Daniel Lubetzky

The August 2012 issue of Washington SmartCEO features a story on Daniel’s friend, Fred Schaufeld. Schaufeld shares entrepreneurial advice for would-be business owners based on his experience as Chairman and Founder of N.E.W Customer Service Companies. See below for some his wise words.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

Money isn’t everything: “The difference between people with money and people without money is money.”

Embrace Failure: “You’re not going to know if you can do it unless you try. One of the nice things about the U.S. is failure here isn’t death, and you learn more from failure than you do from college.”

Be realistic about yourself and others: “Surround yourself with people who are up to the task and be realistic when they’re not. Be realistic with yourself about when you’re not up to the task. You’ll do a better job when your professional life is in sync with your talents and values.”

Create a meritocracy: “There are no true meritocracies, particularly in a small company, because the only people who will work for you are friends, family, and fools. That said, you ultimately need to cerate a meritocracy to get the best people.”

Know what moves you: “Understand why you’re in the business. I found tremendous motivation in my family. I gave up ever being good at golf so I could spend time with my family.”

Ditch the ivory tower: “You have to be wiling to do what needs to be done, and it won’t all be done from up in an ivory tower.”

Delegate: “Learning to delegate is critical. If you are doing everything and don’t let go, you’re never going to get past the little location you started with.”

The image below is of one of the many fun and delicious dishes that Daniel discovered at Jaleo, a very cool restaurant with a menu from José Andrés.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

Since its debut last year, Maiyet has attracted a lot of attention for its work in harnessing artisans’ talents in developing economies around the globe towards a new kind of socially conscious luxury apparel. Now, all eyes are on Maiyet’s breathtaking looks for Spring 2013 from their Paris Fashion Week show. Style.com reported that Maiyet had “some of the easiest, best-looking dresses of the entire season,” and in the New York Times, Suzy Menkes described the collection as “sleek, sophisticated and even playful.” According to Vogue UK Maiyet is that “fashion anomaly” that has succeeded in creating an ethical brand with a commitment to design that enables it to turn out coveted pieces each season.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

Click on the images above to see all of the looks from Maiyet’s Spring 2013 Ready to Wear show at Paris Fashion Week.

“Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
-Saint Francis of Assisi

At KIND we believe in the power of AND, so we make healthy snacks that are good for your mind AND body. Fox Philly touts KIND Healthy Grains as a delicious brain food for kids, AND Bicycling Magazine recommends KIND Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt bars to fulfill your late night chocolate craving with a healthy –but equally delicious– option.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

Daniel made a presentation to a supporter for a new plan for peace in the Middle East. After their meeting, she forwarded him the following piece of wisdom from an old Jewish man, leading him to believe that perhaps he was not so persuasive.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

Wisdom from an Old Jewish Man
A journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time.

So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site.

She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview.

“Pardon me, sir, what’s your name?

“Morris Feinberg,” he replied.

“Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?”

“For about 60 years.”

“60 years! That’s amazing! What do you pray for?”

“I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews, and the Muslims.”

“I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop.”

“I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults and to love their fellow man.”

“I pray that politicians tell us the truth and put the interests of the people ahead of their own interests.”

“How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?”

“Like I’m talking to a wall.”

Zahava Gal-On, chief of Israeli political party Meretz, presented her peace plan to replace the Oslo Accords. In her plan, outlined in the Haaretz piece below, Gal-On recognizes the benefit to Israel of recognizing a Palestinian state and aims to help the Palestinian state gain acceptance in the UN.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch
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On my plane ride to London I just caught this gem of a movie - so good I had to share it. From the plot – three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel – you’d never begin to imagine how magical, beautiful, funny, endearing, touching, entertaining, and unassumingly smart and deep this movie is. It seems like a tiny independent production but everything – the casting, the tempo, the acting, the script, and the direction are at the top of anyone’s game.

A friend shared this touching and enlightening expression of the experience of raising a child with a disability by Emily Perl Kingsley. She captures the experience in a way that enables others to understand and empathize with parents like her.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!” you say. “What do you mean, Holland?” I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy. But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills,Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.” The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Written by Emily Perl Kingsley

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
- Aesop