People Matter: What The Turmoil In The Middle East Has Taught Us

This past week I have been asked by numerous friends and colleagues what my thoughts are on the demonstrations in Egypt. The world has been watching as tens of thousands of people hold anti-government rallies across the land of the Pharaohs, and another Mid-East government collapses in a short period of time, and thus far without major human casualties. I am always hesitant to offer my opinion on politics because I don’t believe it adds much value. Politics is a dirty game in case your mother never told you, and I try to steer clear away from it, but what I do love to talk about, and encourage every individual to be aware of, is the important lessons coming out of events like Egypt.

The Key To Gen Y is Gen X

As I sit in the Leaf & Bean in Pittsburgh's Strip District this fine Saturday morning, the NY Jets are arriving at their hotel to challenge the Pittsburgh Steelers in tomorrow's AFC Championship game. Whats interesting about both teams is that arguably the key to their success thus far has been a handful of Generation Y players - young rookies or second or third year veterans who are no older than 23 or 24 years old. However, what makes players like the Jets' Mark Sanchez or the Steeler's Mike Wallace successful is the support, leadership, guidance and experience of the Generation X players around them. In short, for Generation Y to be a success they need Generation X.

Some Thoughts On Charitable Giving: Guest Post

Alan Veeck is a good friend, former colleague and a Who To Know of the Pittsburgh community and the VC world. Alan and I had a great follow up conversation on Twitter to my last post about The Problem With Charitable Giving, and it sparked Alan into action writing his own thoughts. I enjoyed his words and I'm sure you will too. If you are not following Alan on Twitter or his Blog Pittsburgh Ventures, I highly recommend you do. In the meantime here are Alan's thoughts on Charitable Giving.

The Problem With Charitable Giving

I'm a big believer in giving. I personally give a percentage of my annual earnings to various organizations I support. But that process has got so much harder in recent years because of the murky waters in non-profits and charities. And in an interesting discussion in Brussels this evening I got some great thoughts from our European brethren on the whole topic of giving. My belief comes down to this: any giving you do should be in the same manner as investing a dollar. And frankly, you are better off investing a dollar that would yield a return than giving a dollar away. Contradictory to my opening sentence, but let me explain.