Posted By Justin Sousa on Jun 12, 2020

In his first year as Director of Athletics and Recreation at Seton Hall, Bryan Felt went through a rollercoaster of experiences and unprecedented issues to deal with. An alumnus of Seton Hall, Felt joined the athletics department as director after serving in the same role for the past two years at St. Peters University. He had previously worked within the Pirates athletics department as Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs and later as Senior Associate Athletics Director. We caught up with Felt to see how he was adjusting to life in quarantine and to recap the events of his first year back at Seton Hall.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

JUSTIN SOUSA, Sports Editor of The Setonian: When you were deciding whether to leave St. Peters to become Seton Halls Director of Athletics & Recreation, why did you feel ready to take on the role?

BRYAN FELT, Director of Athletics and Recreation at Seton Hall: Seton Halls always been such a big part of my life. I felt like my 16 years at Seton Hall definitely prepared me in terms of being a Seton Hall person. Having the institutional knowledge, knowing our programs well, knowing our personnel well and knowing what it took to be really successful at Seton Hall. Those two years at St. Peters were the most incredibly valuable in my life, career-wise, because I got the opportunity to run an athletic department and make a lot of big decisions.

JS: In those two years with St. Peters, what was the biggest takeaway that you brought with you to Seton Hall?

BF: I learned a lot about myself as a manager. When you are the person that the entire department reports to, thats a lot of weight. I realized the importance of transparency and having a unified group that works together. We had to really change our culture at St. Peters, and I think we did that, and I really give credit to the people I worked with for that. I learned the importance of the right fit and how important it is to hire the right people for your organization.

JS: What are the different challenges that come with working with programs at Seton Hall that are more successful compared with those that need improvement?

BF: One of the first things I did was sit down with every head coach. I knew where they were in their dynamic and their progress, but we have some new coaches in their first or second year here. [Programs] that are still continuing to work spend a lot of time talking about what kind of pieces theyre putting in place to build the culture that they want and to bring in the right players to fit into that culture as opposed to a coach that has already established a culture and continues to find ways to build on that.

JS: You mentioned culture a few times with St. Peters and now with Seton Hall. To you, what exactly is culture and what defines the culture you want to build here?

BF: I think culture is everything. I think if you have a poor culture, you will suffer in several ways. If you have made the choice to work in college athletics, you are committed to it. Its a career that really becomes part of your personal culture and the life that you live. We work in athletics, and athletics dont happen between 9-5. They happen at night and on the weekends, so it becomes a part of your family. Im not available a lot at night and on weekends, and thats the same for my staff. I think the culture of making sure that your workplace has the semblance of a family is very important. I want to make sure that people feel they are valued and they are important and that they can always come with a problem, bring up a topic, or make a suggestion. We want to make sure that theres always comfort that they can do that.

JS: A few months into your first year as AD, you were slammed with a big problem in Kevin Willards suspension. How did you personally handle the situation and what was your process in creating a plan of action to get through it?

BF: It was all communication. Communication to make sure everyone was on the same page and that the message was the same. That was the most important thing. This was something that had external pieces to it, and I think we handled it as best as possible. We worked closely with the NCAA to make sure everything was done the proper way. We were upfront and had solid communication on how this would all transpire.

JS: What were discussions like in the athletic department when the university began to respond to the impending spread of COVID-19 throughout the country?

BF: I was involved in conversations from the get-go [with the university and NCAA]. This all happened surrounding basketball tournament time, and we just started to see dominoes fall. You saw Wednesday morning heading into the Big East Tournament, we decided to play with no fans. Then something happened with the NBA that night, and we held a meeting for the Big East that night and then again Thursday morning to cancel [the tournament] as many did. Were all dealing with something that no one really has experience dealing with. The word unprecedented is probably used nauseatingly now, but thats right on the money.

JS: How difficult was it to have those conversations with senior athletes who didnt have the opportunity to see out the entirety of their final year at Seton Hall?

BF: Its heartbreaking. Our student athletes have done such an amazing job at understanding and dealing with this situation. At the end of the day, its sports and its athletics. At the end of the day, its about the well-being of our students and every human being. We dont make light of that, and there are larger things going on in this world like the heroism of our front-line heroes and our healthcare workers. It is crushing though. Any time you dedicate yourself to anything like a student athlete dedicates themself to their sports or academics, its crushing to have it taken away from you. What you see from guys like Myles Powell on social media talking about how necessary it was to do this, but it still hurts. You take your golf teams, your baseball, your tennis and your softball, you were preparing for a year to get to the spring. For seniors, they spent their entire lives working to be a division one athlete and this was their final moment.

JS: How did the athletic department continue to provide academic support for student-athletes during online classes?

BF: Our academic advising staff has been tremendous. Within the first week of being home, we put together our wellness program to figure out how we could connect with our student athletes during this time. Our coaches are doing wellness checks and checking in on their players, but our academic staff has been doing a great job at tutoring students remotely as well.

JS: How has the athletic department handled the issue of not being able to bring prospective student athletes onto campus for formal tours?

