On the Path to Success

What is Success, after all, we asked ourselves.

And what characteristics lead to and define successful people and careers?

We talked about the importance of

being the same

yet

different

We discussed leadership skills, and how to use our own special abilities to best advantage. Why, we even turned it into a final project!

We tried to sell each other things, with limited success!

We talked about the “Achilles’ heel”, and what we might do to conquer our weakest trait. We turned that into a project as well!

Dr. Alon Amit taught us how limited our brains and thought patterns are, and then challenged us to stretch them!!

We practiced being observant and curious. And seeing things from different perspectives.

We challenged the structure and form of the classroom.

We practiced coming up with amazing wacky innovations, using 48create.

We practiced imagining

And learned to think ‘inside the box’.

We looked for things that had no connection to ‘yogurt’ and didn’t find a single one!

Hagai Cohen gave marvellous descriptions of they way things were, and the importance of learning from past technologies.

We showed empathy.

We learned the tricks of famous and successful people, like Haim Shafir who invented Taki.

We practised our own presentation skills.

We talked about ‘luck burglars’ such as Al Kooper (Like a Rolling Stone)

We learned the importance of names, reading the subtext and practised relaxation skills.

Jeff Pulver taught us that “if you don’t ask, the answer is no”. Some of us asked.

Yael Man Shachar explained why life and success are like a pine cone. So did we.

We learned the importance of humor and smiling.

Avi Yaron explained the secrets of hiring and keeping an excellent team.

We drank some beer and wine. Mosly after class. Sometimes during. 

Alon Cohen told us the story of how VOIP really came about.

We talked about the importance of ‘childishness’ in creativity and innovation.

Ronny Ross blew us away with her story of being an unwitting pioneer in Israeli software entrepreneurship.

And we practised the art of succeeding in job interviews, even when the odds are against us (and they almost always are). We even wrote our own books on interviews from heaven and hell.

This was perhaps the most challenging course we have ever given and at times the most enjoyable. Please write your comments here below, suggestions for improvements, etc.

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