Communication Skills Update

It's like no one told him he doesn't have Jedi mind tricks at his disposal. 

- Jonah Goldberg on Jay Carney's performance at press conferences

Public Service Announcement

Althouse points out an incident where smoking saved a life. We all need to work on that skill so we'll be ready for German interrogators.

Knife!

Maggie's Farm gets down to business and recommends a meat slicing knife. I concur with the choice and can report that it is also great at slicing bread, a use which is probably a sin in the circles of knife sophisticates.

First Paragraph

When you tell people you're writing a book, everyone tends to ask the same question: What's it about? And when you tell them you're writing a book about failure, most of them want to know why. For two years, I've been giving them the same answer: "Write what you know." 

- From The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success by Megan McArdle

Dickens, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy

A good resolution for any year: read more Dickens, Shakespeare, and Tolstoy. 

This can be done for pure pleasure, of course, but a practical reason is their extraordinary knowledge of people. No one else comes close to these three for insight on the type of people we encounter and the type of people we are.

The Executive at the End of the Table

The meeting was delayed. He finally arrived and sat at the end of the table. People waited for him to speak. He gave a superficial reaction to what had been done since the last meeting and, at one point, reversed his earlier position. No one pointed that out and certainly no one was going to ask for an explanation of the switch. People shot opinions back and forth but it was accepted that only one opinion mattered even if that opinion was the least-informed in the room. A more perceptive person would have pressed for candor but that was not his style. He rather liked the deference and the image it reflected of his leadership. The decision was ultimately announced and people filed out.

He thought the meeting went well.

Quote of the Day

Television has brought back murder into the home - where it belongs.

- Alfred Hitchcock

Music Break

Back by popular demand: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: "Learning to Fly."

The Tour

The owner took some of the new employees on a tour of the office. 

As the employees examined some of the equipment, the owner stood by and said nothing. He was remembering how difficult it had once been to afford those machines, even the basic ones. What the employees regarded as standard, he saw as an achievement. 

When the new employees met the more senior staff, they simply saw some strangers who'd been there longer and who had impressive titles and nicer offices. The owner would later tell them about the sacrifices, insights, and personal ties that had built the company but today, they just got a quick overview and a small part of the larger story..

The owner knew he was boring his audience and yet hoped that one day they would understand an important truth:

Workplaces are filled with ghosts.

Quote of the Day

In a bureaucracy, the only thing more important than conformity is income. 

- Russell Ackoff