My life
We are living through a pandemic. Someday I am going to look back and question if I did enough.
To be clear, no, almost certainly, no I have not and will not do enough. But I did want to push myself to gather what I have done. Perhaps it might be good for each of us to challenge ourselves on what more we could be doing in this strange war-time.
Continue reading How to contribute to your community during covid-19Economic shocks are good times to focus on the longterm. Look to the fundamentals.
After an impressive year on the stock market in 2019, I’m certainly not expecting that to continue. I’m projecting a slower year of growth for my company. Many are waiting for the next economic shock. Last year 70% of economists predicted a recession for 2020.
Of course it may not happen. (In December 2018, we thought there was a recession looming.) But the critical point for (fairly) passive retirement savers like myself is that even if there were a major slowdown (recession or otherwise), we have to keep focused on our longterm goal.
This became a common refrain during last month’s Personal Finance Day, a goofy, somewhat-tongue-in-cheek annual event I host with two childhood friends. This was the fifth year.
Below I share a few notes from this year’s installment.
Continue reading Focus on longterm saving during recessionsTechnically Media, the news organization I cofounded a decade ago, was honored back in November for its commitment to diversity.
It was unexpected — and may be one of the most important honors our organization has received. The praise came from Philly Startup Leaders, a respected nonprofit helmed by Kiera Smalls, during an event PSL organized with advocate Brigitte Daniel, who has known our work for a decade and spoke directly.
“Many of us would not even be in this room if not for Technically Media… “[They] brought us together. They have magnified our work. For a technically-orientated news site, this was never even heard of, never heard of to make an intentional effort to be inclusive.”
We were called for our diverse leadership team and and overall organization – gender parity, age range and racial diversity. It wasn’t empty praise, as we also do benefit by seeking the widest and most representative perspective.
Watch video of the presentation below.
Continue reading Technically Media honored for a commitment to diversity
I have work to do. The progress I made in 2019 on a frustrating year of 2018 is incomplete, slowed by a few steps backward, despite considerable forward progress. So bring on 2020.
As is my custom, I’m publishing here my resolutions for 2020 to get a little bit closer to the person I want to be, and to hold myself accountable to those goals. Find my past resolutions here.
Continue reading My 2020 ResolutionsI roared into this year with a plan.
After a 2018 of mixed results, I intended 2019 to be different. In many ways it was. My company had a big Q1. I got personal time back. By the end of summer, though, a key hire that was a major part of my work strategy had their own major life change. My plans had to change. Work taxed me more than expected, and that had ripple effects in personal ways too.
Knowing what I was working toward, I was exhilarated for most of 2019. Yet I still ended the year tired and distracted by reestablishing plans I thought I already had set. This year I was reminded that leadership may start with setting a plan but it’s tested by reacting to inevitable changes to that plan. I did that. I’m at least a year wiser.
Below find both a recap of important milestones in my year, and, farther down, find a review of how I did on my 2019 Resolutions.
Continue reading My 2019 ReviewIn late summer 2017, Bob Moore asked if I’d join the board of Philly Startup Leaders. I’d spent most of my early reporting career covering the nonprofit, and my organization Technical.ly had launched not long after that one.
Our organizational histories were quite co-mingled. I had conditions and requests, all of which were in sync with Bob’s own plans in his new role as board chair. I began participating in an advisory role that fall amid considerable change, and I joined the PSL board formally in January 2018 for a two-year term. I came with my own plan and this month my formal term will conclude.
I’ve always found the organization important, a gathering of founders of companies in a city in need of just that. Here’s a review of how I believe I contributed to this nonprofit in my short tenure.
Continue reading What I did with my two-year term on Philly Startup Leaders
I was given a ‘Community Leadership Award‘ by the Friends of the Coalition, a young leaders group associated with the influential Urban Affairs Coalition.
Knowing UAC’s reputation, I would have already been proud, but I was also surrounded by impressive company. My longtime friend Helen Ubinas, an Inquirer columnist, also received an award. That’s us smiling together in the above photo.
In introducing me, Kevin Harden, Jr. cited my work over the last 10 years in local journalism and community organizing, with a special focus on our adding Generocity.org to our existing Technical.ly work. He thought Generocity’s work was of particular importance.
Thanks also to Brandon Johnson, Felicia Harris and the other Friends of Coalition members, and UAC Executive Director Sharmain Matlock-Turner and the entire UAC team.
Here are the simple remarks I jotted down and shared to a group of 100 or so, at a reception following UAC’s 50th annual breakfast.
Continue reading I was given the ‘Community Leadership Award’ by the Urban Affairs CoalitionFor the 11th annual Klein News Innovation Camp, an unconference on the future of news organized by my company, I interviewed our lunchtime keynote: Michael Smerconish, the radio personality and CNN host, Saturday. (Read coverage from Cover.This)
Continue reading Klein News Innovation Camp keynote interview with Michael SmerconishA version of this essay was published as part of my monthly newsletter a couple weeks back. Find other archives and join here to get updates like this first.
I just got back from a week driving around Campania in Southern Italy, including Naples, the Amalfi Coast and the tiny town of Tufo. I was there to eat and drink but, really, I was there to see the remarkable work my best friend Patrick McNeil is doing there. Patrick, whom I’ve known for 15 years, is a homelessness advocate in Philadelphia and a fiction writer. Meanwhile, with his aunts, he is maintaining his grandfather’s childhood home in the rural Province of Avellino, both by hosting guests and, most interestingly, with an artist’s retreat.
Continue reading Find the people who give you more energy than takeShort, sweet, meaningful rules to live by are a delight.
Last year I shared my own, inspired by the book, and it became a talking point among friends and family for much of the year. I love hearing anyone’s rules; even if I don’t agree with them, they’re telling of that person and a worldview. They make me think.
So, without naming any names, below I share a few sets of rules I heard from others because I just think these are so much fun. I’d love to hear yours too.
Continue reading Here are a bunch of rules to live by from other people I love
