Last month in Austin, Texas, music and style collided like never before to make this year's South by Southwest Music Festival the epicenter of cool. The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, and his rolled up sleeves graced two stages -- one as SXSW's keynote speaker another as its marquee performer.

I've read biographies about great American leaders since my early childhood. I can still fondly recall things I learned about Ben Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt, MLK and other icons of leadership. The quality that stands out the most is that they all led by doing, and doing first more often than...

I spent the last week of 2011 and first week of 2012 in Japan traveling between Nagano, Kyoto and Tokyo employing roughly one-fifth of my college education, a minor in Japanese, as best I could.

In between snowboarding in Nagano, seeing temples and shrines in Kyoto and riding trains...

It's not just Santa coming to town, but an epic transformation in commerce. The holiday season gives us a glimpse into the future of shopping behavior, and we're not too far from online shopping becoming the modus operandi of American consumers. Strip malls may never be the same.

According to...

After back-to-back years attending Coachella, it was plain for me to see that festival fashion was at a premium in the California desert every April. But where can a style-savvy festival fan go to get their fix the rest of the year? Here's a hint: book a flight to Austin...

Americans and Aussies alike should make room in their closets for some European style. Allsaints, ASOS.com, Topshop and Zara are sending shipments across the Atlantic and down under with a great sense of urgency sure to impact your wallet.

"European brands invented high street fashion," said Ari Goldberg, CEO of...

When GQ recently published its list of the "40 Worst Dressed Cities in America" naming cities from Manhattan (#5) to Portland (#36), I wasn't sure what I should be upset by the most. Austin, the city I live in, was 18th, just ahead of (or was it just behind?) Jersey...

They all say no... until they say yes.

This line has resonated for years with former high school nerds -- I'd count myself as one -- who were once passed over for the jocks, until those jocks failed to make the NFL and we, their nerdy counterparts, graduated from college...

There's a sentiment on the fringes of the fashion industry that is picking up steam and now fully seeping into the industry's most coveted position: the inside.

The sentiment I speak of is that big city fashion weeks and major trade shows are not what they once were. It's...

It's Memorial Day Weekend, which means two things: it's the beginning of summer travel season, and it's time to get some travel shopping in, too.

Summer vacations usually involve going to warm places with beaches; Miami and L.A. are two of the cities I'm likely headed this summer. Others...

If you've shopped through Gilt Groupe, bought a Groupon for a local boutique or The Gap or used online reviews to help make clothing purchases, you've experienced the revolutionary ways that technology has impacted the fashion industry.

I have done all three, but it has actually been two recent...

It's the week of South by Southwest which means music festival season is fully upon us and tour schedules are being booked by the hour. This brings to mind a shift that has been happening in the music industry for the last half-decade if not longer: fewer and fewer arena-level...

This March, South by Southwest will introduce Style X (pronounced "By"), an event aimed at showcasing emerging designers from around the country. Over the last few years, SXSW participants have gotten accustomed to fashion brands having a presence in Austin during that eventful week in March. American Apparel is known...