BF: Thankfully, weve put together a lot of footage that we had filed away. Our communications department did a great job of putting together virtual tours for our recruiting needs. Coaches could talk to recruits as they walked through the virtual tours with the students. Were still trying to find new ways to adapt to recruiting, but I think were doing a great job.

JS: Whats the departments plan of action in terms of dealing with the financial burdens this pandemic has placed on the athletics department?

BF: Weve been making some very difficult decisions. We had to furlough a portion of our staff, and thats not an easy thing to do. Unfortunately, a lot of the jobs people have to do just cant be done at home, and that was part of thinking behind these decisions. We are hopeful that we will all soon be back and the people who are on furlough can come back as well.

JS: Having worked within the athletic departments of St. Peters and Seton Hall, do you have a favorite coach or player that youve worked with?

BF: There are so many. Early on in my Seton Hall career, I got to work with legendary coaches. I always loved Manny Schellscheidt. Mike Sheppard is one of the all-time greats, and I always adored Mike. When I first came back to Seton Hall, I got to work with Richie Raegan. I cherish those times working with the likes of Schellscheidt, Sheppard and Raegan. Those three come to mind because theyre coaching legends.

JS: Lets say youre at Seton Hall for at least 10 years. What does success within the Seton Hall athletics department look like to you 10 years from now?

BF: I want to continue graduating the best and brightest student athletes like Seton Hall has been doing. I want to continue building and sustaining a successful mens basketball program like we have been doing right now because its important to our university. Id love to see that for both our basketball programs. Id also love to establish traditions of success within individual programs. Some of them already do, but Id like to help others return to their glory days.

JS: If you could go back in time to give post-undergrad Bryan any piece of advice, what would it be?

BF: I wouldve reminded myself to be open to opportunities. When I left Seton Hall in 1997, the last place I thought I would be back at Seton Hall and in the athletics department. I was a broadcast and communications major, and I was very fortunate enough to have a job after graduation with MSNBC. I worked in television for about five or six years and loved it. I was so zeroed in on that being my focus, but I wouldve reminded myself that opportunities just come in all different sizes and forms.

I also would have reminded myself about the importance of people. I wouldve reminded myself about the importance of relationships because I dont think I fully understood that coming out of college. I would tell you right now that good relationships with colleagues, coworkers and supervisors are so important.

Justin Sousa can be reached at justin.sousa@student.shu.edu

See the article here:
Bryan Felt looks back on his first year as Seton Hall's Director of Athletics - The Setonian

EVEN in darkness, it is possible to create light.

So says the famous quote and its a mantra that can be easily applied to Wivenhoe author Suzy K Quinn, the first person to write and publish a book during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Bad Mothers Virus is the latest in a best-selling series and a relatable tale dealing with the challenges of lockdown.

The backdrop may be intensely serious but Suzy puts a comical, positive spin on issues like home schooling, extra housework and braving the supermarkets. As she says, its romantic comedy meets Adrian Mole.

Its happy and sad but, in the main, an uplifting fictional story, said Suzy, who lives with husband, Demi, and daughters, Lexi, nine, and Laya, six.

I tend to think of it as light-hearted soap opera and wanted it to be funny - a book that will make people laugh if theyre feeling fed up.

Its also honest and no-holds barred. Fiction based on real life.

I tended to start really early, sometimes at 4am.

It was a challenge and a big undertaking but I wanted to do something positive, to write about the situation in a comical way.

When you laugh, you feel better and thats what I hope people take from this book.

At one point I worried I wouldnt get it done, though.

It was difficult and tiring, especially with the girls wanting and needing my attention.

Former St Helena School student Suzy is no stranger to success.

Her first novels, the thrillers Glass Geishas and Show, Dont Tell, were published in 2011.

She then wrote the Ivy Lessons, a series of romance books about a teacher and student which went on to sell over half a million copies worldwide, becoming bestsellers in the UK, America and Germany.

In more recent years she has switched her attention to the Bad Mothers Diary series - The Bad Mothers Diary (2016), The Bad Mothers Detox (2017), The Bad Mothers Pregnancy (2017) and now The Bad Mothers Virus.

While fictional, based on the trials and tribulations of main character and single, self-isolating mum Juliette Duffy, Suzy says she draws on her own life and experiences with Demi, Lexi and Laya.

Its based on real life. Im always honest, self-deprecating and dont mind poking fun at myself, said the 40-year-old.

There are lots of laughs about things like the lockdown rules and home schooling.

For us, like everyone, its been a crazy rollercoaster but its funny how quickly weve got used to things.

At the start, I worried we werent doing the home schooling properly.

I set a schedule but the girls hated it and rebelled, so we had to adapt the way we worked.

The changes we made have quickly become the norm, though, and, as a family, there have been lots of positives in terms of lifestyle.

Weve been exercising together and working out with Joe Wicks, although were now having to do that after school because the girls went back last Wednesday.

Weve really enjoyed keeping fit together and having lots of walks around beautiful Wivenhoe.

