Some might say I have an opinion about the downfall of my generation as a result of the toxic and unfounded self esteem enforced by the participation trophies that were a part of our growing up. Others might say that I’m overreacting and a tad bit cynical.

But, Saturday Night Live seems to agree with at least the sentiment as seen in this past weekend’s sketch called “You Can Do Anything!”

Completlely hit the nail on the head. Bravo.

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Most people learn how to play a new game by having someone who has played before teach them. That is the fastest way to get the game going and then “learn as you go.” But, the fastest way to win, and then likely be called a cheater, is to read the rules.

Growing up, my family played a lot of games. Card game, board games, and guess which word I want you to say games. Each time that a new game was introduced, via birthday present or unsuspecting friend, there was a scramble to understand more of the rules faster than everyone else. Whether it was taking turns reading the side of the box, huddling around the small print pamphlet like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls, or reading all the rules before telling anyone else that there was a new game in the house, the rules were a big part of the indoctrination to the Ellwood family game night.

The reason for the clamor around the rules was quite simple: they tell you how to win. And, when it comes to games, that is the only reason to play. (The “let’s not keep score and just have fun” thing just doesn’t work for me.) The rules lay out what exactly you would do to win faster than others and says that these things are illegal. But, in telling you the things that are against the rules, it also paints the picture of what kinds of things should be paid attention to and the areas of the game that advantages might be acquired.

This weekend, the Sunday New York Times front page above the fold story featured a detailed look into the complex tax planning strategies of the hier to the Estée Lauder fortune.  The headline and the sentiment of the article do little to hide the author’s distain for the ways that Ronald Lauder and his family have structured their finances. Several times throughout the article there are references to his “shrewd use of the US Tax Code.” This is followed by general statements about the complexity of “labyrinth of trusts, limited liability corporations and holding companies” that may or may not have been developed to with their likely favorable tax implications in mind.

Looks like someone read the rules.

Looks like someone else doesn’t like the rules.

And while this article may serve as further proof in the case against the Haves being made by the Have Nots, I took it from a different perspective. What are the rules that I haven’t mastered? What are the advantages that exist in my world that I am not maximizing? What are the angles that I can take in the games I am currently playing that will frustrate others not clever enough to find them?

“If no one is accusing you of cheating, you probably aren’t trying hard enough.” – WinnerTweet

Conrad Murray is just the latest Amanda Knox who was the most recent Casey Anthony. And, despite the fact that you may or may not have remembered that name after it fell out of the 24 hour news cycle a couple months ago, you took time out of your day to give a rip because… well, why again?

In the same way that our overly connected world has encouraged us to have an opinion and be involved with every worthwhile cause, the sensationalism of “news” is at an all time high. With the wonders of Facebook and Twitter, everyone can be a part of breaking the “news” as it happens. And, while that is an adrenaline rush that I’ve never really understood or invested much time in experiencing, yesterday afternoon when I looked at the content being shared and commented on, it was all about a verdict in a case that, if asked about it a week before, none of the folks I interact with online would have cared about. But, since it was breaking news, it filled my timeline on Facebook and Twitter for about 15 minutes and everyone had an opinion. Then it was done.

I admittedly have a very low information diet. I don’t go looking for news and when news finds me, I don’t pay that much attention to it unless it is actionable and relevant to the priorities I have set for my day or the endeavors I am in the midst of. I use my relationships on the interwebs to filter news the same way that royalty used to have food tasters to make sure they don’t get poisoned. If enough of my friends care about an article or a subject outside of my focus, then I’ll take a look. Otherwise, I let someone else waste their time reading about stuff that doesn’t matter in search of the stuff that does.

Just because a story is on a “news” site, in a magazine, or made it on tv doesn’t mean you have to care. Don’t let the fear of missing out (FOMO) on news paralyze you and cause you to miss out on making the most of the things that actually matter.Tweet

I had the itch to play kickball in the park. I suggested to a friend of mine that we should organize a game. He thought it was a great idea and then said, “And we should do it to raise money for a charity!” And, while I am always up for doing a little good, I just wanted to play kickball.

In a recent article on the Harvard Business Review, Dan Pallotta makes the claim that Steve Jobs was the World Greatest Philanthropist even though very little is known of his actual charitable contributions. Mr. Jobs did not have a huge foundation like fellow technology titans like Bill Gates. He didn’t have a foundation at all. He did in 1985 but then shut it down because he didn’t have the time and effort to devote to being the best at giving away money.

