In The Trenches

Be honest, you know they are. How many meetings do you have a week?  How many in a single day? If you're like me, you spend about 30-50% of your time preparing for or attending meetings throughout the workweek. And for the good of whichever organization you're a part of, this has to stop. That's where Al Pittampalli comes in...

Al began his conventional career with Ernst & Young LLP as an IT adviser. There, he worked on-site with numerous Fortune 1000 companies and found a disturbing trend... These companies held a lot of purposeless meetings. But he also noticed the rare exceptions: the companies with a culture of meaningful activity and purpose; companies that held quick, powerful, and, most importantly, rare meetings. These companies performed better across the board and avoided pointless meetings at all costs. Al figured out the formula, and now he's bringing it to the rest of the world...or at least those willing to shake up the status quo and enter into the top percent of companies that focus on action rather than meetings.

Al is the founder of The Modern Meeting Company and a meeting culture warrior. He's on a mission to change the way organizations hold meetings, make decisions, and coordinate action. Al is a published author.  His book Read This Before Our Next Meeting was published by Seth Godin’s Domino Project, and during the week of its release it was the most popular Kindle book in the world. For those unfamiliar with publishing and kindle rankings, this is incredibly difficult to do, but Al most definitely deserves it because the book is incredible. Al has been featured in (yes, it's a big list...):

• Forbes.com

Al writes a great blog at www.modernmeetingstandard.com, and is a sought after speaker, writer and trainer.

On recognizing things you can improve:

On solving problems from the Outside (versus the inside):

On becoming a published author and its effect on his company:

On the power of books and spreading ideas:

On Seth Godin’s Domino Project:

On the pain of writing a book:

Here’s how he overcame this difficulty of writing:

On the difficulty of entrepreneurship:“People say ‘fake it till you make it’ - I think there’s some truth to that.” (tweet away)

On writing…

On being prepared (to get published by already having written a book):

• Why you should never accept the status quo

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Al's Blog Al's Book A Short, Powerful Key Note Address on How Meetings Ought to be Run:

Share it! Tweet it! Email This Link! *if the above 'Email' link doesn't pop up your email client, just copy and paste this link into a new email: http://bit.ly/Vr6g2x I hope this interview inspires you to do great things. Whatever you do, don’t stop creating... - Tom Morkes

If starting something from scratch is tough... And choosing a course of action, a direction, and a speed is scary... Then giving up a lucrative job in New York to bootstrap a business, create a paradigm-shifting, book publishing venture, and travel across the world in a van in 1080 days must be madness. But that's exactly what AJ Leon decided to do. Why? In AJ's own words (click to tweet):

From an outside perspective, AJ had everything going for him; a financially stable job in New York, an amazing and supportive soon to be wife, and a lucrative promotion just days away. Except on the inside, everything wasn't so great. AJ had a painful epiphany the day before a big promotion; he realized if he takes this promotion, he's stuck in this lifestyle forever (a lifestyle that, while socially respectable, drained him of energy and passion). The next day, AJ quit his job and chose his own course; no plan, no preparation, no waiting around for someone to tell him what to do. If you want to understand what it means to draw your own map, talk to AJ.

AJ Leon is a writer, designer, entrepreneur, humanitarian and nomad. He is the founder of Misfit Inc, where he helps brands take over the world. You can find out more about his business at misfit-inc.com, and read about his travels at his personal branded website: aj-leon.com. AJ and his wife, Melissa, are currently on a mission to travel across the world in 1,080 days.  You can follow along at pursuitofeverything.com. AJ also produces Misfit Quarterly – a creative arts journal dedicated to showcasing the work of artistic carriers of the misfit flame.  The digital edition is free – but AJ also does a limited release run of the print version; something I’m a proud subscriber of.  If you’re interested, checkout misfit-inc.com/quarterly.

• Quitting a successful career for uncertainty and possible failure

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Pursuit of Everything Manifesto by AJ Leon: Read AJ's amazing eBook here (he'll be kickstarting the physical edition very soon!). Escape From Cubicle Nation: A great resource for people who want to quit their job and pursue their passion. Good Life Project interview with AJ and Melissa Leon: Great interview.  Watch it. Misfit Quarterly: Get the free digital edition here.  Or join me and be awesome and support an awesome initiative by grabbing the limited edition softcover.

