My failures have been the gifts that keep on giving. The time when my team almost mutinied. The time many of them did, leaving scathing reviews on Glassdoor. The time I went to jail. The time I got fired. This is not an exhaustive list...
At a Zoom happy hour last week, as is the case with most of my conversations these days, the topic of conversation turned to racism. I’ve had racism conversations with groups of all white men (my book club after reading White Fragility, the...
After drinking and partying my way through college, I took a job waiting tables at Damon’s Grill my first job out of college. The same restaurant for which I’d stood at the host stand in high school. Three and a half years, fifty...
100 Ideas is an awesome platform created by Startgarden to launch early stage businesses. In it they seed 100 different fledgling businesses with $1k, add water and sunshine, wait a tick, and then invest $20k in the ten that show the most...
It starts with a dream. And with the first whisps of the dream, the machine locks in and the outcome is set. You create details, the most minute details, which bring the dream to life. It becomes real. Only for you at first, but the minute...
One of my favorite people in Grand Rapids is Amanda Chocko. I met Amanda when I was first starting VNN, way back in 2010, so she’s watched an awful lot of growing up on my part (mentally and emotionally; I’ve been...
I read this article in WIRED today, sent to me by the lovely and thoughtful Laura, and found much of it resonating. It’s becoming more and more common (thankfully) to discuss the use of this weird COVID time to reevaluate our lives. Many...
Meditation makes people better leaders, and when done consistently can be more effective than any knowledge on leadership one could acquire, or class on leading one could take. Hard stop. If you are in a leadership position, nearly all acquired...
We’re pushing so hard. I feel the galloping rhythm underneath me, my knees squeezing against taught flanks, pressing into rib bones as enormous lungs heave in and out. We’re going so fast. A golden mare gallops 20 yards ahead of us...
Whatever you’re doing this Friday, I invite you to take a sabbatical. It can be just one moment, or it can be longer. It doesn’t have to look any particular way, and there’s no way to do it right. Just breathe, and intentionally...
The Lean Startup methodology has proven to be the most effective and efficient way to build a successful company. But if it’s your only North-star, you risk optimizing yourself into building a company your customers like, but about which...
Whatever you’re doing this Friday, I hereby invite you to take a mini-sabbatical from it. Check in with yourself. Feel your breath, the sensations of sitting, or standing, the contact between your body and the world. Notice what’s...
Ryan H. Vaughn 2020. All rights reserved.