Why start a new business?

Depending on how I count, I’ve started either 3 or 4 businesses during my life; the difference between 3 and 4 lies with the window washing company I started at age 15. Westhampton Window Washing was a summer job, but unlike most of my friends, I decided to work for...

Err In The Direction of Kindness

George Saunders delivered the commencement speech at Syracuse University for the class of 2013. Here’s an excerpt. You can find the complete speech at: http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/ “Your life is going to be a...

The Charitable-Industrial Complex

Several months ago I posted about “The Poverty-Creation Industry, so I was fascinated to see Peter Buffett’s (son of Warren Buffett) New York Times Op-Ed on the “The Charitable-Industrial Complex.” Peter starts by discussing the unintended consequences of well...

The Poverty Creation Industry

Recently Joe Brewer, Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kirk had the audacity to describe what they call the “Poverty Creation Industry.”  http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15726-its-time-to-shine-a-light-on-the-poverty-creation-industry They write that, “Poverty is human-made....

Making Way for Worker Co-ops

Guest post by Taliesin Nyala, a co-owner of the Toolbox for Education and Social Action (TESA), a worker-owned cooperative based in Massachusetts created to democratize education and the economy while furthering the cooperative movement. TESA designs curriculum and...

In Defense of Millennials

This is a guest blog post written by Nassy Avramidis, Junior Partner at Jeffrey Hollender Partners The other day, I threw a paper cup in the trash. There was no recycling bin in the vicinity and I was in a rush. Normally I am pretty conscious of the environment, but...