You dont always appreciate whats on your doorstep and its been lovely spending so much quality time together.

Suzy, who aims to write three books a year, is also a journalist who has previously written for The Guardian, Sunday Times Magazine and The Sun.

She loves travelling and thought she would go stir crazy during the lockdown.

Instead, she has embraced the quieter, simpler lifestyle imposed on us all.

At the start, I kept thinking it would quickly blow over, she said.

People kept talking about mild flu symptoms and I dont think anyone realised how serious it was going to be.

Weve tried new things along the way, learning new skills, and Ive taken to things I never would have expected.

For instance, Im not normally a particularly domestic person but Ive really enjoyed cleaning.

Once upon a time I would have thought what a waste of time.

Now Im finding it really satisfying and meditative, taking care of our family environment.

Its strange because I thought I would have gone stir crazy.

I love travelling and enjoy the freedom it gives you, so would have anticipated feeling imprisoned, being forced to spend time at home.

But it hasnt been like that and there isnt that fear of missing out.

Everyones in the same boat and its not like others are outside enjoying the sunshine while youre stuck indoors.

The Bad Mothers Virus has been published as an eBook and all profits will be donated to the coronavirus vaccine and NHS funds.

It feels like a really good thing to do and, from a personal point of view, its kept my mind occupied, she said.

It took some of the anxiety away and hopefully itll raise important funds for great causes.

My initial target is to raise 10,000 but Id love to get to 50,000. So far, its doing well and, in terms of pre-orders, it was in the top 500 in the eBook charts.

More:
Wivenhoe author combines fiction with her personal experiences of life in lockdown - Gazette

A 20-YEAR-OLD businesswoman who launched a company from her bedroom has told how she wants to give Muslim girls across the country their own "crown".

Hafsah Syeed, who lives in Heaton, launched DU'AAA Ltd back in 2017 after noticing a gap in the market for affordable modest wear.

Having always worn modest clothing, she realised how expensive it was becoming and, at just 17, she expressed dreams of one day owning her own business.

But it was only when she sat down with her parents and explained she wanted to take a gap year that dream, DU'AAA, turned into reality.

Her mother gifted her a sewing machines and she sent off for materials and also packaging from eBay.

Three years on, Hafsah has told of her brand's success and now plans to launch a sports-wear Hijaab collaboration with her high-profile sister Safiyyah Syeed, known more popularly as The Hijabi Boxer.

Hafsah, who says she feels like a "princess" when her Hijaab is on, told the Telegraph & Argus: "In 2017 I was still in sixth form. I thought I needed to do something that would help the community more and bring something into my life which would help other people.

"I sat down with my loved ones and family and asked them 'What do you think I should do?'. One of them said 'You should do Hijabs, you've worn them since you were five'.

"I can bring my personal touch to it, I can bring my unique style.

"I brainstormed a few ideas.

"I'd done a bit of research on how businesses design. I didn't really know much about business. I got materials.

"These days modest clothing has a price tag.

"In Victorian times people looked elegant, they looked modest.

"You can style the Hijaab the way you want. You can style it the most stylish way ever, you can wrap it around in so many different ways.

"My Hijaab is like my crown, you know how every princess has a crown, it's a protector.

"It makes you feel as though nothing can get in the way with you and your relationship with God.

"It signifies such a close relationship with God, I'm following my religion.

"Every time you wear, in our religion, it's the angels of God and they give prayers to us."

Her new 2020 collection has just launched as she carefully sews each label on by hand.

As her brand grows, she has now increased her prices but vows to keep it in the affordable bracket.

She explained: "Since I was younger I've always been wearing modest clothing.

"It is so expensive.

"They put the pricing so high and people are going to buy it as that's the only modest clothing at the time."

Hafsah is currently studying psychology at university and works as a sales assistant at Superdrug on the weekend.

She says she is constantly inspired by the "drive" in Bradford's business community.

"You realise how lucky you are when you're in Bradford," she explained.

"I love they've all got that drive and motivation.

"They're not letting anything stop them."

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Businesswoman Hafsah Syeed, 20, on her DU'AAA Hijaab success - Bradford Telegraph and Argus

FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) on Tuesday announced that Nisaba Godrej, currently the Executive Chairperson of the company, will take over the role of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company with effect from July 1, 2020. The announcement follows the resignation of Vivek Gambhir, GCPL's current Managing Director and CEO, who stepped down citing personal reasons.

"Vivek Gambhir, GCPL's current Managing Director and CEO, has resigned for personal reasons and will step down as Managing Director and CEO on June 30, 2020," GCPL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Nisaba Godrej has been appointed as Managing Director for a period till September 30, 2022, subject to the approval of the shareholders in the ensuing Annual General Meeting. She will also continue to be the Chairperson of the Board till March 31, 2022, Mumbai-based consumer goods company said in its statement.

Nisaba is also the Chairperson of Teach for India and sits on the board of Godrej Agrovet and VIP Industries. She is the daughter of Adi Godrej, Chairman Emeritus of Godrej Group, and non-executive directors sister of Tanya Dubash and Pirojsha Godrej.

