Quote of the Day

God pays, but not weekly wages.

- Polish proverb

Tongue in Cheek: Giving an Office to the Former CEO

“Giving my predecessor a corner office was the worst mistake this company ever made,” fumes the current CEO of a Lowell, Mass., semiconductor manufacturer. “The parties, the late-night carousing, the exotic dancers hanging from the chandeliers at all hours of the day and night. I’ll tell you, for me to get any work done around here I have to leave early and spend the entire day holed up in my den.”

A Menlo Park, Calif., CEO at a biodegradable fiber-optics network echoes this sentiment. “When Chuck retired, we offered him a rent-free office down the hall. What we didn’t know was that as soon as he packed it in as CEO, Chuck was going to take up the accordion. From the time I get here in the morning till the time I leave at night, it’s ‘Lady of Spain,’ ‘Roll out the Barrel’ and ‘The Pennsylvania Polka’ rocketing down the hallways. The only way to get any work done is to wear headphones all day.”

Read the rest of the Chief Executive article here.

Tips on the Unfriendly Skies

The reasons I’m redlining the summer are obvious: Record flight delays and cancellations. Record amounts of lost or misplaced luggage. Passengers held hostage for hours on runways on cramped, ill-provisioned flights. Business travelers diverted to small airports in tertiary cites and then abandoned as their aircraft flies away empty. Flights across the Atlantic on planes with malfunctioning toilets that spew sewage down the aisles.

I’m no wimp. Three decades of business travel has made me tough and cynical and stoic about the road. But I’m not stupid either. I can do the math: Flying this summer simply isn’t an efficient or cost-effective use of my time or my clients’ money.

But if you must fly this summer, I suggest that you do your best to avoid these guaranteed time-wasting, angst-inducing black holes.

Click here to read the rest of Joe Brancatelli's tips on which airlines and airports to avoid this summer.

Miscellaneous and Fast

The Saturn Aura is the most inexpensive hybrid vehicle on the market.

Where you can come in first and still get second prize. [HT: Linkbunnies ]

Ralph Peters interviews General David Petraeus. [HT: Real Clear Politics ]

When will the Olympics adopt this new sport? Extreme Ironing.

What are some examples of infectious ideas?

Just what you need for your desk: a T-Rex that eats people.

CSO gives a nifty quiz to determine whether your security system is flawed.

Creativity Update: The Windshield Wiper

The story behind the invention of the windshield wiper. An excerpt:

Mary Anderson, of Birmingham, Alabama, is usually credited with inventing the windshield wiper. In 1903, during a visit to New York City, she took a streetcar during a snowstorm and saw the driver repeatedly stop his car to go outside and clean its front glass. Anderson went home and designed a wiper mounted on a spindle that ran through a hole in the windshield frame and connected to a handle inside the vehicle. A counterweight and spring mechanism kept the rubber blade pressed against the glass.

Anderson’s device was meant for streetcars, not automobiles, very few of which had windshields in 1903. Even after windshields became common, toward the end of the decade, wipers were not considered necessary, since most cars were still open to the air and stayed in the garage when it rained. But as driving became a routine activity for the masses instead of a recreation for the wealthy, automobiles had to be usable in all kinds of weather.

Boosting Your Job Chances

A while back, in response to a post with scenarios that could damage a job applicant's chances in an interview, one of my readers suggested a post on what applicants could do to boost their chances.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject. Please feel free to add to the list.

1. Do your homework. Employers don't expect you to know arcane aspects of their business but they do expect you to know what sort of business they're in. You'd be surprised at how many people apply for jobs and, worst yet, stroll into interviews without having done a basic Google search.


2. Have a friend or professional put you through a mock interview. Get someone who is familiar with the interviewing process, who can fashion likely questions (that rules out Uncle Bo), and is willing to give you some frank feedback on your answers.


3. Prepare for the simple questions. Some candidates spend hours prior to the interview crafting answers to difficult questions only to get stumped by softballs such as "Why do you want this job?" and "Why should we hire you?" Be able to answer the basics.


4. Be prepared to cite specific examples of your achievements and at least one example of a project you would handle differently. You may not be asked for the latter but the former will significantly boost the power of your responses.


5. Go into the interview with the goal of clarifying how your skills can assist the employer. Stay away from mentioning how the employer will help you. The interviewers are not interested in how they can help you. They want someone who can help them.

Quote of the Day

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.

- Plutarch


[Publicize a job opening on this site. Go to www.simplyhired.com ]

How Doctors Think

Writing in City Journal, Paul Howard reviews Jerome Groopman's book, How Doctors Think. An excerpt:

How Doctors Think opens with a stark example of misdiagnosis: the story of Ann Dodge, a woman in her thirties who was literally wasting away, despite consuming 3,000 calories a day under doctor’s orders. In her early twenties, Dodge had developed nausea, stomach pain, and vomiting after meals. Initially, her primary-care physician prescribed antacids. When the condition persisted, he sent her to a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with anorexia. Over the next 15 years, 30 physicians treated Dodge, eventually concluding that she suffered from irritable bowel syndrome. Her doctors recommended that she consume massive amounts of cereals and pastas, but instead of getting better, she steadily lost weight and developed severe osteoporosis.

At her boyfriend’s insistence, Dodge sought out gastroenterologist Myron Falchuk. Falchuk inherited Dodge’s copious medical history, which attributed her illness to her fragile mental state. Falchuk, Groopman writes, “heard in [Dodge’s] doctor’s recitation of the case the implicit message that his role was to examine Anne’s abdomen . . . and to reassure her that irritable bowel syndrome . . . should be treated as the internist had recommended, with an appropriate diet and tranquilizers.” Instead, Falchuk did an extraordinary thing: he pushed her stack of medical records aside and asked her to tell her story from the beginning. After conducting a long interview and physical exam, Falchuk ordered several tests that confirmed his diagnosis: celiac disease—an allergic reaction to gluten, a substance found in many grains. In other words, Dodge’s carbohydrate-rich diet was killing her.

Decision Making: Is It Really...

Some people will be surprised at the effectiveness of this technique:

Steve Pavlina on how to make smart decisions in sixty seconds or less.

[HT: Nicholas Bate ]

Shop til you drop

In case you missed it, Rowan Manahan on men, women, and shopping.