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Lessons Learned from Alicia Keys Masterclass Session on Songwriting and Producing.

In Masterclass 5 Mins Read By

To be sure, Alicia Keys (born Alicia Cook) is deeply, relentlessly, naturally talented. That much has been clear to the world since 2001, when her debut album, Songs in A Minor, swept the Grammy Awards. It was obvious to those closest to her long before.

When Alicia was growing up in the notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York, her mother—single, fierce—supplied ample encouragement. By age seven, Alicia had found her muse in the piano, the instrument that would inspire her stage name; soon she was creating original compositions, translating emotion into lyrical syllables and onto musical staffs. Her songs blend R&B, jazz, pop, soul, and classical music into a sound that’s at once familiar and inimitable. The accolades that she’s accumulated speak for themselves: 15 Grammys, seven hit studio albums, four No. 1 singles, more than 42 million records sold worldwide. 

Here are my favourite take aways from viewing Alicia Keys Masterclass Session on Songwriting and Producing:

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Lessons Learned from Paul Rosenzweig’s Great Courses Class: Investigating American Presidents.

In Great Courses 8 Mins Read By

History does not repeat itself but it rhymes.

The American president is a uniquely powerful figure on the national stage—indeed, on the world stage. He or she holds sway over an executive branch whose responsibilities range from national defense to agricultural price supports and on to health, education, and tax policy.

But, as the saying goes, power corrupts. It is not unheard of in American history for presidents to wield their significant powers in ways that are contrary to law or that call into question their fitness for office. What happens when presidents or their administrations are thought to have engaged in misconduct or the abuse of their powers?

When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. – Richard Nixon

The Course explores how law, policy, and history can guide our response to presidential abuse, and considers whether the institutions of American democracy are robust enough to constrain a president who engages in misconduct. These issues, so salient in the past, are once again at the forefront of Americans’ minds.

The course also examines unique advantages that presidents have in responding to investigations of their conduct. They have, for example, an executive privilege which can be used to shield confidential executive communications—at least some of the time. Presidents also have the power of the bully pulpit, which is the ability to command attention and vilify their prosecutors or change the topic to whatever suits them better.

Here are my favourite take aways from viewing Professor Paul Rosenzweig’s Great Courses Class: Investigating American Presidents:

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Daniel Pink’s Masterclass Session on Sales and Persuasion:

In Masterclass 9 Mins Read By

Daniel Pink is one of my favorite authors; his 2001 book Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, changed my worldview about the future of work and freelancing. After reading the book, for a funny reason, I tried to be ambidextrous but had to give it up after a while.

New York Times bestselling author Daniel Pink in his Masterclass Session shares tactics for becoming a stronger motivator and communicator- all drawn from behavioral science for effective selling.

Daniel Pink has been exercising the art of persuasion for decades, first as a law school student, and later as a political speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore. His bestselling books draw on behavioral science to better understand how humans are motivated and gain more effective and ethical selling in dramatically changing business environments.


Named one of the most influential management thinkers in the world by London-based Thinkers 50, Daniel is the author of six books on business and human behavior, including two No. 1 New York Times bestsellers: Drive and To Sell Is Human.

Here are my favorite takeaways from viewing Daniel Pink’s Masterclass Session on Sales and Persuasion:

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Lessons Learned from Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius’s Great Courses Class: Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century.

In Great Courses 13 Mins Read By

“Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.” – George Santayana

History does not usually repeat itself but it often rhymes. The 20th century was raveled by two world wars, the great depression, the Spanish flu pandemic, nuclear weapon proliferation, the holocaust, mass genocides, ethnic cleansing & stereotyping, decolonization, the cold war, the fall of the berlin wall, Rwanda Genocide among other significant changes and events.

A century that produced leaders such as Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Stalin, Lenin. Mao, FDR, JFK, Woodrow Wilson, Eisenhower, and conflicting ideologies & revolutions such as the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, Imperialism, Feudalism, Fascism, Nazism, Communism, Marxism, Capitalism, Totalitarianism, etc. The century showed man’s capacity for inhumanity towards each other.

Why was the 20th century so violent?

The Great Courses Class: “Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century” examines a fundamental question of our times: Why was the 20th century so violent? This terrible century saw bloodletting on an unprecedented scale. Scholars estimate that around the globe, wars cost more than 40 million lives, while government-sponsored persecutions, mass murder, and genocide accounted for 170 million victims.

Scholars estimate that around the globe, wars cost more than 40 million lives, while government-sponsored persecutions, mass murder, and genocide accounted for 170 million victims.

Political scientist R. J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii calculates that worldwide during the 20th century, wars and civil wars cost about 38 million lives, while government sponsored persecutions, mass murder, and genocide accounted for about 169 million victims.

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Lessons Learned from Professor Connel Fullenkamp’s Great Courses Class: Crashes and Crises Lessons from a History of Financial Disasters.

