Execupundit.com

Snow

2010-02-09T07:42:00.002-07:00

For those of you in snow country: The poem "Velvet Shoes" by Elinor Wylie.

Plus: Some time-lapse photos of snowfall. Keep an eye on the teddy bear and the stick.

[Weather forecast today here in Phoenix: Partly cloudy with a high of 64 and a low of 47. Brutal.]

Quick Thought

2010-02-09T07:28:00.002-07:00

Whether you call yourself a member of Human Resources, Personnel, or Talent Management, the minute you start thinking of an individual as an "employee" or an "applicant" rather than a person, you begin moving in a dangerous direction.

Quote of the Day

2010-02-09T06:57:00.001-07:00

Don't let yourself forget what it's like to be sixteen.

- Anonymous

Entertainment Break

2010-02-08T19:38:00.002-07:00

The trailer for "Bullets Over Broadway."

A great comedy, packed with great lines.

C. S. Lewis: Mentor

2010-02-08T19:27:00.002-07:00

David C. Downing has written a post on how C. S. Lewis was often a mentor by mail. An excerpt:

Lewis’s advice to his correspondents often took the form of quotable epigrams. To a new wife who felt guilty over her mixed emotions about pregnancy, Lewis observed about guilt feelings, “You can’t help their knocking on the door; but you mustn’t ask them in to lunch” (3, 310). To a mother who asked Lewis to write a letter to her troubled daughter, Lewis answered prudently, “I think advice is best kept till it is asked for” (3, 320). On the same subject to the same correspondent, Lewis observed in another letter, “If few can give good advice, fewer still can hear with patience advice either good or bad” (369).

17 Guidelines: When Briefing the New Boss

2010-02-08T16:14:00.004-07:00

Leave all humor at the door.
Make sure your appearance is thoroughly professional.
Don't badmouth the old boss.
Don't criticize other managers or employees.
Avoid any semblance of pandering.
If you don't know something, admit it.
Don't understate the impact of past mistakes.
Make no assumptions regarding the boss's management proclivities.
Be able to discuss and recommend alternatives to current policies.
Know your subject area inside-out.
Don't overwhelm the boss with details, but have them at hand.
Be respectful of time.
Expect interruptions.
Know all areas of risk and all available resources.
Don't brag.
Know three things you'd like changed and three things you want to remain the same - just in case you are asked.
Be prepared to note what is done well and what can be improved.

Sno Wovel

2010-02-08T15:24:00.001-07:00

Cool Tools reviews the Sno Wovel, a timely tool for some parts of the country.

Who Dat Nation

2010-02-08T14:33:00.003-07:00

Back from the Super Bowl, Stanley Bing notes a virtue of the Saints fans:

The best thing about the Who Dat Nation is how nice they all are. I’ve been to a lot of conventions, some of them in New Orleans, but also in Houston, Miami, Dallas and of course, Vegas, and this Super Bowl was, without question, the most pleasant gathering of happy drunkards I have ever attended. Some people get annoying or mean when they’ve been sopping up alcohol and shrimp for three consecutive days. Not this bunch. This was simply a gathering of excited, happy people bobbling around like kids saying “Who Dat?” to each other until game time.

February 11: Stun Day?

2010-02-08T13:34:00.006-07:00

"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

Read the rest here.

No word on whether Israel has a surprise planned for February 10.

[HT: Drudge Report]

ShmooCon

2010-02-08T09:00:00.002-07:00

Bill Brenner on why security execs should care about a hacker fest. An excerpt:

The larger reality is that a lot of important talks happen here that have implications up and down the IT security food chain. It's also important to note that a lot of the young ruffians who come here are the very people who find the security holes so they can be fixed. They also build a lot of the technology CSOs lobby their upper management to invest in.

Some examples:

Tyler Shields of the Veracode Research Lab gave a talk about those BlackBerry phones security execs can no longer live without. His message: The BlackBerry is full of weaknesses an attacker can exploit to target the larger enterprise network.

Many CSOs have become equally dependent on their iPhones, and they are increasingly being used to conduct business. Guess what? Those devices are equally at risk, according to Trevor Hawthorn, founder and managing principal at Stratum Security. He gave a presentation on how the bad guys can attack through your iPhone apps and tap into your GPS to track your whereabouts.

