Jason Alexander, the actor who played George Costanza on Seinfeld, wanted to play Hamlet when he was studying theater at Boston University.  Sophomore year, he got some career advice that changed his trajectory.  One of his professors at Boston...

Coffee crops up in a lot of stories about Michael Bloomberg.  In his autobiography he claims his very first action after starting the company in 1981 was to buy a coffee pot for the tiny office he rented with several partners.  A couple of weeks ago I...

Everyone these days seems to aspire to generational wealth.  Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is a notable exception. It’s long been known Wozniak wasn’t a billionaire. He sold his Apple shares after the 1980 IPO and he’s open about his...

My father leans on aphorisms to express his opinions. We were at the beach last week when one of his grandkids lamented that they had applied for a job that was going to require hard work. Dad piped up: ”You can’t learn to swim without getting your head...

Companies are fond of saying that their employees are their No 1 asset. Assuming that is true, it’s odd how companies react when those assets walk out the door. Typically firms ignore, forget or even treat former employees with hostility. In the modern...

Mike Bloomberg has a disarming way that he often starts meetings: he offers to get you a cup of coffee. It’s a small, but remarkable gesture and one he extends to people ranging from presidents to product managers.  It starts when you arrive at his...

Michael Ovitz has something he calls the Sunday List. Ovitz founded the powerhouse talent agency CAA in 1975 and later went on to a successful career as an investor and venture capitalist. He was successful because he made it his business to meet as...

Successful startups struggle to cope with growth. Bloomberg LP was no exception. Stuart Bell, the company’s first salesperson, shared with me a story that captures a sense of that drama and urgency and helps explain Mike Bloomberg’s success. The tale...

Wall Street has long been denominated by men, but in at least one area women are leading: leveraging social media to garner visibility. Take four examples of women with the title of global investment officer or chief strategist: —Wei Li at Blackrock...

I met up with Pastor Gregory Fryer from the Immanuel Lutheran Church on the Upper East Side. Each week, Pastor Gregory puts out a stand on the corner of 88th and Lexington Ave and offers to dispense advice for a nickel. (Actually, he says he never takes...