In Great Courses 7 Mins Read By

The course presents a history of financial disasters—crashes, crises, panics, and scandals that have occurred since the early 1600s.

Connel Fullenkamp is a Professor of the Practice of Economics at Duke University, where he also serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Economics and the Director of the Economics Center for Teaching. He teaches core economics courses, such as Economic
Principles, as well as financial economics courses, such as Corporate Finance. Before joining the Duke faculty in 1999, Professor Fullenkamp was a faculty member in the Department of Finance at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

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Lessons Learned from Jonah Berger’s Great Courses Class: How Ideas Spread.

In Great Courses 8 Mins Read By

Professor Jonah Berger is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught since 2007. He graduated with distinction from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Judgment and Decision Making and received his Ph.D from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has been a visiting faculty member at Duke University and Cornell University.

Professor Berger studies social dynamics—why products, ideas, and behaviors become popular. He examines how individual decision making and social influence among people generate collective outcomes, such as social contagion and trends. His work mixes psychology, sociology, marketing, and economics to understand human behavior and its implications for collective outcomes.

Professor Berger is the author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, which appeared on the best-seller lists of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and translated into almost 30 languages. His other books include Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior and The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind.

Here are my favourite take aways from viewing, Jonah Berger’s Great Courses Class: How Ideas Spread:

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Lessons Learned from Robin Robert’s Masterclass Session on Effective and Authentic Communications

In Masterclass 6 Mins Read By

Make you mess your MESSAGE

Robin René Roberts (born November 23, 1960) is an American television broadcaster. Roberts is the anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America.

After growing up in Mississippi and attending Southeastern Louisiana University, Roberts was a sports anchor for local TV and radio stations. Roberts was a sportscaster on ESPN for 15 years (1990–2005). She became co-anchor on Good Morning America in 2005. Roberts was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Her treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome was chronicled on the program, which earned a 2012 Peabody Award for the coverage.

Robin has been a GMA anchor for more than a decade and has been with the Walt Disney Company for 30 years (and counting—she’s also been recognized as a Disney Legend, the company’s highest honor). She’s interviewed President Barack Obama, reported on the ground in Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina, and spoken publicly about her breast cancer and Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). She was a first in her industry, and thanks to her hard work and mentorship, she won’t be the last. 

Here are my favorite take away from viewing

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Lessons Learned from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Masterclass Session on Scientific Thinking and Communication

In Masterclass 5 Mins Read By

As the area of our knowledge grows, so too does the perimeter of our ignorance.

Neil is, best known as the director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium and an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. Between his decade writing a column for Natural History magazine, bestselling books (including 2017’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry), his podcast and TV show StarTalk, his many television and radio appearances, and his nearly 14 million Twitter followers, he’s become perhaps the world’s most recognizable living scientist. He’s a Carl Sagan for the 21st century but with an even wider reach. 

Neil has said repeatedly that more important than the general public recognizing the names of individual scientists—his included—is a basic level of science literacy. These cultural appearances are part of his effort to spread that literacy and infectious curiosity to a wider audience. 

While Neil is dedicated to facts, rigor, and objective truth, he’s not divorced from other aspects of the human experience; he recognizes that not everything about our lives is purely rational. (For example, he notes that art is a vital and fundamental expression of what it is to be human but it doesn’t need to be anchored in scientific truths.) 

Science literacy is not so much about what you know, but about how your brain is wired for thought, how your brain is wired to ask questions.

Here are my favorite takeaways from viewing 

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Lessons Learned from Dr. Paul Rosenzweig’s Great Courses Class: The Surveillance State: Big Data, Freedom, and You.

In Great Courses 9 Mins Read By

Paul Rosenzweig, J.D., is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School, where he lectures on cybersecurity law and policy. He is a cum laude graduate of The University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Rosenzweig has an M.S. in Chemical Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (a department of the University of California, San Diego) and a B.A. from Haverford College. Following graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable R. Lanier Anderson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

In his non-academic endeavors, Mr. Rosenzweig is the founder of Red Branch Consulting, PLLC, a homeland security consulting company, and a Senior Advisor to The Chertoff Group. He formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he is currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute. Mr. Rosenzweig is a member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a Senior Editor of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, and a Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

Here are my favorite takeaways from watching, Dr. Paul Rosenzweig’s Great Courses Class: The Surveillance State: Big Data, Freedom, and You.

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Lessons Learned from R.L.Stine’s Masterclass Session on Writing for Young Audiences

In Masterclass 7 Mins Read By

“There are three different departments in the idea store. There’s experience, memory, and imagination.”

Robert Lawrence Stine, better known as R.L. Stine, is one of the most recognized authors of children’s horror novels alive today. He’s been called “the Stephen King of children’s literature,” has penned more than 300 books for kids aged 7 to 15 years old. 

