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Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:19:31 GMT

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What Do We Do With Our Chance

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 18:42:12 GMT

Everyone needs more chances, more benefit of the doubt, more opportunity.

But what turns a chance into a big break or an opportunity? What we do with it once the chance arrives is paramount to the result.

Some may believe that they deserve a chance and instant success that accompanies it. Others know that work and perseverance must accompany chance as well.

What is owed you? Are degrees of success related to degrees of effort and resilience?

Mis-direction and Confusion

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 15:59:00 GMT

Gimmicks are memorable. But they’re gimmicks.

When architects show off their work or propose a bold new building complex or even ask for a zoning variance, the public sees the external photos. The tall spire, the innovative use of glass, the weird hole in the center of the building.

And when a car company shows off a new model at a press conference, it’s the headlights or the door handles that catch our attention.

And colleges brag about their football teams…

But the thing is, most of the time the building serves its function for the people working inside of it. The owner of the car can’t see the headlights, and almost all the benefits of college have zero to do with what happens for two hours on Saturday.

Gimmicks are memorable. But they’re gimmicks.

Authors:

Dr. Robert K. Greenleaf was formerly a professional development specialist at Brown University. Bob has 45 years of experience in education ranging from superintendent, principal, teacher, & special education. As President of Greenleaf Learning Bob has traveled the world conducting Brain & Learning Institutes. Dr. Bob’s doctoral work was at Vanderbilt with undergrad psychology. bob@greenleaflearning.com

* Adapted from Seth Godin, 7.21.24, who is a serial entrepreneur, Godin has a degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He runs the altMBA, a global business-thinking workshop, and founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne. In 2013, Godin was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, and in May 2018 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame too.

The post Mis-direction and Confusion appeared first on NHTLLA .

Dumbing It Down

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 15:53:00 GMT

There’s a lot of pressure to make things dumber. Better to make it dumb than to have someone simply walk away, apparently.

With so much to consume, and an unlimited amount to learn, there’s a race to make knowledge into a checklist item. Freon gas! Large language model! Coefficients! Many people just want to say a magic word and move on.

Of course, if we dumb things down, they become dumb.

This is not the same as simplifying concepts before adding nuance.

Four year olds easily learn to speak, and many kids in second grade can read. Not because they have a dumb version, but because someone cared enough to make the method simple.

There are simple explanations for quantum mechanics and for auto mechanics as well. They simply take a while to understand well enough to teach them to other people.

Start with basic principles, go slow and build. No need to dumb it down. Simple it up instead.

We have enough dumb. We need more simple.

Authors:

Dr. Robert K. Greenleaf was formerly a professional development specialist at Brown University. Bob has 45 years of experience as a superintendent, principal, teacher & special education. Bob has traveled conducting Brain & Learning Institutes for Greenleaf Learning. bob@greenleaflearning.com

* Adapted from Seth Godin, 11.10.24, who is a serial entrepreneur, Godin has a degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He runs the altMBA. In 2013, Godin was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, and in May 2018 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame too.

The post Dumbing It Down appeared first on NHTLLA .

Ice Sculpture

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 15:48:00 GMT

There are very few activities that are fully reversible.

Ice sculpture might be one of them. Once the ice melts, all the effort and information is lost, and refreezing lets you begin again with a new, fresh block of ice.

Of course, it’s not completely gone. The thing you made remains in your memory, and in the consciousness of anyone your artistry touched.

Yes, we leave a trail. Always.

Tread lightly, but make a difference.

Authors:

The post Ice Sculpture appeared first on NHTLLA .

Clear Ice

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:14:00 GMT

Got to love Zamboni machines.

They’re ungainly, they’re slow but they’re also majestic. Like an elephant for ice hockey.

After each period, when the ice is chopped up by play, the Zamboni rolls out and leaves behind a sheet of perfect ice. Cold, smooth and untouched.

It’s useful to acknowledge that the same service is offered to each of us, every night. We wake up in the morning with a freshly smoothed-over day in front of us.

Our intentions determine our first few moves, the way we’ll engage with today’s ice. And those moves often lead to the next ones, and on and on, until the day is over.

Add up enough clear ice days and the pattern becomes set . Everything, every choice, every disposition has a cost. Which price are you going to pay?

Authors:

* Adapted from Seth Godin, 7.22.24, who is a serial entrepreneur, Godin has a degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He runs the altMBA, a global business-thinking workshop, and founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne. In 2013, Godin was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, and in May 2018 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame too.

The post Clear Ice appeared first on NHTLLA .

Can you draw it on a graph?

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:11:00 GMT

And explain it with quadrants or bars or a spreadsheet?

Or… translate it into Spanish, Mandarin, or French?

It’s easy to memorize a few words that purport to explain something, but all that does is relabel it.

If you truly understand something, you can use different modalities to help someone else understand it. Translating an idea into a visual, map or drawing can enhance the understanding of concepts and illuminate meaning. It can make the concept itself visible to others and to possible options.

