Pre-concieved notions and Mark Cuban

Today, at the Media Innovations Summit, I met Mark Cuban. And, I heard him speak. Those who follow my work blog know that I wrote about him in the context of the Lionsgate battle with Carl Icahn.

What is it like to meet someone you’ve written about? Well, I remembered writing positive things but double checked when I got home. I felt responsible because I liked him and what he had to say. And, he is a larger than life personality so I’d walked into everything with pre-conceived notions.

Pre-conceived notions and biases has been a theme in my Coro Executive Leadership Program. We all have them; how aware are we of them? How do they affect us?

Captive face that issue. Writing about an Islamic terrorist, a polarizing issue, leads many to make assumptions about my position that aren’t right. Those that have gone on to read the book have acknowledged the disconnect. How many of us follow through to test our pre-conceived notions or biases?

I’m glad I met and spoke with Mark Cuban today. He was approachable, brilliant, knowledgeable and articulate. And he was willing to take a stand and express strong opinions. I admire him for doing so.

On my end, I’ll continue to ponder how I cast a light on events before they happen

My weekend: the chaos of life

My weekend went too fast!
Running. On the beach. Yoga. With my daughter.
Taking her to get her ears pierced. And to dinner.
Coro program. Leimert Park and doing the related presentation.
Article in the WSJ about macro-factors affecting stocks more than/as much as fundimentals.
Trying to finish reading a novel tonight. I will. Not great; engaging.
Interest rates and the impact of unintented consequences.
A conference tomorrow and a trip out of town Tuesday.
Pictures? So many pictures.
Lesson learned? Do as much as you can and enjoy what you do. None of it comes again.
Back to reading my novel.
I'll post a few pictures tomorrow.

Time

I was sitting at my desk and asking myself "what is the best use of my time right now?" and I couldn't come up with an answer.

The issue isn't that I don't have many, many things to do. Rather the answer to my question hinges on priorities. Over the weekend we shot raw footage for the Captive video,I went running on the beach and to my gym, I spent a lot of time with my kids and starting shopping for Halloween decorations (a holiday we take seriously at my house) and I read. I also did so many things (laundry; fed the cats; checked email) that I had to do. What was the best use of my time over the weekend?

Last night I went to bed early after a few kid related emergencies (which are their private affairs and not really that bad after a good night's sleep). I'm rested now and have already accomplished a lot today.

What next? Yoga? More work?

I haven't decided yet.

Shooting a video for Captive this weekend

This weekend we'll be shooting a video for Captive (thank you Amy Sommer). My kids will be there; helpers, not "extras". We mulled over the video strategy: why I wrote the book, what I hoped to accomplish and how I felt about the related issues.

Terrorism is a heated topic. I took UCLA extension classes while writing this novel to learn how to write it better. At the beginning of each new session at least one fellow class mate would take offense at the topic and my "politics". What are my politics? Pretty quickly that person would realize that they had judged too soon and the book itself wasn't nearly as polarizing as they'd assumed.

Writing about terrorism allows for the posibility of controversy. Related attention can help sell books. But that isn't the point of the novel. People grow up in vastly different societies and make decisions (at an early age) based on what opportunities are available to them.

I had a conversation last night with someone who had volunteered as a criminal defense attorney during law school. One of his clients got the death penalty. Yet that client was a broken and brutalized man. How much choice and free will is due to circumstance? Read Captive to see how I address that question.

Op-ed piece I read this morning

While I don't always agree with Kristof I do agree with his piece in this morning's New York Times. We all have a responsibility to see outside our own little worlds. While I feel no obligation to agree with the beliefs or even opinions of others I do think that they need to be free to have/state them.

Education is one answer. Not judging pre-maturely, focusing on solutions not blame, crossing party lines and attempting to create change. That latter point is the reason I read Kristof - agree with him or not he does make an effort.

As does George, for you to judge how effectively, in Captive (Khalil too, by the way - his viewpoint is just very different).

Go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Santa Monica honors those lost in 9-11

Any need to say more?

Releasing a book - a parody