“In order to learn how to do something well, you have to fail sometimes…the problem with most philanthropy-there’s no measurement system.. you can really never measure whether you failed or succeeded…So…it’s really hard to get better.” 

In this same article, Mr. Pallotta makes an observation about the crop of recent college grads that are obsessed with “social good.”

“Our youth are growing up with the strange notion that the only way to make a big difference in this world, or to be of service, is to work for a nonprofit organization, or become the next Bill Gates and establish a private foundation, or to start some kind of “social enterprise,” often without any understanding of what that means.”

I remember when I graduated in 2004, just about everyone I knew in the business school had an idea for the next best coffee shop. Each and every business plan bore the personality of its author and all but one (check out WellCoffee) never made it off the powerpoint deck. In the same way, I am seeing socially conscious business plans flying left and right these days. Every idea has a social good hook. Every conversation about building something new has some intention of giving back being built into the core mission and P&L statements.  And any time people are thinking about how to make a bigger impact, that is a good thing.

What is not a good thing is when that added layer of good intentions gets in the way of the underlying value that the organization or business was built to create. The point of building a business is to provide a product or service that is of value to the world. If there is good that can be done on top of that, terrific. Think about TOMS Shoes. While it is absolutely awesome that for each pair of shoes that you buy a pair of shoes is given to kids in need around the world, the reason it works is because TOMS Shoes are awesome shoes. If the shoes sucked, I would have bough one pair, gotten my social good credit for the semester, and never bought the next 5 pairs I own.

The energy, excitement, and brainpower that is flowing around “social good” right now is terrific. But, the movement is approaching a tipping point and there is a level of saturation that I believe the marketplace is approaching. In the same way that 5 years ago, there was a significant push to “green wash” the business world and people became immune to noticing, the “good washing” may share a similar fate. Or worse yet, the job and value creating companies that intended to also do good will never get launched in the first place.

Kinda like that game of kickball I wanted to play.Tweet

Every Sunday morning, over two large cups of coffee, I read the New York Times. This morning, there were a lot of good articles covering a lot of good subjects. And, as is often the case, I had some pretty robust mental rants about a couple of stories. Below are three sentence rants about the six news items that caught my eye:

Daily Deals – I’ve been ranting about the lack of real value that the plethora of daily deal sites bring to the merchants for as long as I’ve known about the daily deals. I signed up once and unsubscribed the next day. I frequently reference Skinner’s Box in speeches and believe that is the best explanation for what these sites and this (soon to be over) craze has trained consumers to expect. (Full Story)

Wait for 2016 – This week, similar to the first week of August ahead of Rick Perry’s candidacy announcement, has been filled with all kinds of speculation about Chris Christie doing a cannonball into the already crowded pool of Republicans vying for the party nomination. I still don’t think anyone is going to beat Obama and if I were in Christie’s shoes, I’d use the next 10 days to make sure everyone in America knows who I am and then send them a “Save the Date” magnet for November 8. 2016. Let Mitt have the nomination, he’s tried long enough and will give it a good Bob Dole try. (Full Story)

Preoccupied – The Occupy Wall Street gathering is exactly what is wrong with my generation and the reason that I get nervous about the future of America. I am 100% in favor of the fact that these hundreds of people took their frustrations offline and into the streets but I am extremely disappointed that it looks a lot more like activists on holiday than a real and ideologically focused effort to exact any one specific change. This is not Tahrir Square and you are not an extension of the Arab Spring, try harder. (Full Story)

Crunching Numbers – in 2003, when Moneyball (the book) first came out, I meant to borrow it from my college roommate who had read it and said it had a lot of wisdom about business using the vocabulary of baseball. One of my favorite quotes is that “What gets measured is what gets managed.” Now that I’ve seen the movie, and naturally loved it, it is probably time for me to read the book. (Full Story)

Groomed Overachievers – I was raised with an overdeveloped sense of self esteem and have benefitted from that built-in layer of confidence as I have been asked to do new things in new industries in new places throughout my career. But there is a whole new breed of overachievers that trump me based on one fact: their overachievement is quantifiably documented and shows up nicely in their bios, resumes, and LinkedIn profiles.  You call them Super People, I call them competition. (Full Story)

Numbing – Because of the increasingly small world that the over-connected interwebs now affords us, we are all more acutely aware of the suffering, strife, and challenges that face the human population around the world. But, as a result of the exponentially increased exposure that we all have to all of the truly horrible situations around the world, we are also becoming increasingly immune and calloused to the truth that the world needs our help. We are no longer just expected to pursue the causes and the issues that are important to us but we are expected to have formed opinions, participate, andhave enough compassion to cover all of the things that are predetermined as worthy causes. (Full Story)Tweet

Since moving to New York, my timid declaration that I am an aspiring foodie has been exposed and I’ve seen I’m a foodie novice at best. But, there is one culinary delicacy that I’d be willing to go toe to toe with anyone in New York on: Breakfast Tacos.