Commenting on leadership change, Nisaba Godrej said: "I would like to thank the board for reposing their confidence in me. Humanity is going through difficult times right now and GCPL is committed to doing whatever is necessary to serve its stakeholders and community. I look forward to working closely with our talented team to drive our company ahead with clarity, hard work, kindness and a strong sense of purpose, to emerge stronger on the other side."

"I also want to take this opportunity to thank Vivek for his many contributions to Godrej over the past 11 years. Vivek and I have had a strong partnership for over a decade. He is someone who has not only created a lot of value for Godrej, but has also been a wonderful friend and mentor to me. We wish him much success, health and happiness for the future," she added.

Vivek Gambhir said, "After 11 fulfilling and wonderful years with Godrej, it is time for me to move on to chart the next phase of my journey. For the past many years, I have been living away from my family and seeing them only on weekends. Recently, I had some health problems that made me think more deeply about my lifestyle. Thankfully, I have fully recovered. I would now like to be able to spend more time with my family."

Ahead of the announcement, shares of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) ended Tuesday's trade at Rs 659.35 apiece against previous close of Rs 658.10 on the BSE.

By Chitranjan Kumar

Also Read: Coronavirus effect: Maruti Suzuki's production plummets 97.5% in May

Also Read: India Inc. set to spend entire CSR budget on coronavirus; no space for other causes

See the original post:
Nisaba Godrej to succeed Vivek Gambhir resigns as Godrej Consumer's MD and CEO - Business Today

The economy is reopening, so make sure you're not closed off to these survival strategies.

June 11, 2020 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Due to the devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry, one of my coaching clients, Alex, an entrepreneurial executive who served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a regional chain of 24 diners in the Northeast, wanted to explore switching to a different industry.

Alex turned to me as her executive coach and asked for my guidance in early March, before the lockdown fully took hold. I recommended a five-step decision-making process that addresses the dangerous judgment errors we make called cognitive biases, which devastate our decision-making in both our professional and personal life. And now I'm going to share them with you.

Alex and I settled on a list of people she would turn to, including:

Related:Finding Jobs and Building Careers in the Age Of COVID-19 and Beyond

With the data she had on hand, I asked Alex to come up with a list of critical goals, which should address underlying issues as well. We identified three:

We then came up with a number of criteria relevant for the switch and ranked them on her priorities, with 1 at the low end and 10 at the high end:

Initially, Alex listed just one option for switching:It was obvious that she was already leaning towards the food-delivery industry. However, I convinced her to add more options so that she will have fiveat minimum. She took a bit more time deliberating and finally came up with a handful:

At this point, Alex was still leaning towardher favored option, which was to shift to the food-delivery industry. However, I cautioned her to consider each one carefully. We went together through each option, ranking them on the criteria variable. To do so, we made a table with options on the left and variables on the top. Then, after ranking each option on the relevant criteria, we multiplied the ranking by the weight of the criteria, as seen in this table.

Options

Salary

(8)

Innovation

(5)

Room for growth

(6)

Stability

(7)

Ease of transition

(5)

Total

Current position

7

1

2

1

10

130

Food delivery

5

3

4

4

8

147

Meal Kit

5

7

4

3

3

135

Food processing

6

2

5

5

3

138

Grocery store

8

5

9

8

5

224

Alex was surprised that the grocery store option came out as the best option. Thats because grocery stores boomed due to the pandemic and were hiring both workers and executives left and right.

First, imagine the decision completely fails and brainstorm for the reasons for the failure. Next, consider how you might solve these problemsand integrate the solutions into your implementation plan. Then, imagine the decision succeeded. Brainstorm all the reasons for success and integrate these to the plan as well.

Alex imagined that the switch to the grocery store industry failed because of her lack of a proper network to source for job opportunities and her unwillingness to step down to a lower-ranking role. To address these, she decided to spend a month growing her network so that she could make new contacts. Alex also decided to get in touch with former colleagues and mentors who had stepped down from top leadership roles to get their insight on what they learned from the experience.

Finally, when she imagined that the decision to shift to a new role and industry was a success, she determined that this was largely due to her efforts to efficiently transition to her new role and industry by building new core skills.

Alex was able to successfully shift industries. Within sixweeks, she was able to get into a large grocery chain as Senior Vice President of Prepared Foods. While it was a step down from her role as COO, she was able to get a compensation package that was 85 percentof what she received at her former company, owing to the fact that she had joined a much larger organization in a booming industry.

She decided on the following as her metrics of success:

Related:How Entrepreneurs Can Cope (And Come Out Stronger) Through the COVID-19 Crisis

As Alex's examples illustrates, your career growthneednt take a back seat as the nation's economy gradually recovers. When job hunting, as ever, just be ready to network intensively and develop new skills.

