One of the not-so-surprising facts about online dating is that short men and tall women tend to do poorly in comparison to their peers. If you’re a woman using an online dating sites, you can vastly increase the odds of finding a mate who matches all your criteria AND has many of the intangible qualities…
The Third Kind of Marriage
Psychologist Kelly Flanagan wrote a paragraph I loved so much, I thought about framing it: The third kind of marriage is not perfect, not even close. But a decision has been made, and two people have decided to love each other to the limit, and to sacrifice the most important thing of all—themselves. In these…
If You’ve Had Success, You’ve Also Had Luck
One of my least favorite qualities in many of the “successful” individuals I meet (those who’ve achieved wealth, notoriety or a combination) is their insistence that they’ve “made their own luck.” That’s why I loved Michael Lewis’ commencement speech from Princeton this year: This isn’t just false humility. It’s false humility with a point. My…
No, I Don’t Hate Black/Gray Hat SEOs or Their Tactics
Because I often speak and write passionately about the value of white hat SEO and broader white hat inbound marketing, there seems to be a weird misconception that I must naturally despise all who engage in black or gray hat tactics. That’s definitely not the case, and I want to make the distinction clear. Doing…
A Massive, Worldwide Middle Class
There’s a common refrain that entrepreneurs are, by nature, optimists. I certainly fit in that classification. I’m optimistic about people, about companies, about technology, about the progress we’ve made as a species in the past 200 years vs. the prior 20,000 and the past 20 years vs. the prior 200. Reading Foreign Policy’s analysis of…
Minimalist Lifestyle & Time Management
I got a question last week over email that I realize I’ve never answered publicly on the web before: Whenever I hear anybody in the office say “I don’t have time to do that” I usually refer to you. That you manage to write blog posts, tweet, answer Q&As, participate in forums, email people back, plan…
Women Underestimate their Performance, and that’s a Good Thing
I truly enjoyed Sheryl Sandberg’s commencement speech given at Barnard College last week. It was not only inspiring but featured a call to action that I love and support – that women can and should reach for higher heights in their careers, and that there are specific tactics they can employ to get there. However,…
The Problem w/ “Fire Fast”
It’s universally accepted in startup-land that “hire slow, fire fast” is a mantra to live by. The benefits are clear – by adding only the best to your team, and constantly pruning for non-cultural or skill fits, you can build the best possible team. And, of course, the best teams always win. This universal advice,…
Impostor Syndrome
Someday, if you achieve great things, a man will show up at the door with a clipboard, ask you some questions and take away the life you’ve built and love, to replace it with the one you dreaded. If you’ve achieved any modicum of success or happiness in your professional life, you almost certainly fear…
Analysis of 1 Million Employees Helps Explain Retention & Loyalty
We run monthly managers’ meetings at SEOmoz with the goal to improve communication between managers, hone individual skills and discuss issues that can help make all of us better at our jobs. Unlike the weekly eTeam meeting (which I need to write about), the managers’ meeting includes anyone in the company who has a direct…