How to apply an abundance mentality to your work

Just as the concept works for nations, it can also work for individuals.

In 2025, New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson from The Atlantic released a book called Abundance, which posited that America had developed a culture of scarcity. Overregulation and overall risk aversion from the government, the authors argued, were stifling the development of infrastructure and housing in the country. To remedy this, they proposed an “abundance agenda,” one that focused on a growth mindset among elected officials that would help foster long-term prosperity. Although the provocation has its challenges, it got me thinking: What if we applied the idea of abundance to our work?

For over a decade, I’ve occupied two worlds simultaneously—one foot in the world of practice as an advertising executive and one foot in the world of academia as a marketing professor. On an average week, I’d work at the ad agency from 9 to 5 and then teach a night or two at the university from 6 to 8. This duality made me better at both jobs. I taught what I practiced,........

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