I love maritime history. I love how ships and the sea so heavily influenced the world around us. And they still do. Maritime nonfiction satisfies my craving for a time when men were really men -- not softies like most men today, with their smartphones, tablet computers, paper cuts, cushy chairs, cubicles, facial lotions and pedicures. My latest haunting read was "Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World," by Joan Druett. It's a gripping story, and it underscores important lessons in leadership for today as well.

While at MEC, the global media agency, I ran the media business for retailer L.L. Bean. One of the most effective parts of our campaigns were the "retargeted" ad banners that we would serve to people who had previously been to the retailer's web site. This was similar to sending more catalogs to frequent buyers -- a technique that L.L. Bean had mastered. Back then, though, the scale of retargeting was limited -- you could only target those people who had been to your site. The process was also limited by the number of banners that could be created. It …

Thirty-seven years ago, my mother started teaching cooking classes in our kitchen. Thirty-five years ago, she formed what has become the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts; I sit on its advisory board. Last month, one of the graduates started a Facebook group for alumni. Within a week, more than 1,000 people had joined. This, of course, is a dream scenario, notwithstanding the fact that it took 37 years to create the overnight success. It is the best possible intersection of brand and social media: where people engage with you not because you are offering a special deal, …

Late last week, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo discussed the company's growing role not just in how people consume traditional media's entertainment and news, but how they interact and share their experiences and opinions surrounding it. A number of commentators have advanced the themes touched on in the interview, suggesting that Twitter is fast becoming the de facto leader in the race to be television's "second screen" -- a companion role that many hardware, software and Web services companies are currently chasing.

It's far too early to talk about predictions for next year, but if I were starting the conversation about 2013 I'd say next year is all about three things: data, mobile and TV.

Imagine a chalkboard and long fingernails. Now imagine long fingernails scraping that chalkboard. Unpleasant? Yes! While that unpleasant feeling is rare due to today's scarcity of chalkboards, there is another behavior that instills an equally unpleasant feeling: frequent and improper use of the word "leverage."

One of the trickiest parts about being a startup founder is juggling multiple demands on your time and paying attention to what matters. Product must ship, clients need to be tended to and employees must get paid. Here's how I prioritize my activities each day:

Have you heard? The days of quality journalism are behind us. The Fourth Estate is in trouble. Newspapers are dying, and have been for some time. TV news has been overrun by phone hackers and idealogues. The need for speed is not only killing your company, it is destroying any standards of accuracy and integrity that remain, resulting in, for example, media outlets publishing reports on Supreme Court decisions before said Court has even finished reading said decision.

The beginning of autumn is an important time in the television industry. It's when all the broadcast networks launch their new shows and duke it out for ratings dominance in the key audience demographics. Behind the scenes, and on second screens, lots more is happening. Networks are embracing social media this year like never before, leveraging check-in tools like Get Glue, Likes on Facebook and social analytics from firms like Blue Fin Labs. But that's not all. This year, for the first time ever, the majority of networks launching and relaunching shows will be tracking the success of their TV …

When I was in my 20s and early 30s, I had "spare time." I'd dive deep into the ins and outs of my newest gadgets, and in a matter of hours I'd have the iPhone figured out, my Jam Box synced with every device, and all the software on my devices running the most recent version of whatever system was available. I'd have remote access to desktops (when that wasn't easy), my playlists would be synced with that weeks' new releases, and my TiVo would be almost empty because I was up-to-date on all the newest shows. Then... I had …