“People change their minds all the time, even about very important matters. It’s just hard to do when the stakes are high. That’s why marshaling data and making rational arguments won’t work. Whether you’re changing your own mind or

Years ago, while browsing in Strand bookstore on Broadway, I came across “A Technique for Producing Ideas” by James Webb Young. This little book helped articulate the creative process for me, and, in its own clever way, boosted my

Norman Lear wrote and produced famous sitcoms like All In the Family, One Day At A Time and The Jeffersons. When he was selected for the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame. Lear called his mother to tell her of

The Blind Boys of Alabama, a five-time-Grammy-award-winning gospel group, has performed for three administrations at the White House and for enthusiastic audiences all over the world. I recently heard an NPR interview with Ricky McKinnie, a singer and drummer

How do you celebrate the holiday season at the conclusion of a year that included not one, not two, not three, but four trips to emergency rooms? Well, if you’re my friend Cindy Simmons, you take those family mishaps

Several years ago, nutritionist Jerry Sternin came up with a way to reduce malnutrition in Vietnam. And he did it with one simple question. Sternin searched out a few villagers whose children seemed better nourished than other Vietnamese kids

In the film You Can Count on Me, Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo play grown siblings who were orphaned as children. At one point, they’re talking outdoors at night, and a moth flutters into the frame. (If you look

Nick Saban and his University of Alabama teams have won four national championships, and he once appeared on a Forbes magazine cover as “The Most Powerful Coach in Sports.” A couple of months ago, I attended an Alabama practice

When Christa Quarles became OpenTable’s CEO last year, she quickly realized her teams were trying to perfect ideas and projects before showing them to her. “They would waste a ton of time trying to get it perfect,” she told

In the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Butch and Sundance land their first honest job as payroll guards for a mining company. One classic — and funny — scene has them heading down the mountain to pick up