Originally from a small suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Bob discovered the art of suspenseful storytelling through old radio programs and classic films like It Came From Beneath the Sea and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. After graduating from Ohio State University in 1965, he moved to New York City to be a humorist. It was only through a chance turn of events that he began writing horror. 

Since then, he has mastered the craft of simultaneously frightening and entertaining young readers. His prolific catalogue includes the popular Fear Street and Goosebumps series, and is widely appreciated by kids, parents, and teachers across the globe.

Over 400 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide, and they have been translated into 35 languages—making him one of the best-selling authors of all time. His Goosebumps TV show was the most popular children’s program in America for three consecutive years, and the Goosebumps movie (2015), starring Jack Black, became the #1 movie in the U.S. upon its release. A Goosebumps movie sequel is in the works.

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Lessons Learned from Garry Kasparov’s Masterclass Session on Chess.

In Masterclass 6 Mins Read By

Garry Kasparov, known by many as the greatest chess player of all time, became the under-18 chess champion of the USSR at the age of 12 and the World Junior Champion at 17. He then became the youngest World Chess Champion in history in 1985 at the age of 22. His 1984 World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov was controversially ended after 48 games with no clear victor. Kasparov clinched the rematch in 1985 and secured his place in chess history. He held on to the title of world’s highest-rated player until his retirement from professional chess in 2005.

His book Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins details his highly publicized matches against IBM supercomputer Deep Blue and his research on human and machine competition. While his rematch with Deep Blue ended in defeat, Kasparov believes these matches were key to bringing chess into the mainstream.

Garry didn’t become a Grandmaster overnight, but as a child he demonstrated a remarkable gift for the game of chess. He learned by watching his parents play and was soon challenging his uncle and solving chess problems in the newspaper, much to his family’s surprise. 

Here are my favorite take aways from viewing the Garry Kasparov’s Masterclass Session on Chess.

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Lessons Learned from Judy Blume’s Masterclass Session on Writing

In Masterclass 7 Mins Read By

Judith Blume is an American writer of children’s, young adult (YA) and adult fiction. She published her first novel in 1969, Blume was one of the first authors to write Young Adult novels about topics that some still consider to be taboo. Blume’s books have sold over 82 million copies and they’ve been translated into 32 languages

Judy Blume is a beloved author whose best-selling books for younger readers have maintained relevance and impact for generations. Her best-known works include Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Deenie, and Blubber.

The New Yorker has called her books “talismans that, for a significant segment of the American female population, marked the passage from childhood to adolescence.” Judy has also written four novels for adult readers, each one a New York Times bestseller. Judy Blume has won more than 90 literary awards, including the Library of Congress Living Legends Award, the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ E.B. White Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Here are my favourite take aways from viewing the

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Lessons Learned from Joyce Carol Oates Masterclass Session on The Art of Short Story.

In Masterclass 7 Mins Read By

There’s only one rule of show business, or writing, and that’s don’t be boring.

Joyce Carol Oates has been recognized as a literary treasure for more than 50 years. Her work has been honored with many distinguished awards, including the National Book Award for her novel “them.” She’s also won two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize.

Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published 58 novels, as well as a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She is a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley where she teaches short fiction.

Here are my Favourite takeaways from viewing

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Lessons Learned from David Baldacci’s Masterclass Session on Mystery and Thriller Writing.

In Masterclass 9 Mins Read By

David Baldacci, the New York Times–bestselling author of 38 adult novels and 7 children’s books that have sold more than 130 million copies. His work has been translated into 45 languages, published in 80 countries, and adapted for film and television. Most of David’s novels are part of a series such as The King and Maxwell series, The Camel Club series, The John Puller series, The Will Robie series, and The Amos Decker series.

Here are my favorite take aways from viewing David Baldacci’s Masterclass Session on Mystery and Thriller Writing.:

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Lessons Learned from Shonda Rhime’s Masterclass Session on Writing for Television

In Masterclass 7 Mins Read By

It’s not like there’s a science to being creative. Just do what works for you and keep going forward.

I am a super fan of two of Shonda Rhime’s Hit TV Series, How to get away with murder (with Viola Davis) and Scandals (with Kerry Washington). While watching these series, I was always amazed by the suspense in the show, and I wondered how they wrote the plot and how it is even possible to write a script that good with the twist and turns in every episode. If you have not seen both shows check them out, they are outstanding. When I subscribed to Masterclass, Shonda Rhime’s session was one of the first I had to see, and she did not disappoint.

Shonda Rhimes was born in 1970 and raised in Chicago, Illinois. The daughter of intellectual and supportive parents, Shonda grew up telling stories. She strove to become a novelist but turned her focus to film and television writing later in life. Shonda majored in English and film studies at Dartmouth College and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She wrote the HBO television movie, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), her first professional credit, and penned two feature films thereafter, including The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004).

Go write. Prove yourself to be a writer. Nobody has to pay you in order to write. You have to just find the time and do it.

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