Weekend Leadership Reading

Wally Bock has some assignments for us.


[Photo by 2Photo Pots at Unsplash]

Vital

If you've ever looked back at bad decisions in your life and thought - "What was I thinking?" - there is a simple answer: you probably weren't.

Schedules will always be busy. Distractions will always be near. Carve out some time to think.

[Photo by Iilya Illford at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

Dawn is a pale bruise rising in the night sky when, from inside the palace, a window is flung open and a face appears, its features distorted by the firelight thrown up from the torches beneath. In the piazza below, the soldiers garrisoned to keep the peace have fallen asleep. But they wake fast enough as the voice rings out: "WE HAVE A POPE!"

- From Blood and Beauty: The Borgias, a novel by Sarah Dunant

"Our Founder and Friend" - Southwest Airlines Website

“If the employees come first, then they’re happy. A motivated employee treats the customer well. The customer is happy so they keep coming back, which pleases the shareholders. It’s not one of the enduring green mysteries of all time, it is just the way it works.” 

– Herb Kelleher

Herb Kelleher was one of the great ones.

May he rest in peace.

"They Shall Not Grow Old"

The documentary imagery of war is staggering. About 20 minutes in, when the film changes from black and white to color (coincident with our arrival at the front lines), the images become incomprehensible. “This cannot be real,” one thinks. “This must be a reenactment.” But the images are real, and the “handsome, ruddy, square-shouldered young men”—in the words of historian Charles Carrington—one sees marching through the muck are actual human beings. Their names may be forgotten, but their faces are as familiar as any one might see on the street today.

Read the rest of Finnegan Schick's City Journal review of Peter Jackson's WWI documentary.

How We Used to Learn about Science

The trailer for "The Man with the X-Ray Eyes."

Check out the cast.

Arctic

Well, I watched this trailer and decided not to complain about my day.

First Paragraph

What matters? Lives of the good and the great, the innocence of dogs, the cunning of cats, the elegance of nature, the wonders of space, the perfectly thrown outfield assist, the difference between historical guilt and historical responsibility, homage and sacrilege in monumental architecture, fashions and follies and the finer uses of the F-word.

- From Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics by Charles Krauthammer

Art Break

Art Contrarian looks at some noted murals.

The Adversary's Gift

Some of the most valuable gifts that we receive in life come from our adversaries. They teach us - sometimes brutally - about human nature while sharpening our skills. They cause us to put in extra time to improve our products and arguments and to double-check our data. 

The lessons they provide are far more memorable than any gushing praise we may get along the way. [The praise is nice but it won't win the next battle.]

Although those adversaries would probably cringe at the thought, their efforts to diminish us can indeed make us better and stronger.


[Photo by freestocks.org at Unsplash]