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5 Steps to Protect Your Career As We Turn Toward Recovery - Entrepreneur

June 10, 2020 9 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Curiosity drives innovation. It is an impulse to pursue a thought, find a solution, seek new possibilities or keep on a path to see whats around the next bend. Driven largely by Elon Musks relentless pursuit of curiosity, SpaceX just became the first private company to send people in a spacecraft to the International Space Station and is on a path to making space tourism a reality in our lifetimes.

According to Mario Livio, an astrophysicist, and author of the book Why?there are two types of curiosity. During a 2017 podcast appearance forKnowledge@Wharton, Livio stated,There is perceptual curiosity. Thats the curiosity we feel when something surprises us or when something doesnt agree with what we know or think we know. That is felt as an unpleasant state....On the other hand, there is epistemic curiosity, which is a pleasurable state associated with an anticipation of reward. Thats our level of knowledge. Thats what drives all scientific research. It drives many artworks. It drives education and things like that.

No less than Albert Einstein once similarly, succinctly remarked,"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."

Curiosity has been a driving force for Ben Lamm, CEO and founder ofHypergiant, throughout his career, leading to massive success across multiple diverse disciplines.

As a child, Lamm traveled frequently to Africa with his family, and at an early age, he saw the stark contrast between life on that continent versus suburban Texas, where he grew up. He saw that the world operated in a multitude of ways and that within those differences, opportunities lay. This led him to question things that most people accepted, even his own thoughts and assumptions.

Self-exploration and questioning are part of perceptual curiosity, something many of us lose as we grow more stable and confident with our life decisions. Yet for Lamm, that self-exploration led to early successes in the form of personal growth.He became a better student, a better friendand a better hustler.

Now, five companies in, Lamm is on to his most ambitious startup yet with Hypergiant, a modern-day Stark Industries servicing the space-company industry with advanced AI, autonomous satellite command and control systems, Intergalactic internet, an Iron Man-inspired space helmet, an AI-powered bioreactor that converts CO2 into algaeand more.

For most people, these innovations sound straight out of a sci-fi movie, but with a tagline like Tomorrowing Today"and a leader like Lamm at the helm, these innovations are natural outcomes that come from a culture that encourages a passionate pursuit of curiosity in all areas of life and work.

Shoshin, also known as beginners mind, is a concept that comes from Zen Buddhism and refers to having a lack of preconceptions about a subject. That openness to new concepts is something children have naturally. Children exude curiosity in everything they do; they are the perfect embodiment of beginners mind because they are not yet corrupted with prejudice, assumptions or a historical framework that dilutes what they are observing.

Practicing beginners mind also means that even when we know enough on a topic to be considered an expert, we are constantly learning new things, and at any point, those learnings could create a tidal shift in what we believe.

Lamm practices Shoshin with all the subjects he pursues, learning by being as deeply curious as a wayward child, asking, Why?The question of why is always a focus, whether that is why a business decision makes sense, why there isnt a regulation in place or why is there a need for a certain tool. Asking those questions is one of Lamms keys to cultivating an attitude of beginning over and over.

Experiencing a vast array of cultures and customs around the world gave Lamm the gift of seeing things differently from the rest and an instinctual ability to spot market opportunities. Lamm believes it is important to look at diverse customs, cultures and ideas in order to ensure you are seeing multiple sides to every situation and spotting opportunities where others have not.

As someone with a natural inclination to question the norm, entrepreneurship for Lamm was not just a path, it was his destiny. As he puts it, I truly believe entrepreneurs are born and not made. I was always destined to be an entrepreneur. Lamm was fired from every job he had in high school and launched his first company with his college professor as a junior in college. Now on his fifth startup following four successful exits with three of those companies being sold to publicly traded companies, its safe to say entrepreneurship is in Lamms blood.

While Lamms career path may look erratic, his commitment to a path of curiosity and fluid thinking means he is constantly shiftinghis observations aboutthe worldand how he works in it. Every time I create my career anew," he explains, "Im doing it as someone who is peering out to the world as a beginner and again asking how I want to see the world. I often say one of my superpowers is admitting what I don't know, which is weird in this world. I am fine with saying I don't know or don't understand something with the goal to be open and continue to learn.

That vulnerability allows Lamm to be open to new insights and to be taught by his peers, employees, experts, friendsand the world on a variety of topics. Lamm practices being a beginner by never being afraid to begin again, and with an openness to being shown other ways. This manifests itself through another tenet of Buddhism that Lamm embodies, which is the lack of a possessive attachment to any of his ideas.

He recalls a line from the movie Heat, which he saw as a kid, in which Robert De Niro waxes poetic about what to do when the pressure gets too hot: You should be able to walk away from anything in less than 30 seconds if you feel the heat coming on.

Lamms not running from the law, and the mafia isnt turning the heat up on him, but his practice of non-attachment by way of not forming ties too deeply with any idea means that he can shift his thinking when presented with overwhelming evidence that contradicts what he believes to be true. The ability to accept ones own fallibility thatcomes with a curious mind also propagates a spirit of courage and fearlessness.

