Colleagues of [accused Ponzi scheme operator and investment firm owner Bernard Madoff] said he was fair to those he dealt with and generous to charities including the Special Olympics. Mr. Madoff treated employees well and loved to take friends and colleagues onto his 55-foot fishing boat, called Bull, said Frank Christensen, a retired BYSE broker.
"I really think very highly of him," said Mr. Christensen. "People make mistakes."
- From a front page article in The Wall Street Journal, December 13-14, 2008
[Execupundit tip: Always check the name of their boat.]
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Picking the Most Likely
Writing in The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell examines how we determine who is the most likely to succeed. An excerpt:
A college quarterback joining the N.F.L., by contrast, has to learn to play an entirely new game. Shonka began to talk about Tim Couch, the quarterback taken first in that legendary draft of 1999. Couch set every record imaginable in his years at the University of Kentucky. “They used to put five garbage cans on the field,” Shonka recalled, shaking his head, “and Couch would stand there and throw and just drop the ball into every one.” But Couch was a flop in the pros. It wasn’t that professional quarterbacks didn’t need to be accurate. It was that the kind of accuracy required to do the job well could be measured only in a real N.F.L. game.
A college quarterback joining the N.F.L., by contrast, has to learn to play an entirely new game. Shonka began to talk about Tim Couch, the quarterback taken first in that legendary draft of 1999. Couch set every record imaginable in his years at the University of Kentucky. “They used to put five garbage cans on the field,” Shonka recalled, shaking his head, “and Couch would stand there and throw and just drop the ball into every one.” But Couch was a flop in the pros. It wasn’t that professional quarterbacks didn’t need to be accurate. It was that the kind of accuracy required to do the job well could be measured only in a real N.F.L. game.
Not Your Traditional Corruption
Reform gets identified with well-educated people who are comfortable with laws that say city jobs should go to the person who is best qualified. After all, educated people usually are the best qualified. Regulars know that regular people sometimes need a little help. Under this kind of ethic, steering rewards to friends and family becomes a virtue. As Mayor Richard J. Daley once famously exclaimed when caught trying to shovel city insurance business to one of his sons (not Richard M. or Bill Daley), "Any father who doesn't do for his son isn't a good father, and if they don't like it, kiss my ass."
A Chicago alderman once complained to me about modern reform hiring laws -- the line was so good, I borrowed it, unembellished, for a novel -- "What's this world coming to when a guy can get a job for a stranger more easily than he can for his brother in law?"
Read the rest of Scott Simon on the new low in Chicago politics.
Quote of the Day
You want to know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way!
- Sean Connery in "The Untouchables"
- Sean Connery in "The Untouchables"
Friday, December 12, 2008
Miscellaneous and Fast
Is Hefner behind the PETA ad campaigns?
Get in a good mood: Dusty Springfield.
Death by E-Mail: Ten things never to put in e-mail. [HT: Mark Polino ]
Cool Tools has a piece on SuperSculpey Firm polymer that will make you want to head for the art supply store.
RiseSmart has some tips on making a career transition at 55+.
Lost style: John Huston interviewed by Dick Cavett.
Let the man smoke: Ron Rosenbaum on the downsides of presidential cold turkey.
Party pooper: Suzanne Lucas on why the holiday party is not a party.
Two conservatives criticize Justice Scalia on originalism. [This is a tad confusing. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought Scalia criticized originalism in his essays on judicial decision-making.]
Himmler was already booked: The love affair with Che and Mao.
Get in a good mood: Dusty Springfield.
Death by E-Mail: Ten things never to put in e-mail. [HT: Mark Polino ]
Cool Tools has a piece on SuperSculpey Firm polymer that will make you want to head for the art supply store.
RiseSmart has some tips on making a career transition at 55+.
Lost style: John Huston interviewed by Dick Cavett.
Let the man smoke: Ron Rosenbaum on the downsides of presidential cold turkey.
Party pooper: Suzanne Lucas on why the holiday party is not a party.
Two conservatives criticize Justice Scalia on originalism. [This is a tad confusing. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought Scalia criticized originalism in his essays on judicial decision-making.]
Himmler was already booked: The love affair with Che and Mao.
Anti-Masculinity?
There's a pattern here:
Christina Hoff Sommers on The War Against Boys, Roger Kimball on The Dangerous Book for Boys, David Murrow on Why Men Hate Going to Church, and, most recently, Guy Garcia on The Decline of Men.
Christina Hoff Sommers on The War Against Boys, Roger Kimball on The Dangerous Book for Boys, David Murrow on Why Men Hate Going to Church, and, most recently, Guy Garcia on The Decline of Men.
Racist Comments: Off-Duty and Not to Co-Workers?
Employment attorney John Phillips looks at a case that raises significant issues:
It’s clear that your employees can’t make racist remarks at work or direct them toward coworkers. If an employee does this, he can be disciplined or fired. What if the remarks are put in writing while an employee isn’t at work and mailed to random people across the country? Can he still be disciplined or fired?
As reported by the Columbus Dispatch, there’s a new lawsuit that may provide an answer. An employee of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency was fired after he sent letters with racist comments to hundreds of college students at Ohio State, Notre Dame and the University of Rhode Island. He’s filed sued, claiming that his discharge violated his free speech rights.
It’s clear that your employees can’t make racist remarks at work or direct them toward coworkers. If an employee does this, he can be disciplined or fired. What if the remarks are put in writing while an employee isn’t at work and mailed to random people across the country? Can he still be disciplined or fired?
As reported by the Columbus Dispatch, there’s a new lawsuit that may provide an answer. An employee of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency was fired after he sent letters with racist comments to hundreds of college students at Ohio State, Notre Dame and the University of Rhode Island. He’s filed sued, claiming that his discharge violated his free speech rights.
Out of a Sopranos Script
Corruption in Illinois is like snow in Minnesota. Hardly news. Mr Blagojevich, in fact, became the fifth of the past eight governors of the state to have been indicted. That's a higher proportion than among professional footballers. Heck, it's a higher proportion than among immediate members of Mob families.
Read the rest of Gerard Baker, writing in The Financial Times, on the scandal du jour.
[HT: Real Clear Politics ]
Read the rest of Gerard Baker, writing in The Financial Times, on the scandal du jour.
[HT: Real Clear Politics ]
Refugees
I once supervised a man who'd escaped a dictatorship. Although he had enjoyed an distinguished career as an attorney and as the vice president of a major corporation in his country, he'd had to flee and leave his family behind. He lived in a small apartment near our office and walked to work. A large chunk of what he earned was sent back to his family. When the dictator fell, he returned to his homeland and, I'm happy to say, was able to regain considerable status and happiness before he passed away.
Another refugee I met had been expelled from his country after being subjected to the less-than-tender mercies of the police state. He'd arrived in his new country with next to no money but with a solid reputation as a scientist and a dissident. He rebuilt his life and has written a series of books. He still lives frugally in a drab neighborhood of a major city.
I sometimes think of these two men and of the torment and challenges they had to overcome.
The memory usually comes to mind whenever people complain about their career.
Another refugee I met had been expelled from his country after being subjected to the less-than-tender mercies of the police state. He'd arrived in his new country with next to no money but with a solid reputation as a scientist and a dissident. He rebuilt his life and has written a series of books. He still lives frugally in a drab neighborhood of a major city.
I sometimes think of these two men and of the torment and challenges they had to overcome.
The memory usually comes to mind whenever people complain about their career.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)