Unspoken Thoughts

As they pondered the problem that had emerged, the two executives looked at one another.

Each thought but did not say:

"You're so bright I relied upon your judgment."

Insincerity

For many of us, our fear of insincerity is so powerful that it limits our social and business contacts.

A sort of guilt by association often lurks behind that fear. We've seen and have been repelled by the manipulative gladhanders who, in J.R. Ewing's phrase, have learned how to fake sincerity. We reason that the easiest way to avoid becoming a manipulator is to avoid settings and jobs where empty words are the rule and not the exception.

Cocktail parties and networking events are especially repugnant for those who are uncomfortable with "small talk."

Unfortunately, this reclusiveness abandons the field to the enemy. [As one wag said, "Fools rush in...and get the best seats."] Furthermore, many people who are genuinely - and sincerely - friendly may be unfairly stuck with the gladhander label.

If you read a lot of sales books, however, you can see where the broadbrush was created. Many of the volumes could be required reading in Manipulation 101. How do you get past the gatekeeper? Deceive. Act as if you know the boss. But never, they somberly declare, lie.

As Richard Nixon would intone, "That would be wrong."

Should anyone wonder why so many of us decide to be sincerely detached instead of insincerely engaged?

25 Snow Whites?

Check out this post on Rowan Manahan's blog regarding graduates with unrealistic expectations.

Prepare to cringe.

Quote of the Day

We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.

- C. Malesherbes

Fear of Intellectual Diversity

According to an article in Saturday’s New York Times, the faculty of the University of Chicago is in an uproar over plans to establish a research institute named in honor of the late Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and long time faculty member at the University. . Some 100 faculty members have signed a petition objecting to any such enterprise that might place a stamp of approval on Professor Friedman’s economic theories. They also seem to fear that such an institute would signal to the outside world that Chicago’s faculty “lacks intellectual and ideological diversity.” The indignant faculty members seem blissfully unaware that their protest sends precisely this signal, implying as it does that the left leaning faculty at the University are made uncomfortable and fearful by the presence in their midst of competing points of view.


Read the rest of James Piereson's post here.

10 Things That Produce Unintended Consequences

1. It is much easier to get into something than to get out of it.
2. The biggest problems come from a failure to attend to the basics.
3. It always takes longer than expected.
4. Complication breeds difficulties.
5. When large numbers of people are involved, pinpoint timing and accuracy are only found in spy movies.
6. Some key person will have misread the priorities. Count on it.
7. One rehearsal is better than none and three are better than one but the number doesn't erase the fact that rehearsals are only rehearsals.
8. There are two dangerous types of critics: those you listen to and those you ignore.
9. The lengthier the explanation, the more likely it is that beneath the words is a lack of knowledge.
10. A surprising number of people believe in pixie dust more than in logic.

Brain Drain

These engineers, scientists, doctors, and researchers entered the country legally to study or to work. They contributed to U.S. economic growth and global competitiveness. Now we’ve set the stage for them to return to countries such as India and China, where the economies are booming and their skills are in great demand. U.S. businesses large and small stand to lose critical talent, and workers who have gained valuable experience and knowledge of American industry will become potential competitors.




Read the rest of Vivek Wadhwa's article from The American on America's other immigration crisis.

Quote of the Day

Cleverness is not wisdom.

- Euripides

Pre-Gonzo Man

John Lombardi, in a New York piece, on the ambivalence of Hunter S. Thompson. An excerpt:

Gonzo was genius, but it was a kind of sellout, too. Rolling Stone and a number of publishers successfully packaged Hunter’s Dr. Gonzo image for a few decades. Douglas Brinkley became his literary executor. And while pulling no punches about Thompson’s ultimate place in writing—“You’re no Mark Twain but you’re a kind of Ambrose Bierce”—he began shepherding collections of his early prose and letters into what he called “The Gonzo Papers,” issued regularly, so that Thompson realized a hefty six-figure annual income from his work during the eighties and nineties, augmented by impressive fees from appearances before fascinated and stoned frat boys at colleges all over the country.

TMI

My U.S. News & World Report post on the downside of too much information is up.