Hooking Up Update

2010-02-08T08:43:00.001-07:00

This is depressing. Charlotte Allen on the new dating game:

Courtney, 21, is a student at Penn State University. Tucker Max, 33, six feet tall, extrovertedly good-looking, and usually photographed latched to a girl, a bottle of booze, or a cheeseburger, is an honors graduate (in three years) of the University of Chicago. He has a law degree from Duke University, whose admissions committee was so impressed with his academic record that it awarded him an academic scholarship. Yet his only experience practicing law to date has consisted of getting fired from a $2,400-a-week summer-associate job at a prestigious Silicon Valley firm for, among other things, showing up intoxicated at the orientation meeting and complaining that he couldn’t see anything because he had lost his contacts in a hookup with a girl he had met at a party the night before; informing a female recruiter at the firm that he was “calling a porn line” when she walked into his office unexpectedly; and getting fall-down drunk at a firm retreat and shouting the F-word at a charity auction attended by the partners and their spouses. His email account of the last escapade made its way to laughs around the country.

Rules, Exceptions, and Accommodations

2010-02-08T06:55:00.001-07:00

You study an organization. You read the rules and then look for the formal exceptions to the rules. And then you search for the informal exceptions to the rules, the unsanctioned exceptions, the "street justice" exceptions: the daily accommodations.

The accommodations are tacit understandings. If you do this, I'll do that and if you don't do this other thing, I won't do this other thing. They are part of a game in which the parties appear to be playing separate roles and yet also share a role. It is that shared role that can be fascinating. The common goal is a zone of comfort. The guard and the prisoner, the teacher and the student, the cop and the speeder, the boss and the employee - all quietly accept certain boundaries in order to avoid mutual unpleasantness. There are some things that must not be done and, in exchange for that acknowledgement of boundaries, some formal rules will be overlooked.

One of the secrets to success in organizations is knowing what is frequently overlooked and what is never overlooked. That knowledge reveals a great deal about the place.

Quote of the Day

2010-02-08T06:09:00.002-07:00

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations.

- Jean Paul Richter

Saints

2010-02-07T20:09:00.001-07:00

Great game. Great winners. And some Louis Armstrong to celebrate.

Audi's Nitwitted Super Bowl Commercial

2010-02-07T19:56:00.004-07:00

Did anyone at Audi think for two minutes before approving this Super Bowl commercial?

Who gets the sympathy? The people being arrested by the intrusive Green Police or the toady driving the Audi?

Question

2010-02-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

Is there a football game today?

Leisure: A Poem

2010-02-06T19:06:00.003-07:00

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Read the rest of William Henry Davies here.

And the Sequel Should Be: How to Distinguish "Art" from "Scam."

2010-02-06T18:18:00.001-07:00

Neatorama: How to distinguish "Art" from "Trash."

Game Info

2010-02-06T12:38:00.005-07:00

New York magazine on all you might possibly need to know about the Super Bowl. For example:

Brees once threw 73 passes in a college game and then apologized afterward for not throwing more.

Even more on the TV day that never ends.

Professors

2010-02-06T12:17:00.001-07:00

Cultural Offering remembers his college days:

Reagan had just "survived" the economic recession and was preparing to blow up the world. My professors reacted to conservative views with attitudes ranging from puzzlement to disgust. In my Capitalism Versus Socialism class the socialist viewpoint was ably represented by a former SDSer; the capitalist viewpoint was butchered by a professor with views barely to the right of the socialist prof. It wasn't that they couldn't understand conservatism; they had no interest.

My experience was similar. I never had a problem with decidedly left-wing professors - one of the best teachers I encountered was a Marxist teaching assistant - but their knowledge of conservatism was cartoonish.

Albert Brooks and His Horse

2010-02-06T07:52:00.001-07:00

Back by popular demand: The party scene from "The Muse."

Sex Week at Old Boola Boola

2010-02-06T07:24:00.005-07:00

The idea behind the program, which will fittingly run through Valentine's Day, is to promote sexual health awareness and sexuality. Programs range from speed dating to tea with a transsexual porn star.

Read the rest here.

[Well, that certainly addresses a major issue: Getting college students to think more about sex.]

With Assistance from Edgar the Leadership Pug

2010-02-06T07:12:00.001-07:00

Mary Jo Asmus with leadership lessons from The Dog Whisperer. An excerpt:

Use calm, assertive energy: Caesar teaches humans that screaming, yelling and anger only serve to escalate the energy of the dog to that level; they are ineffective at best and can be destructive. Organizational leaders who use these techniques must also find a way to stop using these emotions that can be “caught” like viruses in the organizations they lead.

Five Best Cookbooks

2010-02-06T05:03:00.001-07:00

Alton Brown gives his "five best" list of cookbooks.

I'd add an excellent book that I represented in a very brief moment as a literary agent:

Gourmet Gringo by Mari Meyers

Quote of the Day

2010-02-06T05:00:00.002-07:00

Never assume that you are smarter or more sophisticated than your customer. If you think you need to explain your business to the customer, perhaps you need the customer to explain your business to you.

- Michael Levine