With age and wisdom comes a belief of having figured things out. That sense of security tends to reduce our curiosity about how things work. Curiosity is in part a biological response to fear. Having a willingness to ask about things you dont know or fully understand can be an act of courage. For Lamm, that fear drives him to look deeper for answers, to push into those areas of discomfortand willingly engage in difficult conversations.

To cultivate a curious mindset is to live with a comfortable amount of fear," he offers."I believe curiosity lives somewhere between fear and wonder.

Lamms ability to live in fear and wonder and balance his perceptual and epistemic curiosity is a a powerful tool for an entrepreneur, and he credits it as being the single most important aspect of his career success.

Lamm can dive deep into ancient aliens one day and into cutting-edge nanoscience research the next. Hell spend an entire day learning about NASAs plans for lunar living and the next day all about rewilding theory in Scotland. Knowing a lot about a lot of subjects helps to spike his curiosity further. He can then ask questions like: How can we cultivate within lunar bases a sense of the wild worlds around us? How can we use nanotechnology to challenge the idea of ancient aliens?

His insatiable curiosity means he never stops learning and consuming new ideas. Lamm believes you should pull inspiration from as many sources as you can. His search for knowledge never satisfied, he avidly consumes documentaries, science fiction moviesand non-fiction as well as art, philosophy, music and pop culture. Some of the visionaries Lamm is particularly drawn to include people like Matti Suuronen, who built the Futuro houses, and photographers like David Yarrow, who creates intricate worlds.

Im really drawn toan aesthetic perspective," Lamm confirms.I find Kanye [West]s work to be interesting and astounding in its diversity and drive. And, yet, I also am really drawn to the work of people like Livio. who is examining how and why humanity works.

While there is no doubt that curiosity is a driving force for Lamm, he clearly knows he can not come up with all the ideas needed to build a successful company. For Lamm,cultivating curiosity in the workplace is the most important thing. He relies on a team of people around him who are also smart, curious people capable of bringing new insights to the world. To cultivate that curiosity, Lamm actively encourages people to engage in and pursue outside passions. Hypergiant frequently brings in a lot of speakers, thinkers and activities into the workplace and doubles down on culture. The idea is to create a soup of ideas, stories, beliefsand insights that will naturally spur people to be curious about why and how these ideas impact their work. Creating an open-floor plan for ideas, the company pushes a variety of things into the ether of its culture, with the knowledge that the intersection of those ideas will result in novelty.

Lamm'slifetime of curiosity and openness to receiving inspiration and new ideas from any source, along with theability to be a vulnerable and empathetic leader, has fueld his success in bringing the future to today. Where will your curiosity take you?

Excerpt from:
Cultivating Curiosity Is What Drives Innovation - Entrepreneur

The worlds premier vegan film festival is seeking vegan-themed films

The International Vegan Film Festival is a trailblazing event dedicated to celebrating a healthier, compassionate, environmentally friendly lifestyle that can be achieved through the consumption of plants and animal-free alternatives. This is a rare opportunity to be a part of a festival that has been the launch pad for such noteworthy titles as Alex Lockwoods 73 Cows, which went on to win a BAFTA Award in 2019.

The deadline for film submissions is July 1, 2020. You can submit your film or encourage a filmmaker to submit on IVFFs website: theivff.com.

The International Vegan Film Festival hosted its inaugural Festival on October 14, 2018 at the Mayfair Theatre as the only known vegan film festival in the world. It is now in its third year and will host its first-ever virtual festival. The Festival judging panel includes a whos-who of the vegan world, including Miyoko Schinner, the founder of Miyokos Creamery, Dale Vince, CEO of Ecotricitythe UKs first and largest green energy providerand owner of the all-vegan Forest Green Rovers football club as well as David Flynn, one of the twin brothers behind Irelands vegan foodie empire Happy Pear.

The Festival accepts films from professional and amateur filmmakers, with large and small budgets, short and full-length features, and fiction and documentary. All of the films selected for the 2020 Festival will be considered for the 2021 World Tour.

Categories All films will be submitted into 1 of 5 categories: Lifestyle, Animal Advocacy, Health and Nutrition, Environmentalism Protection, and new this year, Public Service Announcement.

Lifestyle: Vegan choices in clothing, travel and highlighting the ways that vegans spread their message through activism, art, community etc.

Animal Advocacy: How eating plants can break the chain of suffering that is endemic in factory farming and the role of animal activists

Health and Nutrition: Exploring the positive benefits of a vegan diet, whats involved in going vegan

Environmental Protection: How meat production harms the planet, and how plant-based eating can help to save it

Public Service Announcement (PSA): A short message in the public interest disseminating information quickly and efficiently, with the objective of raising awareness of, and changing public attitudes and behavior towards, a social issue.

Mission The International Vegan Film Festivals mission is to: Be the leading film festival for vegan films that inspire people to choose a healthier, more environmentally-friendly and compassionate lifestyle through the consumption of plants and animal-free alternatives.