If you've been following this blog for any period of time, you know I've recorded several interviews with game-changers, status-quo challengers, and creative insurgents on topics like creativity, writing, publishing, bootstrapping, and entrepreneurship. All of those interviews I hosted via dropbox - which meant you could download the episode to your computer, but it came with a bunch of limitations. After a conversation with Jeff Goins (www.goinswriter.com), he suggested I make this series into a legitimate podcast series - one you can find on iTunes, Zune, etc... So, I did it. Now you can:

• Stream the file from this website

I have definitely upped the quality.  Let me know what you think! But for those new to my website and content...

In the Trenches is a bi-weekly podcast series meant to inspire and motivate you to do creative, important work. Every broadcast, I sit down and have authentic conversations with game-changers, status-quo challengers, and creative insurgents; individuals who write, draw, produce, publish, create, break, build, invent and lead. All of the people I interview are actually on the ground making things happen – they’re in thick of the creative fight, working to produce something epic, bold, and unconventional, day in and day out. Each day, they go to work, doing the tough, painful and scary work of creating something new; each day, they struggle to create for the rest of us something that impacts our lives deeply and meaningfully; each day, they add to their vast, growing resume and portfolio of incredible content...but they don’t do the work to build a portfolio nor to create a resume.

These artists, writers, entrepreneurs, warriors and leaders struggle and strive, day in and day out, doing the hard, creative work, not because it’s pretty or glamorous (it’s usually not), but because it’s a part of who they are.  They truly are IN THE TRENCHES, and the world is better for it. None of these conversations are pre-scripted or edited.  These are all rough takes – gritty and authentic conversations with real people doing real work.

The goal with each conversation and with every broadcast, is to give you a deep, meaningful and authentic look into the lives of the people who impact our lives with their work. That’s why I don’t read from a script, nor edit the dialogue – I want each conversation to feel like you’re right there with us in the coffee shop, listening in on some seriously incredible stories and thoughts. It helps, too, that every interviewee is someone I highly respect, and often, a good friend.  There’s something very real about a personal conversation – something that gives you true insight and real emotion that gets lost on cookie-cutter talk shows, or pre-rehearsed interview series. So I say all of that to say this: this podcast is designed to inspire you to make something worthwhile; to get you to instigate and create something meaningful; and, finally, to get you to lead – truly lead – and make an impact – one that’s even greater than the stories you’ll hear in these conversations. Which means, if you listen to these broadcasts, you have an end of the bargain to uphold – and that’s to do something awesome, and to let me know about it.

Well, first, it’s selfish. I love creativity, and art, and business, and philosophy, and leadership; and I love talking about these things. Getting to know all these wonderful people and hear their incredible stories really motivates me to keep doing the hard, creative work.  Even if I wasn’t recording these conversations, I would still have them on a consistent basis, because, deep down, I NEED to hear these stories and know others are there with me, fighting the creative war, in the trenches right beside me.  So, first and foremost, it is selfish. But the second reason is entirely unselfish. The second reason is because I want to share these stories and this knowledge with you.  Period. I’m doing this podcast series because I want to share these incredible insights and stories with likeminded individuals…people like myself who love this stuff and like nothing better than to really get inside the brain of creative, successful people. I think of it as my contribution to the creative fight; that I can, somehow, through these podcasts, help you with YOUR creative struggles; that I can keep you from going off the metaphorical ledge into the pit of ‘I never did anything with my life’ and instead, inspire you to create something incredible. Real quick: something incredible doesn’t have to be conventional art…it doesn’t mean painting, writing, designing, etc…though it CAN mean this, it doesn’t HAVE to be this.  It can be anything you want, that you believe in, that's worthwhile to you, but it requires one thing:

1. Individual Choice: You made the conscious choice to pursue it.  Someone else isn't forcing your hand.  Nobody told you to do it.  You decided to go and you went.

No, doing something incredible doesn't have to fit in a box.  And that's the point.

In this episode, I'll share with you:

1. What In the Trenches Podcast is all about

Check back next week for the beginning of a life changing series. I really hope this series inspires you to create your life’s work. Whatever you do, don’t stop creating... - Tom Morkes