Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Sharia Law Debate
Bruce Bawer on a chilling debate in Norway. An excerpt:
For a case in point, I will refer the reader to an episode I’ve mentioned previously in this space — an Oslo debate last November at which the deputy chairman of Norway’s Islamic Council, Asghar Ali, refused to reject the death penalty for gays. When Senaid Kobilica, the head of the Islamic Council (which represents 60,000 Muslims), was asked where he stood on the question, he replied that he couldn’t give a definitive answer until he got a ruling from the European Fatwa Council. This week it was reported that he’s still waiting.
For a case in point, I will refer the reader to an episode I’ve mentioned previously in this space — an Oslo debate last November at which the deputy chairman of Norway’s Islamic Council, Asghar Ali, refused to reject the death penalty for gays. When Senaid Kobilica, the head of the Islamic Council (which represents 60,000 Muslims), was asked where he stood on the question, he replied that he couldn’t give a definitive answer until he got a ruling from the European Fatwa Council. This week it was reported that he’s still waiting.
Google's Strategy
A journalist friend of mine once said about Google "they are a freak of a company, the best advertising business ever built is funding the largest collection of mad scientists ever assembled". I love that description of Google and have used it many times. But it suggests that Google is chaos and I don't think that is true at all.
Read the rest of these thoughts from a venture capitalist here.
Read the rest of these thoughts from a venture capitalist here.
The Whiners
Whining is never an attractive form of behavior. It does appear, however, that whiners get rewarded in many organizations.
Supervisors and managers capitulate, in large part, to shut the person up. They may make a mental note to exact some indirect punishment at a future date, but it is unlikely even that feeble retaliation will ever occur. Memories fade along with the irritation. In the meantime, the whiner enjoys a special benefit.
The other employees, of course, take note of any appeasement. They know when the boss has caved, however cleverly the surrender has been disguised.
The whiner's jubilation is a body blow to the morale of their quiet co-workers and to the moral authority of the leader. What had seemed like a convenient accommodation, a small act, can have much larger repercussions. Moreover, the whiner is usually a repeat-offender with a series of victories that are really management defeats.
The damage may be incremental, but it is damage nonetheless.
Supervisors and managers capitulate, in large part, to shut the person up. They may make a mental note to exact some indirect punishment at a future date, but it is unlikely even that feeble retaliation will ever occur. Memories fade along with the irritation. In the meantime, the whiner enjoys a special benefit.
The other employees, of course, take note of any appeasement. They know when the boss has caved, however cleverly the surrender has been disguised.
The whiner's jubilation is a body blow to the morale of their quiet co-workers and to the moral authority of the leader. What had seemed like a convenient accommodation, a small act, can have much larger repercussions. Moreover, the whiner is usually a repeat-offender with a series of victories that are really management defeats.
The damage may be incremental, but it is damage nonetheless.
Monday, September 01, 2008
"Tumbrel Remarks"
I count myself as something of an expert on what writer Joyce Cary once called "tumbrel remarks." A tumbrel remark is an unguarded comment by an uncontrollably rich person, of such crass insensitivity that it makes the workers and peasants think of lampposts and guillotines. I can give you a few for flavor. The late queen mother, being driven in a Rolls-Royce through a stricken district of Manchester, England, said as she winced at the view, "I see no point at all in being poor." The Duke of St. Albans once told an interviewer that an ancestor of his had lost about 50 million pounds in a foolish speculation in South African goldfields, adding after a pause, "That was a lot of money in those days." The Duke of Devonshire, having been criticized in the London Times, announced in an annoyed and plaintive tone that he would no longer have the newspaper "in any of my houses."
Read the rest of Christopher Hitchens on "tumbrel remarks."
Read the rest of Christopher Hitchens on "tumbrel remarks."
Perspective for Would-Be Writers
If you add up the college education of Steinbeck, Hemingway and Faulkner, you get to spring break of freshman year.
- Tom Wolfe
[HT: Donald at 2Blowhards ]
- Tom Wolfe
[HT: Donald at 2Blowhards ]
Leadership Lessons from Vietnam
Marshall Carter (State Street Corp.): There are three things I learned in Vietnam that I've taken into business. First, a healthy skepticism or even a disrespect for authority. I found in Vietnam that there was always some major or colonel who wanted to send me some place where they wouldn't go themselves. And there was some feeling that people above the company level just didn't really know what was going on.
Read the rest of the Chief Executive article on executives recalling leadership lessons from their service in Vietnam.
Read the rest of the Chief Executive article on executives recalling leadership lessons from their service in Vietnam.
12 Reasons Why We Are Not Creative
- We've been told that we are not.
- We are afraid of being ridiculed.
- We shy away from the "impractical."
- We amplify the impact of failure.
- We feel bound by precedent.
- We are fearful of wasting our time.
- We diminish the benefits of success.
- We are comfortable with the status quo.
- We put topics in boxes.
- We automatically reject the unusual.
- We establish too many preconditions.
- We listen to negative friends or associates.
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