Quote of the Day

We are each of us angels with only one wing. And we can only fly embracing each other. 

- Luciano de Crescenzo

Re-Reading

Fans of Justified will recall the high praise that Raylan Givens (and Elmore Leonard) gave to this book. I read it years ago and just decided to read it again. I'd forgotten how good it is.

They Had Better Mail Service In Those Days

Bryan Adams

Cultural Offering has the essential mixes and the man knows music.

Twitter Reflection on Girl Scout Cookies

IF IT MEANS HELPING THE KIDS I WILL EAT SO MANY BOXES OF THIN MINTS NO NEED TO THANK ME - Tim Siedell

The cookies.

Great Managers

Harvard Business Review, March 2005: Marcus Buckingham on "What Great Managers Do." An excerpt:

In my research, beginning with a survey of 80,000 managers conducted by the Gallup Organization and continuing during the past two years with in-depth studies of a few top performers, I’ve found that while there are as many styles of management as there are managers, there is one quality that sets truly great managers apart from the rest: They discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it. Average managers play checkers, while great managers play chess. The difference? In checkers, all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way; they are interchangeable. You need to plan and coordinate their movements, certainly, but they all move at the same pace, on parallel paths. In chess, each type of piece moves in a different way, and you can’t play if you don’t know how each piece moves. More important, you won’t win if you don’t think carefully about how you move the pieces. Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.

Extraordinary

The trailer for the 75th anniversary restoration.

Back by Popular Demand: Movies and Management

This was first posted here on November 4, 2006.

Some lines from movie dialogue demand to be used in the workplace. Here are some obvious candidates although some are obscure. See if you can match the line with the film.

[Answers are at the bottom of the post.]

1. Marketing "Sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here."
2. Discipline "The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me."
3. Community Activists "Tom, those are the Causeheads. They find a world-threatening issue and stick with it for about a week."
4. Safety "Mrs. Nordberg, I think we can save your husband's arm. Where would you like it sent?"
5. Records Management "It's in that place where I put that thing that time."
6. Job Description "I am a river to my people!"
7. Motivation "Positive thinking is fine in theory, but whenever I try it on a systematic basis, I end up really depressed."
8. Persuasion"She tried to sit on my lap, and I was standing up at the time."
9. Corporate-speak "You keep saying that. I do not think it means what you think it means."
10. Benefits "I caught you a delicious bass."
11. The Competition "Who are those guys?"
12. Diversity  "What we have here is called 'failure to communicate.'"
13. Career Counseling "I just want to say one word to you - just one word.... 'plastics.'"
14. Ethics "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms."
15. Persistence "As God is my witness, as God is my witness, they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again - no, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill! As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."
16. Testing "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
17. Compliance "Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules."
18. Confrontation "That's mighty brave talk for a one-eyed fat man."
19. Courtesy "Sir, you have no call to get snippy with me."
20. Technology "Where does he get those wonderful toys?"
21. Appearance "I have a head for business and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?"

[Answers: 1. As Good As It Gets; 2. Animal House; 3. PCU; 4. The Naked Gun; 5. Hackers; 6. Lawrence of Arabia; 7. Barcelona; 8. The Big Sleep; 9. The Princess Bride; 10. Napoleon Dynamite; 11. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid; 12. Cool Hand Luke; 13. The Graduate; 14. Wall Street; 15. Gone With The Wind; 16. The Silence of the Lambs; 17. Five Easy Pieces; 18. True Grit; 19. Fargo; 20. Batman; 21. Working Girl.]

Seth at Carnegie

Due to the miracle of modern technology, you can listen to Seth Godin at Carnegie Hall.

Unfortunately, I've yet to locate Bob and Ray.

Highly Recommended