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Editor’s Note:  I’ve been a Godin fan since “Permission Marketing” which was published many years ago as I was ramping a permission marketing business. Another favorite is “Purple Cow” but anything Seth writes, including his blog is usually very good. In “The Dip,” Seth takes on the idea that it can be smart to power through tough times as you master something, but smart people also choose when to quit on certain things. Cool idea, a little off center and yet lots of common sense which is back to why I admire Seth.

“All empty souls tend to extreme opinion. It is only in those who have built up a rich world of memories and habits of thought that extreme opinions affront the sense of probability.”

In pondering what lessons I’ve learned in 2013, it became clear to me –once again– that solutions to complex problems are frequently simple. Although I have discovered this many times in my life and career, it seems I rarely remember this fact until pain presides. And yet consider: many truths seem counter intuitive:

The end of the Cold War, marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, had an equally dramatic effect on the general level of armed conflict in the global system. The levels of both interstate and societal warfare declined dramatically through the 1990s and this trend continues in the early 2000s, falling over 60% from their peak levels. To review the complete listing, "Major Episodes of Political Violence, 1946-2012," used to construct the warfare trends, click here. You may also view regional trends graphs by clicking here.     

Editor’s Note: My talented and beloved son, Kevin, was home for one of my open mic nights and while deciding some songs to do together, he suggested this Dylan classic. I frankly had not heard it or thought of it in 30+ years. When Kevin then said, “I want us to sing this for Rose Alice, his one-year-old daughter,” my heart soared!

Editor’s note: My son, Tim, sent me the TED talk Dan Palotta did and it's excellent. It certainly reflects a lot of what our foundation actually practices every day. But I also enjoyed this analysis of his talk  which provides even more food for thought. Where do I land? As long as it's not purely administrative cost........we're pie growers.

Editor’s comment: Warning to my conservative friends: This book can be interpreted as an attack on American capitalism! I realized that only a few pages in, and almost threw the book away. But I remembered one time when my daughter made me go to a Michael Moore movie by saying, “Dad, even if you’re appalled by it, you should open your mind to it.” So onward I pushed and though it’s been a tough read, there are enough nuggets in it to consider. I'm learning that I’m probably a fiscal conservative but a social liberal but in any event, I’m appalled by the growing polarization of wealth in America. Somewhere in between socialism that I fear and the untethered free enterprise that’s not working is the most interesting to me.

When I would tell my Mom that “my friends are doing it,” she would say “If your friends all jumped in the lake, should you?”

Editor’s Note: This is one of those songs that just makes you tap your feet, especially as it’s performed live at Farm Aid concert almost twenty years ago.