Peter Himmelman Musings

Elon Musk’s first SpaceX passenger, Yusaku Maezawa, founder of the online Japanese clothing company Zozo, hopes to be flying to the moon sometime in 2023, on a yet-to-be built rocket, with tickets set at a-yet-to-be disclosed price. But being comfortable with not knowing is a large part of what it takes to be a successful … More With Artists As Co-Passengers On 1st SpaceX Ride, Billionaire Maezawa Sends Message Of Possibility

That’s right. I said super-strange. If you thought creativity was a normal process that required normal ideas, I’m afraid you’ve been misled. But before I go into my list of five let’s make sure we’re on the same page regarding the meaning of the word “creativity.” If what you conjure up when you think of … More Five Super-Strange Ideas That Will Definitely Make You More Creative

It was over a steaming bowl of chicken soup that a 95 year-old survivor of the Majdanek concentration camp told me about the spring morning her mother and younger sisters were dragged away forever. That same morning, a girl she did not know was heard pleading with an S.S. officer to let her stay beside … More A Sabbath Story Of Evil

Among the most diabolical torture techniques ever conceived is one in which a victim is repeatedly forced to carry rocks up a hill, only to roll them back down. It’s been applied in different forms and at different times throughout the millennia, and always with the sole intention of destroying morale. There’s something unspeakably painful … More How Purpose Drives Innovation: Finding Our Way to Things of Higher Value

I’ll spare you the time it’ll take you to read all the details of the 75 year-long longitudinal study by Harvard researchers on what it takes to make a happy life. Hint: it isn’t money, it isn’t IQ, it isn’t good looks — it all comes down to making and maintaining what those researchers call … More Putting Quality Before Quantity: Prioritizing What’s Most Important

How ‘bout we start the year off with some onomatopoeias? Kaboom. Vroom. Crash. Pow. Blam. Squish! Is there a better way to describe what the advancing army of Amazon must sound like to today’s retailers? How else to portray the clamor of marauding hordes of small, fleet, web-based companies as they move to obliterate stalwart … More 2018: A Time Of Fearsome Change (How To Reclaim Your Creativity In The Storm Of Disruption)

The relationship between business and art may seem a bit hazy, but there are some stark similarities. Foremost is the shared challenge of taking a nascent idea and bringing it to life. Ideas, whether artistic or entrepreneurial, are by nature, locked away in the human mind. It’s only through experimentation, creativity, and collaboration that they are able … More The Idea-Revealers: Where Business And Art Intersect

Originally published in Forbes 12/7/17 I’ve been hearing Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust play over and over in my head. It’s the mental backing track of each new day. Every morning brings fresh allegations, fresh details, and fresh consequences of sexual abuse. Beyond prurient interest and the subconscious desire to see our heroes fall, we are … More How Can I Help? (Stemming The Tide Of Sexual Abuse And Injustice Against Women)

Originally published in Forbes 11/13/17 I’m not at all pleased to report this, but even the good ol’ word leadership has become something of a buzzword — a term people bandy about without considering its deeper implications. It’s the same thing that’s happened with words like creativity, innovation and disruption. In an attempt to service the ever-increasing demand for … More Four Pathways To Authentic Leadership