Videos

Originally posted in our December 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Glass is fragile, and plastic is resilient, but some systems and functions require stress testing to get stronger. From our muscles and bones to our immune systems, many human systems fit into the “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” paradigm. Nassim Taleb coined the term “antifragility” to define this tendency in humans. It goes beyond persistence or even resiliency and, in many ways, interconnects with…

Originally posted in our November 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Have you ever found yourself in a state of near effortless focus? Where you aren’t paying attention to your phone or other tasks and instead are hyper-concentrated on a particular project or job. This situation is what it is like to be in a state of flow.  Long-time followers of our work at ELI will know that the “Godfather of Flow Psychology,” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, has profoundly…

Originally posted in our August 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. As we see the start of the public school year throughout much of the US and other countries, let’s take a moment to reflect on the goal of education and how we might want to reframe it.  For starters, many of us believed that the path toward the highest paying and most rewarding job was a college degree. And while it is true that, on average,…

Originally posted in our June 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. For inspiration and to demonstrate to principles we’ve been thinking about this month, the ELI team wanted to highlight one entrepreneur who is making it work no matter what, DeShawn Willis. Owner of Lake Lawns in Toledo, Ohio, DeShawn is a prime example of the power of vision and persistence while showing us you do not need significant investment to start something sustainable. In this short…

Originally posted in our January 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Chances are, you have heard about the Big Quit or the Great Resignation. In the US, the number of people quitting their jobs has never been higher than it is right now. In a recent 60 Minutes report, we hear from workers, employers, and others looking at national trends. So who is leaving, and why? While there are many nearing retirement age and exiting their careers…

Originally posted in our July 2021 Top of Mind Newsletter. Ira Glass, host of This American Life on NPR, has successfully produced high-quality radio for over two decades. But, as he will freely admit, he wasn’t always very good at it. In fact, he claims to have not been up to his own standards for years. And he’s not alone. As Glass earnestly discusses in a series of videos titled On Storytelling, almost all creatives go through…

Liter of Light is a global, grassroots movement that uses inexpensive, readily available materials to provide high quality solar lighting to people with limited or no access to electricity.

Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. Under the guidance of idealistic music director Favio Chavez, the orchestra must navigate a strange new world of arenas and sold-out concerts. However, when a natural disaster strikes their community, Favio must find a way to keep the orchestra intact and provide a…

9-year-old Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation building an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto parts store. The entire summer went by, and he never had a single customer. But Caine didn’t give up. Then, on the last day of summer, filmmaker Nirvan Mullick walked in by chance to buy an auto part for his car. Caine asked Nirvan to play, and, well, watch Caine’s Arcade and Caine’s Arcade 2 to see what happened next…