The New York Times Science and Health Editor Barbara Strauch recently passed away at the relatively young age of 63. She was a brilliant journalist who, according to the article about her death, led a Newsday team that won a Pulitzer prize…

I was at a concert the other night at Avery Fisher Hall at New York City’s Lincoln Center, and decided to buy a bottle of mineral water at the bar. An 18-ounce, medium bottle was $4.00. I really didn’t think…

Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right. And conversely, some things that are right aren’t legal. Clearly, we don’t need a bookshelf full of legal tomes to tell us how to behave. We know in our hearts when…

The New York Times reported today on the troubling case of the U.C.L.A. Student Council. A Jewish student at U.C.L.A., Rachel Beyda, was being interviewed for possible membership in the council. According to the Times, the first question she was asked…

Many of my clients are successful professionals. They have good clients, make good money, and enjoy their jobs. The challenge is getting them to recognize that they could be even better at what they do. Just because someone is successful…

In September of 1921, Gertrude Bell received an urgent message. It was from  King Faisal—the first ruler of modern Iraq—who had been appointed ruler of Mesopotamia, now Iraq, only a few weeks earlier on August 23. Bell, who had been…

Can success subtly and gradually lull us into destructive excess in our professional and personal lives? Yes, it can, and the process is insidious because it’s hard to see that it’s happening to us. We become like the frog that…

My wife and I had the unusual pleasure of seeing both the great violinist Itzhak Perlman and singer-songwriter James Taylor perform in the space of two days. Their artistry, virtuosity, and passion left me reeling. This is about the two…

I recently attended a conference where New York Times columnist David Brooks was the keynote speaker. One of the main themes of his speech was the tension between “resume virtues” and “eulogy virtues.” In our success-driven culture, he explained, we strive…

An extraordinary shift has occurred in the music business, and it holds an important lesson for us. Over the last decade, sales of recorded music have steadily declined. This includes all types of music in all formats—CDs, digital downloads, and…