In the middle of November, I gave a talk at TEDx Knoxville. My friend Alex Lavidge organized the event and invited me to speak. I was very excited and could still remember the first TED talk I had ever watched. It introduced me to William Kamkwamba, a boy from Malawi who used a book about […]
My friend Gregg let me borrow the Bloomgberg Businessweek edition celebrating the life of Steve Jobs. One Jobs quote from a 1996 Wired magazine interview struck me with its simplicity: “Creativity is just connecting things.†I think we often associate creativity with trying to dream up a new idea or piece together a solution to […]
I borrowed some material from Melting Chocolate Kettles to end this post, so for those of you who haven’t read the book, here’s the thesis of the chapter on Place: Set up a creative habitat where actual, raw production can happen on a consistent basis. Choose a place to make a mess then clean it […]
On June 23, I gave my first Pecha Kucha presentation at Knoxville Museum of Art. You may be wondering, “What is Pecha Kucha?†It sounds illegal. It sounds like it may cause disfigurement, or even death, without immediate medical attention. In reality, the term is Japanese and denotes the sound of conversation, similar to “chit […]
Whenever I hear the word “courage,†what comes to mind is an orange, sticky-looking substance in a metal tin—orange sherbert. For years, I thought this is what The Wizard of Oz gave to the Cowardly Lion to fix his cowardice. After a little snooping around in the Google Images vault, I discovered that he really […]
The English program at David Lipscomb High School was rigorous, to say the least. Miss Smith and Miss Tracey, my favorite and most demanding English teachers, were legends. Miss Tracey also taught Latin, and when it came time to conjugate a verb, she always chose “neco,†which means “to kill.†This was exactly what a […]
Nate Creekmore is a gu.eber. One of my favorite memories from the year that we lived together at Royal Arms Apartments in Nashville happened while we were at Wild Oats buying some groceries. A soccer mom beamed up at Nate, who is 6’6†tall, and asked, “Do you play basketball?†Nate played in high school, […]
I have a business doing what I love, and I hope to never work a day in my life. I know my true gift. I am in the light business. This insight has made all the difference. I’m living for a living.
