Picasso's "The Absinthe Drinker" 1903

As you or your organization go through your different STAGES, stop and acknowledge the different successes that you accomplish along the way. Don’t just wait for the big end result—you could miss out on some amazing “smaller” masterpieces along the way.

So often when we look at a successful person or a successful organization we tend to think of his/her success in terms of “Ah, she has finally arrived. She is NOW successful.” What we often overlook is that that person’s “ultimate” success probably came in STAGES of success. The famous 20^th century artist, Pablo Picasso, is a good example. “Ultimately,” Picasso is most known for his pinnacle style, Cubism.

In Cubism, Picasso viewed the form, e.g., a human being, in terms of geometric shapes which he then rearranged, camouflaging the forms in the geometry. However, Picasso went through several STAGES in his artistic evolvement before arriving at Cubism. For example, from 1901 to 1904, Picasso’s style manifested a strong sense of melancholy and poetic nuances in what has been called (Read more…)

When is the last time you set out to truly master something? To take something you’ve already been doing or start something new

Mastery: Van Gogh's "The Potato Eaters"

and do everything in your power to take it to the masterpiece level?

You know, we call the Master Artists “Masters” because they did just that with their art: they did everything in their power to become Masters; to take their work to the masterpiece level. When the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh, started working on one of his earliest paintings, “The Potato Eaters,” he didn’t just slap some paint on the canvas and call it a day. Instead, he made numerous sketches and studies of the work over an entire winter before creating the final oil-on-canvas painting in 1885. He put a great deal of thought and effort into the work and wrote to his brother, Theo, “I have tried to emphasize that those people eating their potatoes in the lamplight, have (Read more…)

Avatar Movie Poser

Have you seen “Avatar?” Not thinking it was a genre that would hold my attention, I finally succumbed to the insistent urgings of my motion graphics designer son, Gavin, to go. I must say . . .  I was blown away! The 3-D aspect unleashed the unadulterated childlike wonder that we all too often subvert as we go through life as bona fide grown-ups. I suspended the usual 2-D “reality” of watching a movie and for a while, truly believed that those little ephemeral creatures REALLY were wafting out into the audience, approaching my very own seat. I can’t tell you how many times a “Wow” (Read more…)

Rembrandt Self-Portrait

Welcome to my first official blog!

My new blog is “born” in conjunction with the launch of my new v2.0 website about which I am very excited! Check it out here. While you’re at it, pop a little popcorn, put up your feet and take in my brand new demo video. (Just like Netflix! Well, sorta’.)

Although I will share thoughts, ideas and references on a variety of subjects in my blog, my overriding emphasis will be on MASTERY: on ways that we can all make our lives and work better. No, actually, not just better, but excellent. I have observed (and read) that when we are doing our best and being our best, exemplifying MASTERY, we are the happiest and the most fulfilled. Who doesn’t want to live like that?

In the midst of (Read more…)