The simplistic beauty of a perfectly prepared Breakfast Taco has yet to spread far beyond the borders of Texas. Some folks have asked if I mean a breakfast burrito (as they try and refer me to McDonalds) and others have suggested I get with the local culture and just start eating bagels with a variety of flavored cream cheeses.

But, with as much determination as I can muster, I’ve fought on. In the past two years, after sharing my quest with friends, family, and (perhaps most importantly) the internet, I’ve only found three Breakfast Tacos options in all of New York City.

Lobo – Cobble Hill (218 Court Street Brooklyn, NY – http://lobonyc.com/)

This was my latest find (yesterday) when Annie and I were finishing a 30+ mile bike ride. She suggested Lobo as a good Mexican food lunch since we were close by in Brooklyn. When I walked in, much to my delight, there was a huge Lone Star Beer sign hanging above the bar. That was the first hint that I might find a glorious surprise waiting for me on the menu. I flipped it over and line item number three on the breakfast menu: Breakfast Tacos! (pictured above)

I ordered one with chorizo (spicy sausage) and one without to gauge the difference. Both were wonderful, especially when dressed up with the pico de gallo, guac, black beans, and the house salsa. It is safe to say that I inhaled them.

Thus far these are by far the closest thing to a true Breakfast Taco that I’ve encountered in NYC.

Tacombi (at Fonda Nolita – 267 Elizabeth Street New York, NY – http://www.tacombi.com/)

This was the first Breakfast Taco that I found in New York. The restaurant is a fun open warehouse with metal folding chairs, plastic tables, and a couple different options as far as ordering. To get the Breakfast Tacos, go to the cashier on your righthand side when you walk in and purchase some tickets (like you’re going to the State Fair) and take them to the back chef’s hut.

There are three options for your Breakfast Tacos and I’ve had them all. And they are all good.  But, being a connoisseur, I would say that they’re not great. Being the first Breakfast Tacos that I’d found in the city, I was overly excited the first time I had them as they were like an oasis of goodness to my deprived taste buds. But, upon a second and third visit, the adjective that I find myself say in describing them: frou-frou.

Definitely better than not eating a Breakfast Taco, but not quite the awesomeness I think a city of this culinary achievement should be treating their palettes too.

La Esquina Taqueria (114 Kenmare New York, NY – http://esquinanyc.com/)

La Esquina, the much talked about restaurant, might be one of the more fun dinning experiences in the city if you can get a reservation. You walk into the unassuming and small Taqueria and, should the hostess find you name on the list, you are escorted downstairs through the kitchen to the best ambience you’ve ever seen in what feels like a cave.

But that is not the experience I had in attempting to try out their Breakfast Tacos. I walked to the Taqueria on three different occasions to attempt to partake, each time finding out that they either weren’t serving Breakfast Tacos because it was the weekend (strange but true) or that they wouldn’t be serving them until 10am because if was a weekday (really?). So when I finally made it on a day when they felt like serving me Breakfast Tacos, my biases against their offering were already pronounced.

And unfortunately, they green sauce smothered presentation didn’t restore enough moistness to the dried out corn tortilla for it to make me smile. But, I needed a third Breakfast Taco to make this blog post complete, so there you go.  Very disappointed by this one.

So all told, Lobo in Cobble Hill Brooklyn is the far away winner of the Breakfast Tacos in NYC culinary exploration SO FAR. But, the search continues and I am taking all suggestions and input that I can get. I am tired of having to fly to Austin to get my fix once a month, let’s remedy this situation here in NYC!Tweet

My all out support of lemonade stands and commitment to stop and buy a cup every time I see one is fairly well documented. So, you can imagine my outrage this morning when I learned that local authorities shut down a kids lemonade stand outside the US Open and fined the parents $500.

And here is where it gets even more objectionable, the kids were donating all the money to charity!

