All in all, Margaret Rudkin was having a wonderful life. She grew up on Long Island, the oldest child in a second-generation Irish family. After working for a bank, she took a job at a brokerage where she met her husband. They moved to a splendid farm in Southern Connecticut, where Margaret set about raising their three » Read More
Category: History
Willie Mays and “The Catch:” Rules for Performance

When the discussion turns to who is the greatest baseball player ever, you always hear the name “Willie Mays.” Leo Durocher described him this way: “He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw, and field. And he had that other ingredient that turns a » Read More
Top Gun Rules

Top Gun the movie, is a fanciful account of Naval aviators doing things that would never happen in real life. The jets are the real stars. Reality is something different. The Navy Fighter Weapons School (“Top Gun”) is the result of a performance problem. The performance was aerial combat. The problem was » Read More
The Neiman Marcus Rules

When Stanley Marcus told Neiman’s story, he often began by saying that “Neiman Marcus was established as a result of the bad judgment of the founders.” That usually got the audience’s attention. There were three founders: Stanley’s father, Herbert Marcus, Herbert’s sister, Carrie » Read More
The Spontaneous Christmas Truces
The odds are pretty good that you’ve never heard of Bertie Felstead. And yet, when he died in 2001, the New York Times, the Economist and many British newspapers published articles about his life. Most folks who get famous do it when they’re young. Then they fade from view and we hear about them again only when » Read More