Watch the 2019/2020 International Vegan Film Festival World Tour here: http://www.theivff.com

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: http://www.theivff.com/ https://www.theivff.com/submit.html https://www.theivff.com/award-winners.html

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THE INTERNATIONAL VEGAN FILM FESTIVAL: Call for SUBMISSIONS - VEGWORLD Magazine

Even as a chef, I've been cooking a lot more than usual while socially distancing from home.

It's been 30 years since I formed my first tofu ball, and I've never looked back.Whether you're trying out a plant-based diet for the first very time, or are a vegan in desperate need of some new recipes, you've come to the right place.

Below are some of my favorite vegan dishes to satisfy your breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert cravings. They're delicious, easy to make and require healthy, simple ingredients some of which you may already have in your pantry!

Banana french toast

(Photographer: Vanessa Rees)

Instead of using milk and eggs, the custard for this French toast is made with bananas and rice milk.Some flour and cornstarch will bring it to a beautiful brown, and the refined coconut oil adds a buttery flavor.For the tastiest results, sit the bread out overnight to give it a little bit of staleness.

Serves: Up to 4

Ingredients:

Steps:

Thai Noodles With Seared Brussels Sprouts

(Photographer: Vanessa Rees)

Sweet, salty, spicy and tangy this one-pot dish has lively textures and satisfying flavors. Tamari sauce (a thicker, less salty version of soy sauce) and miso team up for a salty punch, and the tamarind concentrate has an ethereal flavor, sort of tart and tropical plum.

Serves: Up to 4

Ingredients:

For the sauce

For the noodles

Steps:

Chickpea Potato Curry With Peas

(Photographer: Vanessa Rees)

This is the kind of stew that you can eat cold right out the fridge in the middle of the night. Make sure you choose a top-quality curry blend whose first ingredient isn't "Yellow Dye No. 5." I like to serve this dish with basmati rice and store-bought chutney!

Serves: Up to 6

Ingredients:

Steps:

Bean and Pearl Barley Chili

(Photographer: Vanessa Rees)

Pearled barley gives this dish the heartiest texture. It also absorbs all the aromatic flavors and makes for a mean bowl of chili. I love topping my bowl with crushed tortilla chips, avocado, chopped tomatoes and fresh cilantro.

Serves: Up to 10

Ingredients:

Steps:

Glazed Blueberry Lemon Scones

(Photographer: Vanessa Rees)

These scones go perfectly with some tea at brunch, or just as a snack after dinner. (Feel free to just use regular lemons; the flavor will just be a little more tart.)

Serves: Up to 5 (about 12 scones)

Ingredients:

For the scones

For the glaze

Steps:

Isa Chandra Moskowitz is a chef and cookbook author of "Veganomicon," "Vegan Brunch" and "I Can Cook Vegan." She is the executive chef and owner of Modern Love, a swanky vegan comfort food restaurant with locations in Omaha,Nebraska and Brooklyn, New York. Isahas been vegan for 30 years. Follow her on Twitter @IsaChandra.

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Chef and vegan of 30 years shares her top 5 plant-based recipes to make at homewith 'healthy, simple' foods - CNBC

The vegan restaurant will feature a breakfast menu, including waffles and French toast sticks, once its dining room reopens. (Courtesy Binge Kitchen)

When Yarnisha Lyons first opened Binge Kitchen in 2017, she was still a student at Texas State University balancing classes and managing her vegan eatery with the intent to promote health and wellness.

Three years later, she has a brick-and-mortar in San Marcos and has recently expanded her wellness mission into San Antonio.

My entire family or at least all my immediate family is veganour intent is health and wellness, Lyons said. We thought what better place than [San Marcos], with college studentsthe future.

Lyons started Binge Kitchen with a food truck in 2017. A year later, she left the food truck behind to better accommodate her customers in a restaurant, offering the first fully vegan menu in town, according to Lyons.

We decided to tackle the food issue first, to promote healthy eating habits, and then we plan to move forward with a fitness program, Lyons said. Those ideas were quickly brought to a halt by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the expansion to San Antonio, Lyons has temporarily closed dine-in services in her San Marcos location, but the pandemic has prolonged that closure. For now, the restaurant is only offering preordered meals for pickup on Sunday mornings.

Prior to the shutdowndue to the pandemicwe actually had plans to fully reopen the San Marcos location, but the situation put a pause on that, Lyons said.

Binge Kitchen offers prepared meals for individuals and families. Some of those vegan meals include meatloaf, shepherds pie, lasagna, barbecue ribs, spinach and cheese chicken, and desserts.

Binge Kitchen

121 N. Fredericksburg St., San Marcos

210-442-8126

http://www.facebook.com/eatbingekitchen

Hours: Pickup available on Sunday from 7 a.m.-8 a.m.*

*hours subject to change

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Binge Kitchen aims to promote health with its vegan eatery - Community Impact Newspaper

Honey tastes great on toast, sweetens tea and can even be used as a secret weapon in salad dressingsbut if you follow a vegan diet you might be wondering whether or not you can indulge in an occasional drizzle of the sticky stuff without bending the rules. So is honey vegan? We did some digging and have an official answer for you, plus some alternatives to honey that are the bees knees (but not literally, of course). Heres the breakdown.

