From the category archives:
The recent secret service scandal has once again thrust a disgrace into the limelight. Several men have already lost their jobs, more will probably follow, and the US suffers embarrassment on the international stage. I can hear the clarion cry. “Let’s throw some training at this!” We hear this wail consistently right after the “Something [...]
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Lewis Terman recognized the importance of intelligence when he pioneered his IQ tests in the early 1900s. In his opinion, nothing about an individual is as important as IQ, except possibly morals. I would agree, except to add that you need to be smart enough to do the job, not too much smarter than that. [...]
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While sitting at a traffic light recently, I noticed the printing on the mini-van next to me: “The Reptile Experience: We’ll bring the reptiles to you. Birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs, parish picnics.” As a former high school prom chairman and the host of hundreds of parties since, I can honestly say that including reptiles in [...]
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When I was in elementary school, inevitably some kid in the class would ask the nun, “Does handwriting count?” Not known for patience or suffering fools lightly, these nuns would invariably give the same answer, “It all counts.” Apparently some of the people making the news this week didn’t attend the same schools I did. [...]
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Most business and life challenges eventually show up in the title of a country / western song. Of course, most of the titles intend to address the problems associated with romantic relationships, but I think we’re remiss not to notice the ones for business building as well. “If I’d Shot You When I Wanted to, [...]
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Frequently I receive notice of a workshop or webinar that another consultant will offer. Since I once belonged to a human resources organization, my name appears on virtually every mailing list on the planet. Today I received an invitation to a webinar entitled “Managing Employees from Hell: Discipline That Gets Results.” Where do these companies [...]
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Sometime in the past two years, perhaps while I was distracted by the vampire craze, zombies started presenting a more menacing presence. Scores of television programs, movies, and books have seemingly sprung from nowhere to teach us to survive a zombie attack. For example, Max Brooks, son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, has dominated [...]
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Last year my friend, Debbie, was dating a man named Bill. As any smart boyfriend would do, he asked Debbie what she wanted for Christmas. She told him she’d like a new sweater and then showed him the kind of thing she had in mind. Bill mentioned that she could use a one-cup coffee maker [...]
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There “they” go again, changing something that was just fine to start with, but this mistake may have been short-lived. Coca-Cola Co. plans to switch back to its time-honored red can just one month after rolling out the snow-white animal can the company introduced for the holidays. I’m no innovation-averse Luddite. On the contrary, look [...]
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Last night I saw Moneyball, the blockbuster movie based on Michael Lewis’s best seller, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The movie has been successful for some obvious reasons, one being that Brad Pitt is not too hard to look at for two hours. But I liked it for an imperceptible one. It [...]
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