[Update 2023]
I am currently working at an amazing diabetes tech company, Glooko. I have the honor of leading our Data Teams and get to practice leadership on a daily basis. Writing a book, which was the initial purpose of this webpage, is still on my backlog. It’s not currently my number one priority, but as my kids transition to college and I find myself with free time again, I’m back contemplating the idea of distilling the learnings of the 200+ books I’ve read over the past 15 years on the topics of personal development and leadership. Please see my recommended book list for details.
For now, I’ve started a monthly newsletter and do a little bit of coaching and mentoring on the side. If you are interested in either, please shoot me an email at ed.live.learn.lead@gmail.com
[Update 2018]
I am currently working at an awesome non-profit Tidepool.org as their lead data scientist, and have moved my book stretch goal to the someday-maybe list. I am actively reading and will continue to update my recommended book list.]
I agree with Simon Sinek, that it is good to “Start with Why,” and Stephen Covey, that it is good to “start with the end in mind.”
So, why did I start this website, and what is the end goal? Well, I’ll be completely honest. I am simply trying to work on my writing skills. At the same time, I am trying to digest-learn-practice leadership, being productive and efficient, and living a happy, heathy, and balanced life. Following the advice on how to learn, which I gathered from “Make it Stick,” I decided that writing about the leadership, productivity, and happiness/healthiness would be a win-win (another Covey term), and a great way to learn the material. I also thought that if I was going to go through the trouble of doing the research and writing, that someone else might think the information is useful too, thus providing an opportunity to contribute to the greater good (sorry if that is too pie in the sky of some of you;). The ultimate goal or stretch goal of all of this, is to turn the materials posted here into a book.
My hobby and now passion of reading the leadership and productivity literature started on accident (2008ish) when a colleague gifted me David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done.” I was blown away and started looking for more material on the subject on being efficient and mistakenly picked up the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, as I thought it was going to be about being productive and efficient at work. In some regards, it is, but it is really so much more…and after reading Covey’s book, I was hooked.
Around the same time or shortly thereafter, my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (a horrible autoimmune disorder). My world was spun upside down and I realized that there was a lot more to life than trying to be as productive, efficient, and successful as possible. And just to be specific, at that time I had the mindset that success = wealth, whereas I now know that success is so much more. I mention my daughter’s autoimmune disorder as it was one of the saddest moments of my life, and yet, a turning point in my life. I became aware of the fragileness of life, started exercising and shortly thereafter signed up for my first marathon, and in general became interested in the health, wellness, and happiness literature.
In 2013, while I was writing my PhD Dissertation, I realized that I am not a good writer and don’t even enjoy writing. At the same time, I realized that being a research scientist — which was my day job at the time — requires writing. In fact, if I want to do my job well, it requires that I become a good writer. With the encouragement from a few close colleagues and the guidance from an excellent book on writing science, I am starting to enjoy writing.
live-learn-lead 