1: "Dream Bigger, Change History"
• Part 2: Highlights from my professional life
• Part 3: Panel discussion
• Part 4: Conclusion

Here is the video:

Since the final edit of the public video focused more on me and the panelists than on the constantly changing slides, here is the entire slide presentation:

"It's Not About the Nail"

For anyone who is married--or even in any sort of long-term relationship--this video needs no introduction. Just watch, listen, and moan.

Fortune Cookie Fiasco

This past weekend I was cleaning out my home office, and I came across 5 fortunes from a dinner I had with my family at a Chinese restaurant over a year ago. My three kids (now 14, 12, and 8) love going to Chinese restaurants, and one of their favorite parts of the meal is the end ... when we get our fortune cookies.

On this particular night, they quickly grabbed their cookies, broke them apart, and read their fortunes out loud. I was really proud of how insightful they were, thinking deeply about the philosophical messages inscribed on the little pieces of paper from their cookies, as well as their mother's.

Then, in a scene straight out of a comedy movie or TV show, the table looked at me, got quiet to hear me read my fortune, and then burst into uncontrollable laughter. We all still talk about that moment every time we eat Chinese food.

Here are their fortunes:

"May your faith always exceed your fears"

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

"'Should have' is a favorite phrase for those looking for excuses."

"Even the smallest candle burns brighter in the dark."

And mine:

"Never spit against the wind."

Will Smith -- Freestyle Philosophy

A few months ago, I stumbled across a YouTube video of Will Smith freestyling at a birthday party. I couldn't really make out much of what he was saying, but then he let loose with a quote that struck me between the eyes:

If you say you're gonna run three miles and run two, I don't never have to worry about losin' at nothin' to you.

I guess it's a rap version of "Quitters never win, and winners never quit." Regardless, I've been using it as inspiration just about every day when I work out. You can check it out yourself at ~2:03 of the video:

Neil deGrasse Tyson Quote as Comic Strip

I recently discovered on the Web an extremely talented illustrator by the name of Gavin Aung Than. This guy is insanely good! I really like his Zen Pencils site, where he illustrates in comic book style some of the most famous quotes in history. My personal favorite is this one by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

TROY - opening quote

This is one of my favorite movie quotes of all time, and I play it on my iPad during every business trip. It makes me evaluate every day to make sure I am spending every minute on truly worthwhile activities. It keeps me focused on what is really important and allows me to let everything else slide by.


Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity.
And so we ask ourselves,
Will our actions echo across the centuries?
Will strangers hear our names long after we're gone and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?

- Odysseus

River of Dreams

As I do during the last week of every December, I recently conducted a personal self-analysis, reviewed the prior year, and set goals for the next. This year in particular has been especially significant because we are in the process of relocating our business--and therefore my family--from Seattle to South Florida. This helps mark a much deeper personal transition from one phase of life to another, so I have been unusually introspective.

To help my efforts, I have been spending a lot of time with one of my favorite songs of all time, River of Dreams by Billy Joel. Like many others who have listened to this song, I find the lyrics to be extremely powerful and inspirational:

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be lookin' for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross
Even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find what I've been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is I've been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To the river so deep
I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night

I’m not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That is runnin' through the promised land

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We're all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night

Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken"

The previous post came as a result of a conversation that started with my friend quoting Robert Frost's Road Not Taken ... another personal favorite:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Macbeth Soliloquy

A close friend recently reminded me of a soliloquy I once had to memorize back in 6th grade. Amazingly, I still remember this powerful passage from William Shakespeare's Macbeth:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

"Research" v. "Innovation"

Recently I was at an event where I heard this terrific quote from Dr. Dimitrios Niarchos, Director and Chairman of the National Center for Scientific Research ("Demokritos") in Athens, Greece. It's probably an oldie, but it was new to me:

"Research" is the transformation of money into knowledge.

"Innovation" is the transformation of knowledge into money.

Well said.

The Life Cycle ... in Reverse!

One of my favorite ditties goes a little like this:

"The life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, and get it out of the way. Then you live for 20 years in an old-age home and get kicked out when you are too young. You get a gold watch and then you go to work. You work for 40 years until you are young enough to enjoy your retirement. You go to college and party until you are ready for high school. Then you go to grade school, you become a little kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, and you go back into the womb. You spend the last 9 months floating, and you finish off as a gleam in somebody's eye."

"Just Do It" (original)

Nike may have encapsulated the essence in a three-word tagline, but Theodore Roosevelt said it much more passionately and eloquently:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Only Pessimists are Truly Happy People

I've been using this George F. Will quote since I was in high school:

"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."

LA or DC? Which Is The Lesser of Two Evils?

I'm in LA this week taking time out from the DC-area life to hang out with my friends from the entertainment industry. I thought this quote from Fred Thompson was entirely appropriate (and hilarious!):

While talking with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show this week, he referred to his tenure in the U.S. Senate prior to his long-standing run on Law & Order, "I often say after eight years in Washington, I longed for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood."