In a moment that reshaped his thinking, a young Larry Ellison realized that intelligence can be a seductive – but misleading – indicator of performance.  In Softwar, Ellison shares:  I like very smart people, and Walker’s very smart.  In those days,… Continue reading

A friend of mine was a fitness stud in college.  He was in the military.  He completed grueling endurance events.  He was a formidable weightlifter.  He was doing CrossFit before CrossFit was popular.  After a night of too much fun,… Continue reading

Leonardo da Vinci’s devotion to scientific integrity was perhaps his most distinguishing quality as an artist, and it was an indispensable ingredient in the masterpieces he created. Optics Leonardo was entranced by the science of optics.  He noticed that the… Continue reading

Amazon was founded in 1994 and went public in 1997.  In 2015, Jeff Bezos opened his annual Letter to Shareholders by revealing that Amazon had not only reached $100 billion in sales, but done so faster than any company in… Continue reading

Since his days at West Point, he had based his coaching philosophy on Red Blaik’s belief that perfection came with simplicity.  The theory was to discard the immaterial and refine those few things that one did best. David Maraniss, When… Continue reading

Vince Lombardi’s football coaching career began at Fordham University. After the 1948 season, he left his assistant coaching role at Fordham to begin an assistant coaching role at West Point.  The two teams played each other in 1949 and there… Continue reading