Honey is a byproduct of the important pollination work done by our friend, the honeybee. Fun fact: Honey-making bees have two stomachsand one of them is responsible for converting nectar into that syrupy sweet goodness we know as honey. Unfortunately, the process of harvesting honey for human consumption involves the exploitation of an animal, which goes against the definition of veganism outlined by the Vegan Society. Its also important to note the larger impact of such exploitation: According to the Vegan Society, there are only seven species of bees among thousands that can make honey, and those species pollinate specific cropsunless of course, they are kept in confinement on a bee farm.

Ultimately, the mass breeding of honeybees affects the populations of other competing nectar-foraging insects, including other bees, so the environmental effect is far reaching. Vegans should also be aware that beekeeping sometimes involves ethically questionable (and arguably cruel) practices that hurt the health of the honey bees. The honey industry, like many other commercial industries, is profit-driven where the welfare of the bees is often secondary to commercial gain, says the Vegan Society. Bottom line: While there is some lingering debate in the vegan community about honey, the authority has spoken and the answer is No, honey is not vegan.

Is there any honey out there that doesnt violate the principles of veganismlike the raw stuff, for example? Alas, the answer is no. Raw honey is distinct from the regular golden stuff in that it is left as-is (i.e., pulled straight from the honeycomb, without further processing). The lack of additional refining involved in the process does not make the raw variety vegan-friendly though since it is still extracted from the hive of harvested, not native, bees. Note: if you want to follow this hypothetical to its furthest point, honey would still not be vegan even if it were to come from native wild bees for the same reason that an egg from a rare feral chicken is notthe definition of veganism precludes the consumption of both animals and their byproducts, period. Basically, if it comes from a bee, it is out of bounds.

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There you have it. But if you didnt get the answer you were hoping for, dont despair. There are plenty of vegan alternatives that do a bang-up job of mimicking the syrupy sweetness of honey. Without further ado, heres a spoonful of sugar (or six) to help the medicine go down:

1. Agave Nectar: Thinner than honey and just a hair sweeter, this plant-based alternative will do the trick as long as viscosity isnt a critical factor. You can add a dose of agave syrup to a marinade for roasted (or grilled) veggiesand you can certainly stir a teaspoon of the stuff into your morning coffee.

2. Maple Syrup: The next time your sweet tooth strikes, tap a tree, not a bee. We probably dont have to tell you that you can drench your vegan pancakes in the stuff, but you can also use it as a stand-in for honey in cooking and baking. (Note: When using maple syrup as a substitute for honey in savory cooking, opt for lighter varieties and dont overdo it, lest the richer flavor overpowers your finished dish.)

3. Brown Rice Syrup: This lesser-known sweetener is a standout among honey substitutes. Its rice-based, and its starchy origins are responsible for its viscous consistency. Stock your pantry and reach for brown rice syrup anytime you have honey on your mind (or in your recipe). Bonus: This syrup is thick enough to fill in for honey in a vinaigrette, so you can style out your salad sans guilt.

4. Molasses: Molasses is plenty sweet and boasts the same high viscosity, so use it instead of honey for pretty much anything. Just be sure to shop around for the right kind because this plant syrup runs the gamut from light to blackstrap, and the flavor of each variety is different.

5. Coconut Nectar: Protect the hivea coconut palm has all you need. (Moana, anyone?) The sap of this tropical tree yields a sweet nectar with a subtle tang and no perceptible coconut taste. Best of all, this vegan goodness boasts a low-glycemic index (yay, no sugar crash) and a bunch of vitamins and minerals to boot.

6. Date Syrup: This dark brown vegan sweetener can be whipped up in a blender (just boil and puree some dates with a squeeze of lemon) and best of all, its healthier than your average vegan syrup. In fact, some research suggests that date syrup can compete with honey (and win) when it comes to antibacterial compounds.

So you followed your conscience right up to the conclusion and learned that honey is not veganbut theres really no need to steal candy from a bee. Let your moral compass continue to guide you and take action to protect the superhero insects that save our food crops. If youre interested in helping the humble honey bee take care of buzz-iness in peace, you can donate money to aid the efforts of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. But you dont need to use your pocketbook to show support for the beesa small gesture goes a long way when it comes to protecting these vital pollinators. For example, give your green thumb a workout by planting a bee-friendly flower garden. Looking for less work, not more? No problem. Bees are a perfectly valid excuse to mow your lawn less often, since your inaction actually gives pollinators a chance to get to flowering plants before theyre gone. Finally, if youre going to steer clear of honey, you might as well avoid all products that the bee farming industry profits fromso for mood lighting that really helps you relax, ditch the traditional beeswax and get yourself a soy candle instead.

RELATED: 18 Low-Sugar Desserts That Wont Destroy Your Diet

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Is Honey Vegan? The Answer, Plus 6 Substitutes to Try - Yahoo Lifestyle