Paper Napkin Wisdom · Leadership & Entrepreneurship Insights for Founders and Executives

Welcome to Episode 1 of Leading Behind the Scenes, a new channel focused on supporting those who support great leaders and entrepreneurs. Miranda Barrett is an entrepreneur support expert with more than 10 years working with more than 400 entrepreneurs as part of the EO Global Team, and shares her insights on what it takes to be an effective leader. Leaders often think they're leading, but their s...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. I was visiting a group of 20-30 entrepreneurs in Washington, DC this week and we were discussing Execution (getting stuff done). There are so many of us that seem to get stuck in urgent tasks, instead...

Power is an interesting concept. Few other nouns evoke such a visceral response quite like the five letter word. Today's Paper Napkin Wisdom guest has a unique take on power and has used this philosophy to guide his organization, Accountability Lab. "The best thing you can do with power is give it away," says Blair Glencorse. While many people seek to "change the world" by gaining power through po...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. This week we continued to roll out a new product in one of my companies and the feedback has been great! In fact most of the time people are surprised we haven't been around for years. But there's no s...

Now that football season is back in full swing in the U.S., there's no better time to discuss scrimmaging. However, we're not talking about the traditional sports term in today's podcast. Author and Motivational Speaker, Nathan Jamail recently released "The Leadership Playbook", a guide which discusses the importance of coaching employees versus managing them. A common theme in the book is the imp...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. I had the opportunity to sit beside someone who was a Member of the Million Miles Club on a plane this week and we had an great conversation about the use of knowledge, technology, and leadership aroun...

We have all been there. Feeling caged and unable to move forward due to real or perceived fears. But what if you realized that the cage was unlocked, and all you had to do was walk out? Zahra Al-Harazi, founder of Foundry Communications and UNICEF's Canadian Ambassador, explains how entrepreneurs can overcome these boundaries. "There's no lock on the cage," she says, "No matter what cage you place...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. I was lucky enough to be able to participate in one of the largest entrepreneur events in the world recently. While there, I met with and heard hundreds of entrepreneurs pitching their world-changing i...

255,207. Search "leadership" in Amazon and that's the number of publications that will come up. With the plethora of ideas out there, is it possible to get to the heart of what leadership truly is? Val Jon Farris, CEO of Diamius Multinational Consulting Firm thinks so. With over two decades of experience conducting leadership development programs, he recalls that the more classes and seminars lead...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. Following up on the bad news of a few weeks ago, things didn't get better. I got some very tough breaks that blindsided me in business and life. It's been a challenge to see the silver lining on the cl...

Have you ever nearly tripped over a milestone or a goal because you were focused on the bigger prize? That happened at Paper Napkin Wisdom and we nearly let the 150th Episode go by without any recognition of what we've learned and done over the last 3 years. In that time we've collected more than a thousand paper napkins, done hundreds of interviews, released a book, and TENS of thousands of you h...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. This week I share an experience from this week. I was dealt a huge blow late this week. It was a public failure – and to some degree very embarrassing on the surface. I share how taking responsibility...

What does it take to be an effective leader? Thousands of books and articles attempt to answer this question (including our podcast). On today's show, entrepreneur support expert Miranda Barrett is an shares her insights on what it takes to be an effective leader. For more than a decade, Miranda has worked with over 400 entrepreneurs as part of the EO Global Team. "I work with our member leaders t...

Each week I'll post a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, just talking about how to apply the Paper Napkin Wisdom 5 Step Plan to Life and Business Success in an everyday kind of way. This week I talk about how important it is to stay in your lane and remain focused on your main priority. Don't get distracted with things that will pull you off course. Are you staying on course? How...

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitate . Roughly translated into "More things should not be used than are necessary," Occam's razor— a principle developed by Franciscan friar and logician—harps on the value of simplicity. In today's podcast, Brian Kight explains the value of simplistic discipline. "[In order to be successful], one must choose discipline over default every day. It's the o...

Take Action Premiere! I talk about how my 9 year old son and I use our morning routines to help build a plan for the day. Are you building a plan for your day? How do you do it? Take Action is a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, and the focus is on the small, 1% improvements we can make in our businesses and lives. Small changes make a big difference! This podcast will help you m...

Entrepreneurs, what big plans have you been putting off because they seemed unrealistic or too far-fetched? Have you ever asked yourself, "Well, why not? What's the worst that can happen?" Today's podcast guests thinks that you should. "There are benefits to having ADHD", declares founder of HARO and Paper Napkin Wisdom show favorite, Peter Shankman. "When you have ADHD, you have two speeds, off o...

To scale a business, we need to care about others more than we care about ourselves. The challenge is that we need to care about strangers (e.g. customers, suppliers, vendors, partners, bankers, even employees) - people you don't really know. As entrepreneurs and leaders, we often take on the burden pressure from everyone around us and put it on our shoulders. In order to be of value, we need to d...

When we first started Paper Napkin Wisdom, the idea was that by inspiring entrepreneurs to change themselves, we could promote change in the world. Lucas Siegel, co-founder of Capital Peak Investments and AlternaScript has a similar idea in today's Paper Napkin Wisdom. "If there's something in the world you don't like, then build a business to change it," he says. He began AlternaScript with this...

In today's podcast, avid readers Govindh Jayaraman, entrepreneur and host of Paper Napkin Wisdom, and James Ashcroft, entrepreneur and mentor at EO Accelerator Meetings, discuss Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson, legendary winning coach of the Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers. Though neither is particularly a basketball fan, both loved the book and highly recommend it. They recognize th...

To some, the concept of trusting the world may seem like a far-fetched philosophy. 'How can I trust the world with everything that's going on right now?' you may ask. However, today's Paper Napkin Wisdom guest, Leila Janah doesn't feel like the concept is unrealistic. In fact, she uses it as the guiding principle in her personal and professional life. Leila is founder of Sama, a social enterprise...

Everything worthwhile is hard to do. Being a better parent, a better leader, a better entrepreneur, or build a better business mode. Everything. The reason? They're enormously simple. The strategy and idea behind great things is simplicity, and they're worthwhile because you understand them and their value.  For example: admitting when you're wrong – in real time. This is hard to do. It's elusive,...

The date was February 4, 2013. The Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers were going head to head in Super Bowl XLVII. Suddenly, in the third quarter, there was a power outage. For thirty-four minutes, spectators across the globe were held captive by this unprecedented technical difficulty. Then, cookie brand Oreo tweeted "Power out? No Problem, you can still dunk in the dark" with a starkly...

Many of us are familiar with the concept that in order to get the life you want; you have you build it intentionally. However, how can entrepreneurs navigate the pivot from the life they're living into the life they want? Bri Seeley, founder of the Inspirational Woman Project, explains how she began to live an intentional life when she began to live by this guiding principle: "Life does not get be...

Data is the new black. Over 90% of the world's data has been created in the past two years; and on average, people consume nearly 30 GB of data per day. From entrepreneurs to CMO's of Fortune 500 companies, people simply can't get enough of it. But often times, organizations hit a standstill because they don't understand how to properly leverage the data to drive actionable results. In some cases,...