Wait for the fat pitch. That’s what great baseball hitters do. The fat pitch is one that is so juicy and perfectly served to you that you can no doubt take a swing and hit a homerun.
Fat pitches don’t come often. Life is a cunning pitcher. So good hitters don’t swing at everything. They pass on dozens of balls, take walks, and just wait for that one perfect pitch.
The point is to be selective. Every pitch that comes your way looks tempting. But just as you swing at one, it curves …

My first impression of Seth Godin upon meeting him was that he is an extraordinarily efficient person.  You wouldn’t think of a “creative” as efficient in the sense that a supply chain manager, hamburger flipper, accountant, or the Octomom are efficient.  But Seth conducted interviews with about thirty candidates for the SAMBA program in under three hours.  He made up his mind on who fit perfectly soon after and, it turns out, he picked an amazing group.
How amazing? That remains to be seen. Everyone in the group was so remarkable, I …

The world would be a much better place if less people tried to build startups. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we could use less entrepreneurship. Innovative entrepreneurs will pull us out of this recession more sustainably and more meaningfully than any government bureaucrat with indirect policy levers could ever do. What I am saying is that we need more people wanting to build companies, not startups. That is not a too subtle distinction.
Would-be entrepreneurs proclaim proudly how they are starting new businesses and are willing to endure many …

The best Super Bowl commercial for me was the National Football League’s “Super Ad: Who Wants it More?” spot titled Mr. Oboe. The advert features a story about NFL offensive lineman Ephraim Salaam convincing a young, oboe-playing grocery bagger named Chester Pitts to give football a try. Pitts ends up joining the San Diego State football team, getting selected in the second round of the NFL draft, and playing right alongside Salaam for the Houston Texans.
What an inspiring story! It reminds me of a line from Disney’s (DIS) Pixar-produced Ratatouille. …