The authorities said that it was “more than just a little lemonade stand, you’ve got coolers of lemonade pre-made.” So, because these kids were thinking ahead and didn’t want to run out of supply for what would surely be in demand, they’re being penalized?

I think every kid in America should be encouraged to do a lemonade stand. There is nothing better than learning to talk to attract, talk to, serve, and thank new customers. It is how I got my first taste of the entrepreneurial bug over 20 years ago thanks to my parents and it is something I will support for the rest of my life.

To read more, go HERETweet

Yesterday, Representative Weiner of New York got on stage to apologize for being an idiot.  And, despite the insane number of jokes that his last name and this situation lend themselves to, the thing that got me going was the sensational coverage by the entirety of the American press.

People are idiots and do stupid things. People make mistakes.  People get caught. People in the public eye, for whatever reason, think it won’t happen to them. But it does. And then, for the next 3 days, every nightly talk show and front page headline dives into “how the story happen” and an in depth look at the way the events unfolded.

DEAR AMERICA: GROW A PAIR AND QUIT GIVING A RIP.

Surely there’s much more interesting things than the latest drama of torrid affairs between ugly chicks and politicians. Surely you have something better to do with your day than care that someone got a Twitter DM and @Reply mixed up.  There is nothing interesting here unless your life is only lived vicariously through the exploits of others and this is the latest escape from the routine known as your day to day.

Between Weiner, Edwards, and Schwarzenegger, my ability to care is at an all time low. Just wait three days until this Weiner story goes flaccid (I had to get one in there!) and there will be another one with a tearful apology at a podium with a blue curtain behind it.

But in the meantime, go live a life that doesn’t allow you the time to give a flying flip about this crap.

GROW A PAIR. Be the headlines that matter in your life.Tweet

About two years ago, after walking by Ground Zero, thinking about the tragedy that occurred there, and getting all riled up about the fact nothing substantial had been done about getting the people ACTUALLY responsible for it, my entrepreneurial mind clicked into gear and a business plan was formed.  I started discussing the bounty that was on Osama bin Laden’s head with some fellow New Yorkers and here is what I jotted down.

- Raise $2.5mm in equity

- Hire the world’s best mercenaries

- Give them 6 months to plan, stockpile, and launch a private tour of the mountainous region of Central Asia

- Find the mass murdering bastard responsible for the death of countless innocent lives around the world

- Pull the trigger

- Split the $25,000,000 reward amongst the team and investors

- Realize over a 300% annualized rate of return

All told, this would have been a much less costly way of achieving the strategic objective of taking out this evil mastermind of terror than the costly wars that have been waged in Afghanistan and Iraq.  But, as is often the case, the execution of a good idea is the only thing that matters. The heroic events of this weekend just go to show, the early bird gets the worm.  And what a worm he was.

Good riddance Osama.Tweet

One of the longest relationships I’ve been in is also one of the most abusive. There are some incredible moments mixed in amongst the angst and tears, but in general, it is a total beat down that puts my my self esteem in peril. But after each round, I find myself saying “Golf, I wish I could quit you.”

When I was asked to play in the South By Southwest Golf Tournament this year, I jumped at the chance. But as the day of the event got closer, I stalled finishing my registration and tried to think if there was a creative way to back out. I love *the idea* of an afternoon on the links, but in reality often find it to be an afternoon of wallowing in self pity as I trudge into the rough and sand traps looking for yet another errant shot.

So when the morning rolled around, and the insanity of SXSW had caught up with my immune system and sent me into a pretty decent allergic reaction to the storm system of urban hipsters smoking hand rolled cigarettes on the streets, I though that I perhaps had an out.  But, not wanting to miss out on the chance that “things would be different this time” I went back to my tormentor with my hat in hand.  The first three holes were just what I remembered: hooked tee shot, sliced fairway wood, divot exploding 8-iron, faster-than-I-though greens…. repeat.

But then, just as I had resigned myself to being the course’s whipping boy for the day, it happened.

*Plink!*

My tee shot launched itself over 260 years down the dead center of the fairway.  The rest of the guys in the foursome give me an awkward collection of fist bumps, high fives, and the very strange in between fist/hand. There was talk of me sandbagging them on the first few holes. I was feeling good.  Especially, because I hadn’t swung a golf club in about 18 months.  The rest of the day was a mixed bag of shots, some more wonderful and some more awful. But, there were enough good shots that made it look like I knew what I was doing. Just enough to have me looking for another chance to deepen my abusive relationship with the sport of Golf.Tweet