Dressing Down on Campus
One night at a restaurant, my son received a message on his cell phone. He’s finishing a three-year fellowship in theater at the University of Florida, and he’s required to teach quite a few classes. I assumed it was about
You Get What You Pay For
I think that people believe, for better or worse, they get what they pay for. They'll excuse something cheap that breaks ("It only cost a few bucks") even though it was clearly meant to last far longer. And they'll cheer
Confessional Cell
One of the great, contemporary discordancies in life is the fact that you can ask someone with an arm in a sling, a pit bull attached to a leg, and a police officer approaching with gun drawn, "How are you?"
I Didn’t Read It, But I Didn’t Like It
When you author books, you develop a thick skin for the occasional nasty commentary, especially in a day when everyone's a critic with access to social media platforms, reviews on Amazon that provide anonymity, and so forth. I often get
The Etiquette of Profanity
Do I have your attention? I grew up playing ball in inner-city schoolyards, and played varsity high school sports using antiquated locker rooms and facilities in run-down neighborhoods. Obscenities were a mindless aspect of our existence, and most of us didn't
A Man of WHICH people?
President Obama was in Rhode Island yesterday for all of four hours, but it was one of the most intensely dysfunctional four hours any politician could create. He spoke briefly at a 40-person factory (from notes!) which had rehired people after
Mark My Words
Apropos of yesterday's posting on the Chilean miners, here is a story from today's New York Times: "Rescued Miners' Secrecy Pact Erodes in Spotlight: The miners rescued in Chile have asked for as little as $40 and upward of $25,000 for an
Miners As Heroes—Will the Light Do More Harm Than the Dark?
Everyone is happy and invigorated by the Chilean miners’ rescue and the resolve of the Chilean government to gather whatever resources were required internationally to save the men. The belief that every means should be exhausted and no expense spared
The Scammers Are Coming!
I’m writing this on the Internet at 34,000 feet on a Delta flight from Atlanta. We’re returning from Hilton Head Island where I hosted 55 people in The Write Stuff™ Workshop, then 67 in my two-day Mentor Summit, then a
Calamity Jane
One of the issues we face as consultants is whether all those people trying to get our attention constitute the voice of Paul Revere or Chicken Little. Yesterday, I spent 45 minutes stowing our pool and balcony furniture because of an