Posts Tagged ‘Nick O’Neill’

SXSW #3 – THIS IS THE GUY

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

Taylor Davidson (www.unstructuredventures.com) is one of a small group of evolved network business strategists with whom I have an ongoing dialogue.  He’s been traveling cross-country for something like six months and predicts that he’ll probably stay on the road – Asia’s next — for another year.  During the conference, our paths cross many times, always by serendipity.  On the first day of the conference, he and I run into each other for the first time.  We are are sitting at a table talking when Leora Israel (www.speaklike.com), comes up behind Taylor and gives him a huge hug.  When he turns around, they realize they don’t know one another.  Embarrassed, she says, “Oh, I thought you were Nick O’Neill, the back of your head looks like his.”  A couple of days later, in a seminar on Entrepreneurship, Taylor and I meet Nick O’Neill himself (www.socialtimes.com), who’s one of the moderators.  Taylor introduces Nick to me by telling me,  “This is the guy who that girl thought the back of my head looked like his.”

LeoTayNic2

Just Be Strong

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Before he died in 2004, the last words my father spoke to my son, Alex, were, “Just be strong.” Alex, who was a junior in high school at the time, never forgot it, and after he graduated, he had those words tattooed over his heart.

AlexJBSTattoo

And while I question how strong one actually has to be while going to college in San Diego and living in a place with your buds down on Pacific Beach…

It does not detract from the wisdom of the advice. My father, the single best improviser I’ve ever known, had a way of boiling things down to their essence. He was a teacher who often had no idea what he was teaching. He was just living his life, going about his business, sharing what he discovered along the way. And one of the things he shared to great effect was the idea of being strong — in character, in focus, in action — in everything you do. (more…)