New Year’s has a magical hold on us. It’s the only time we talk about resolutions. It’s the only time that most of us sit down and think about how things are going and how we’d like them to be different. Social scientists refer to New Year’s and some other dates as “temporal landmarks.” They’re times that » Read More
Category: Life
A Cratchit Kind of Christmas
It’s a typical frantic, modern Christmas season. Thanks to COVOD there aren’t as many parties, but there are still errands and things to buy. Televisions are filled with pictures of mountains of presents under beautifully decorated trees, along with exhortations to buy more things. Email blasts alert you to the » Read More
Nobody asked me, but …
Nobody asked me but … A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out. In a time of digital communication, handwritten notes are especially powerful. If you want people to do something make it easy and safe. The most powerful form of leadership communication is example. A whole lot of success boils down to doing the » Read More
Boss’s Tip of the Week: Ben Franklin’s Two Questions
Ben Franklin spent his whole life trying to do things better. In his Autobiography, he outlined his “bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” You may not try for such lofty achievement, but you can still use the two questions that Franklin asked himself every day. In the morning: “What » Read More
The Power of the Pause
“I must be up and doing!” I don’t remember the name of the character who said that as he sprang from bed. I don’t remember the name of the novel he was in or the author of that novel. But that phrase has stayed with me since a course in Victorian literature back in college. That character would fit » Read More