Wednesday Wrap-Up: Does Free Will Exist? with Bob Ewing
“We walk around the world and we think that we’re logical people, but we’re not. We’re emotional intuitive creatures.” – Bob Ewing Every week at Praxis, participants and alumni gather for Praxis Wednesdays, our weekly group discussions featuring guest speakers, academic debates, and skills workshops. This past week, we were joined by Bob Ewing for […]
16 Books That Shaped How I Interact with the World
Yesterday my friend Derek Magill asked the Praxis community, “What books have had the most impact on your career/education?” I love this question. Notice the use of the word impact. He isn’t asking for your favorite books, the books you recommend on a specific subject, or the books you agree with the most. He is […]
Wednesday Wrap-Up: A Discussion on Rational Choice Theory w/ Dr. Peter Leeson
Every week at Praxis, participants and alumni gather for Praxis Wednesdays, weekly group sessions designed to hone intellectual ability and build practical skills applicable to the professional world. These sessions cover everything from academic subjects — philosophy, history, and economics — to technical skills participants can use in their careers — such as writing, marketing, […]
Why Professionals Need Philosophy
When most people think of philosophy their mind goes fuzzy. It conjures up images of dull textbooks, boring teachers, abstract questions like “the nature of the word ‘the’” or lifeboat situation hypotheticals like “do you pull the lever to kill 1 person or 5? It’s not really any wonder to me why most students and […]
Wednesday Wrap-Up: Philosophy Night with Steve Patterson
Every week at Praxis, participants and alumni gather for Praxis Wednesdays, weekly group sessions designed to hone intellectual ability and build practical skills applicable to the professional world. These sessions cover everything from academic subjects — philosophy, history, and economics — to technical skills participants can use in their careers — such as writing, marketing, […]
The Four Tendencies
Something we’re passionate about at Praxis is creating value for our customers. It’s incredibly difficult to make an impact at a high growth startup when you have little to no experience in the workplace. That’s why our application process is so challenging. We don’t take money from applicants if we’re not confident they won’t thrive […]
Turn Your Defeat Into a Growth Story
Here is a question I came across last week on Reddit: I was recently fired from a part-time bookkeeping job and replaced by someone with more experience who can do the job faster than I could. I graduated and am now looking for a full-time job in accounting. What do I say about this previous […]
What Are You Running From?
I recently had someone tell me they were questioning their love for writing. When I asked for a reason, they said it was because they didn’t write enough. “If I really loved writing” they said, “then I would be more consistent with it.” Well, I guess I don’t love reading then. For my entire life, […]
Meet Education Director T.K. Coleman
Education Director T.K. Coleman has been with Praxis from the beginning. He oversaw the development of the original Praxis curriculum and he handled all of the coaching. Now he manages the Praxis education staff and their team of awesome advisors. Want to watch him in action? Check out T.K.’s video tour of bad arguments for […]
Dropouts and Opt-Outs: Steve Jobs
“After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out… So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the […]
Who Needs Philosophy?
This post was co-authored by T.k. Coleman and Grant Parker. A philosophy professor of mine once said “There’s a difference between talking trash about the air you breathe and actually trying to breathe without air.” Mocking the value of philosophy is like talking trash about the air you breathe. Living without philosophy is like trying […]
Dropouts and Opt-Outs: Ralph Lauren
“I never went to fashion school. I didn’t know what a designer was. I knew I had something, but I didn’t know what it was. And it could just have easily been nothing.” Ralph Lauren is an entrepreneur and clothing designer, and one of the best. His clothes are classically elegant, transcending momentary fashion trends […]
Challenge Your Assumptions: The Practical Value of Philosophy
A number of Praxis participants are currently completing our Philosophy module and blogging everyday about the content. Today’s post is republished from Praxis participant Ryan Ferguson’s personal blog on his 2nd day going through philosophy module. You can’t ignore the big questions in life. You can only run from them. But eventually they will find […]
Why Work Hard? and Other Questions You’ve Never Asked: Defining Your Philosophy of Work
“To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel. We’ve got it down to four words: “Do what you love.” But it’s not enough just to tell people that. Doing what you love is complicated.” – YCombinator Founder Paul Graham,”How To Do What You Love“ Ever wondered about why […]
Dropouts and Opt-Outs: Travis Kalanick
“Stand by your principles and be comfortable with confrontation. So few people are, so when the people with the red tape come, it becomes a negotiation.” Travis Cordell Kalanick (August 6, 1976 – ) is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of the wildly successful ride-sharing service, Uber. Kalanick was like many entrepreneurs, a self-starter looking for […]