Joe Galloway set the standard for today’s journalists. Whether he was reporting from Vietnam with General Hal Moore or the Persian Gulf with General Norman Schwarzkopf, or writing about the battles of today,  his work has been steeped in honesty and integrity. He remains the only civilian to receive a medal of valor from the U.S. Army, for heroism during the Vietnam War—the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device. In 1991, he received a National Magazine Award for his U.S. News & World Report cover story “Vietnam Story.” With General Hal Moore, he wrote the classics We Were Soldiers Once…

I was introduced to Sunni Brown via the visual book summaries she did of The War of Art. I’ve read different things people have written about the book in the past, but this was the first visual. And it blew my mind. I’ve talked about doing a “2.0” version of The War of Art in the past. Sunni’s work introduced me to what one part of 2.0 might look like—kind of like going from living in the first dimension book world to the fourth dimension multi-media world, where we work on multiple “planes.” On her site, there’s a quote about…

I met Mark Safranski last year, just after launching “It’s the Tribes, Stupid.” Soon after the videos launched, he wrote a post for his blog “Zenpundit.”  Though he didn’t agree with everything I said, he showed respect for the effort. That’s one sign of a professional. He might not always agree with you, but he’ll respect the effort, and avoid personal attacks. In addition to setting a high standard for blogging at ZenPundit, Mark holds an MA in diplomatic history and an MS.Ed in administration, is a teacher, educational consultant and was an adviser to a privately held internet platform company, Conversationbase,…

“The Story of a Reluctant Entrepreneur” was my introduction to Mark McGuinness. Read it. Mark wears a number of hats—and wears them all well. He is a poet, an entrepreneur, a creative coach and trainer, and the author of Wishful Thinking and Lateral Action. You can also find his work at http://www.markmcguinness.com/ and Magma Poetry. SP: Mark, your site (which is terrific and tremendously helpful to many, many people including me) is called Lateral Action. What exactly is “lateral action?”

I was first introduced to Glenn Reynolds through his blog Instapundit. If you’ve ever seen the Instapundit stream, then you know Glenn’s posts are like the tide coming in—full and constant waves, arriving all-day long. S.P.: O Blogfather! You were among the very first to really make blogging work. What was your original impetus for jumping into this field? Are you ever surprised at how far it has carried you? G.R.: Well, I teach Internet Law, and because it’s a fast-changing field I try to do hands-on stuff so that I’m teaching from firsthand knowledge, not just out of a…

Jonathan Fields is a “doer.” He doesn’t just “talk the walk.” He lives it. Jonathan is a lifestyle-entrepreneur, a blogger at JonathanFields.com and TribalAuthor.com, a marketing consultant, a speaker and the author of Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love. SP: This series is about the creative process: how an artist works and what techniques he or she uses to tap into that mysterious flow. For a writer of fiction, say, that process is (probably) internal and takes place in isolation. What about an entrepreneurial thinker and doer like yourself? Do you find your ideas…

I read Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried right after it was published, and it blew me away. It is powerful-capturing the emotions, internal conflicts, and bravery of not just the Vietnam generation, but today’s soldiers and Marines, too. I’ve recommended it to many people since its release, and the responses I’ve received from those who have read it have always been moved and moving. It is an honor and privilege to do a Q&A with Tim, on the 20th anniversary of the publishing of The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried received France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre…