Remembering the Millwright
Max De Pree wrote about the true meaning of diversity in his book, Leadership is an Art, back in 1989.
The Whistle (Still) Doesn’t Drive the Train.
I was in a meeting for safety training on a large construction project. My colleagues had sent in a proposal and I was representing them in the meeting. All their ideas were quickly dismissed by a very rude and arrogant young woman as being ‘too old’. ‘But I wasn’t even born then!’ she pouted, as
On Herzberg, Fried Chicken and Freedom
I recently came across a 2014 article from The Atlantic Journal by Kevin Roose titled; The Woes of Wall Street; Why Young Bankers are so Miserable. Roose claims to have spent three years shadowing a group of young Wall Street workers. (That might have needed some explaining down at the precinct). He concluded that the
Rabbit Holes and Unfinished Business.
Do you find that you are more distracted as you try to focus on tasks these days? If so, you are not alone. And, this is not even a new problem. Nietzsche wrote; ‘one thinks with a watch in one’s hand, even as one eats one’s midday meal while reading the latest news of the
It’s not rocket science.
A friend sent a review for a book on unhelpful business jargon, titled, Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower: A Treasury of Unbearable Office Jargon by Stephen Poole.
Failure is an option.
David* and that is his real name, once told me that some of his colleagues would rather die than say ‘we’ve stuffed it up.’ Instead, catchy phrases were used to paper over the cracks of reality. We’re not failing. We’re restructuring. We’re not looking at why we’re in such a mess. We’re conducting an
Should we mind if we’re not mindful?
The Mindfulness trend was something I ignored for as long as I could. I felt sure it would require yoga pants and Birkenstocks. As it descended into the world of fridge magnets and miniature books full of quotes, I felt quietly justified that I had avoided another fad.
Milgram and Adventures in Obedience
Observing the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Stanley Milgram, Professor of Social Psychology at Yale asked himself the question, could men like Eichmann be ordinary people who were simply following orders? How willingly would an ordinary human being obey an authority figure, if they were instructed to perform an act that conflicted with their conscience? In
Skull Crackers and Stoic Philosophers.
I once saw the perfect job advertised. It called for a Brand Manager for Tim Tams. I shouted ‘that’s mine’ in spite of the fact that I had not worked my way up through marketing in the fast moving consumer goods sector. But here’s the thing, I felt that I had been doing that role