However, most graphs and visuals aren’t very good. They’re made by folks who don’t actually understand the concept they’re trying to explain. They’re restricted by difference between what is central and what is less important.

Authors:

* Adapted from Seth Godin, 7.6.24, who is a serial entrepreneur, Godin has a degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He runs the altMBA, a global business-thinking workshop, and founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne. In 2013, Godin was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, and in May 2018 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame too.

The post Can you draw it on a graph? appeared first on NHTLLA .

The Two Bicycle Errors

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:08:00 GMT

Momentum activities like public speaking, board sports and leadership all share an attribute with riding a bicycle: It gets easier when you get good at it.

The first error we often make is believing that someone (even us) will never be good at riding a bike, because riding a bike is so difficult. When we’re not good at it, it’s obvious to everyone. As we improve, we minimize that it was once difficult.

The second error is coming to the conclusion that people who are good at it are talented, born with the ability to do it. They’re not, they have simply earned a skill that translates into momentum.

There’s a difference between, “This person is a terrible public speaker,” and “this person will never be good at public speaking.”

And there’s a difference between, “They are a great leader,” and “they were born to lead.”

The thing about momentum activities is that we notice them only twice: when people are terrible at them, and when they’re good at it. That includes the person you see in the mirror.

Authors:

* Adapted from Seth Godin, 7.27.24, who is a serial entrepreneur, Godin has a degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He runs the altMBA, a global business-thinking workshop, and founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne. In 2013, Godin was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, and in May 2018 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame too.

The post The Two Bicycle Errors appeared first on NHTLLA .

Dumbing It Down

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 19:40:00 GMT

Authors:

The post Dumbing It Down appeared first on NHTLLA .

Ice Sculpture

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 19:19:00 GMT

There are very few activities that are fully reversible.

Ice sculpture might be one of them. Once the ice melts, all the effort and information is lost, and refreezing lets you begin again with a new, fresh block of ice.

Of course, it’s not completely gone. The thing you made remains in your memory, and in the consciousness of anyone your artistry touched.

Yes, we leave a trail. Always.

Tread lightly, but make a difference.

Authors:

The post Ice Sculpture appeared first on NHTLLA .

I Can’t Go For That

Tue, 27 May 2025 17:24:00 GMT

Culture has stability. “The way things are done around here.”

When we are pushed too far from our norms, life gets stressful.

Some of the people in the systems that used to keep things stable have discovered that they can make a profit or gain an edge by embracing extremism instead.

You might not have thought you’d be spending seven hours a day reading the internet, or most of your free time posting and responding, but that’s what the social media companies have pushed us to do.

And you might not embrace some of the extreme views that we’re exposed to every single day, but the pressure can feel relentless. It feels like we come out just a bit ahead if we go along with the latest angry meme.

It’s worth checking in with ourselves and the people we care about. What are we signing on to and supporting? How are we choosing to spend our time? Is it riskier than we’re comfortable with? And mostly, what sort of new world are we endorsing?

It might make sense to consider stability when we can.

Authors:

The post I Can’t Go For That appeared first on NHTLLA .

The Tooth Fairy

Tue, 27 May 2025 17:21:00 GMT

The post The Tooth Fairy appeared first on NHTLLA .

The Zoom Stretch

sales@associationsphere.com (Blue Hill) — Sun, 25 May 2025 18:11:56 GMT

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There are a lot of reasons why in-person meetings don’t involve a break every 12 minutes. It takes too long to stop and start up again. But this doesn’t apply to Zoom type meetings.

Screens off! Stand up. We’ll be back in 60 seconds could very well improve attention, efficiency and productivity. Why?

~If it’s not worth coming back, the meeting should have ended already.

~If you’re on the call, be on the call, lean in, let’s make something happen.

Otherwise you might as well find something else to do. What on-line requests of P-12 students are we making? Are they worth the time… or just taking up time?

Authors:

Doing it Step-By-Step

sales@associationsphere.com (Blue Hill) — Wed, 21 May 2025 18:13:58 GMT

Doing it Step-By-Step

This definitely has implications. Using the message with a specific example of steps would be so helpful.

I was surprised to discover that for many AI questions, if you add, “please figure this out step by step,” the AI will provide a dramatically more accurate and useful answer. This works on simple questions like, “how many times does the letter ‘r’ appear in the word ‘strawberry’” to much more complex issues.

It probably won’t surprise you to consider that this works even better for people.

When we ask a simple question, we often get an opinion or a memorized answer in return. “Freon gas” is not how a refrigerator works, it’s simply a two-word meme to get us through the question so we can move on. When we prompt a human brain to explain the steps, an entirely different process kicks in.

Thoughtful inquiry, pedagogy and user experience design push us to activate this sort of thinking. Yes, a problem often needs a knee-jerk response. It’s not efficient to perform rote tasks with step-by-step analysis.

When it’s important, though, we often benefit by thinking step by step.

Authors: