I don’t think the shortage of artists has much to do with the innate ability to create or initiate. I think it has to do with believing that it’s possible and acceptable for you to do it. We’ve had these doors open wide for only a decade or so, and most people have been brainwashed into believing that their job is to copyedit the world, not to design it.

The reason you might choose to embrace the artist within you now is that this is the path to (cue the ironic music) security.

The first thing you do when you sit down at the computer: If you're an artist, a leader or someone seeking to make a difference, the first thing you do should be to lay tracks to accomplish your goals, not to hear how others have reacted/ responded/ insisted to what happened yesterday.

Some people read business books looking for confirmation. I read them in search of disquiet. Confirmation is cheap, easy and ineffective. Restlessness and the scientific method, on the other hand, create a culture of testing and inquiry that can't help but push you forward.

I think that the economics of book publishing favor hits with long book runs. You make all your money on the last bunch of books, not the first.

The art of good decision making is looking forward to and celebrating the tradeoffs, not pretending they don't exist.

The combination of passion and art is what makes someone a linchpin.