Today is deeply meaningful for me: it marks six years since my sister Kristin passed away and celebrates my son Theo’s second birthday. In this post, I reflect on the transformative power of rituals in honoring those I’ve lost. After college, my first role at NYL was in the Sleepy Hollow office. Like many of…
All posts by Kevin
[8] Becoming a Cyborg – How to Adopt Gen AI
Amongst the flood of information on Chat GPT and similar tools, I initially struggled to engaged with Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) effectively. After months of research and trial and error, I’ve developed a practical guide for integrating these tools into daily work and life. This isn’t a collection of quirky use cases or speculative…
[7] Seed Collecting – How to capture and enable great ideas
Since moving the suburbs I set up a compost bin behind my garage. In addition to food scraps, I compost brown paper and even the decorative pumpkins at the end of the fall. Each spring, I empty the bin of mostly composted materials and bury it behind my patio for future use around the yard.…
[Book 52] Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Digital Minimalism offers a thoughtful philosophy for navigating addictive technology. With smartphones leading the way, we have countless tech tools at our fingertips. While most can be very useful, many are designed to exploit psychological forces to capture your attention for as long as possible. This book is about reclaiming your attention. Cal defines Digital…
[Book 51] Change by Design by Tim Brown
Change by Design reveals how to incorporate design thinking in any business role. Designers lead with a human-centered approach, which means thoroughly designing with respect to the end-to-end user experience. At the heart of this ethos is empathy. To design well, you must acquire an intimate understanding the users’ pain points so that you can…
[Book 50] The Perfect Story by Karen Eber
The Perfect Story focuses on cultivating storytelling skills to foster connections, optimize how analysis is received, and influence decisions. This post will highlight how to use effective storytelling to gain buy-in on work projects. When sharing our work and ideas, expecting the audience to automatically grasp the depth and meaning we’ve uncovered is shortsighted. Effective…
[Book 49] Good to Great by Jim Collins
Good to Great explores the leadership and management qualities that transform good companies into exceptional ones. Jim begins by explaining that great companies are led by humble “Level 5” leaders, who credit others (or luck) for their success, yet shoulder responsibility when things go poorly. These leaders also have a relentless resolve to do great…
[Book 48] Drive by Daniel Pink
Drive explores the forces that motivate people. Traditionally, we’ve viewed extrinsic rewards (money, status, etc.) and the avoidance of punishment as the primary sources of motivation. Daniel, however, reveals that intrinsic motivation, such as enjoyment of the work itself, the sense of achievement by helping others, and personal growth can be far more powerful and…
[Book 47] Contagious by Jonah Berger
Contagious reveals the forces that make things go viral and guides us towards achieving organic growth. We share great ideas, products and experiences that are useful, funny and cool because sharing primes our audience to associate these desirable attributes with us. We also deeply connect with services that make us feel like insiders. Special, limited…
[Book 46] Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Leaders Eat Last delves into the core behaviors and dynamics that define effective leadership. Simon explains that leadership is a choice to serve others, not a position tied to a formal rank. While serving clients and customers is vital, true leadership focuses primarily on the well-being of a team and colleagues. In fact, a well-led…