Losing Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade is tragic. Both were icons in their own field. Understanding ‘why?’ is difficult, if not impossible to answer. Bourdain’s prose and connecting of cultures was genius. Writers and chefs idolize his talents and achievements. Spade’s massive empire, starting with handbags, is the…
[https://www.jonbirdsong.com/content/images/wordpress/2018/05/North_Ga_Mountains.jpg] During a run this morning, I reflected on many things I’m grateful for, all in part to the sacrifices of so many. America is the greatest country to build a business. We are a nation of…
I was catching up with a friend who is an engineer a few days ago. We talked about many things under the sun: daycares, ATL United, Atlanta neighborhoods, new SaaS companies, and, of course, products. One re-occurring theme, or as my English teacher put it in high school, motif, is…
[https://www.jonbirdsong.com/content/images/wordpress/2018/05/Tonni-Bennett.png] This Thursday, May 24th, a stellar group of leaders are sharing their learnings and best practices in SaaS [https://www.simplysaas.com/events/2018/5/24/simply-saas-forum]. Our first Simply SaaS Forum was a lot of fun and the…
Do you remember that one, seemingly small tidbit of information that changed a significant direction of your life? It could have been the book recommendation from a stranger or the moral of a story told by a speaker at an event you went to last-minute. Perhaps it was more direct…
We’ve all heard the saying: “dress for the job you want.” [/content/images/wordpress/2018/01/sidney-poitier-later-years-in-hollywood-e1516971840988.jpg] I get that and have always believed it to some extent. Times are changing though. Today, the delineation between “success” and nice threads are not as correlative as they used to…
Biographies and memoirs share so much about how people think and make decisions, which makes them my favorites genre of books. I just recently finished Fuqua [https://www.amazon.com/J.-B.-Fuqua/e/B007O44SC6]. It’s a memoir by J.B. Fuqua: one of Atlanta’s premiere businessmen over…
John Meacham’s story on the relationship of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill [https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Winston-Intimate-Portrait-Friendship/dp/0812972821] is an engaging one around two leaders testing the limits on leadership, friendship, politics, and foreign policy. I’m half way through the book and the dog ears on the…