Buying coffee

We have a local coffee shop in my town that I enjoy visiting.  Thought I'd stop in for a cup.

Who are your spiders?

I've been running regularly over a year now, often in the dark hours before sunrise.  As the weather turns cooler, I can think of only one thing I won't miss about the warmer months:  spider webs.

Miley Cyrus and Talent Management

"What would Miley do?"

Talent Management magazine, November 2013 issue

Editor Mike Prokopeak opens the November issue of one of my favorite magazines with a provocative title:  "What Would Miley Do?"  You'll have to click through to read more about Miss Cyrus, but below are some genuine nuggets about talented people in your organization.

Christmas tree leadership (Tannenbaum/Schmidt Continuum)

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are thy branches!

For some reason, this little portion of the third stanza is all I seem to remember of the song, despite hearing it repeatedly from late October through mid-January for decades.  It's an ode to the beautiful Christmas tree, and has been recorded with many different lyrics over the past 50 years.

Wondering what it has to do with leadership?

Practical business advice.

To save time is to lengthen life.  Every businessman, every accountant, and every student who employs the shortest and best methods to arrive at results, is doing his work with satisfaction and profit.

The power of empowering the other. An excerpt from Gerry Spence.

Here's an excerpt from Gerry Spence's How to Argue and Win Every Time.  Throughout his book his reference to the "Other" is the person "against whom our failing arguments are made."

The key to opening the Other to our arguments is to empower the Other to reject us.  The key is putting our power in the Other's hands.  By relinquishing power to the Other, we avoid the Other's fear of us or our argument.  If the Other retains the power, the clear, acknowledged power, to accept or reject our argument, there remains nothing against which the Other need defend.

Best,
Bryan

Actuaries on "rethinking retirement"

Retirement is becoming a big part of conversation in the United States.  People of all ages are wondering how they will live in retirement - or if they will be able to retire at all.

Check out "Rethinking Retirement," an article published in the June 2013 edition of Contingencies, a trade magazine focused on actuarial science.

	Look inside >
Rethinking Retirement

What's actuarial science, you may ask?  It's what actuaries do, of course!  :)

Actuaries, according to the USDOL's Bureau of Labor and Statistics,   "analyze the financial costs of risk and uncertainty.  They use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to assess the risk that an event will occur and to help businesses and clients develop policies that minimize the cost of that risk."

If you like math and want to learn more about actuarial science as a career, check out the American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.

Best,
Bryan

Insured Victim Effect (a.k.a., no harm, no foul)

Sometimes bad things happen.

• A dead tree falls on a neighbor's fence from an adjacent property.
• An arsonist burns a home to the ground.
• A valuable diamond necklace is stolen.

When we first hear of things like these, our first reaction is often to the event itself and the well-being of the person - we want to make sure the person is okay.  But before we launch into a diatribe about how awful the person or entity is that caused this to happen, it's quite common to interject one quick question:  "was it insured?"

Failure and success

"If you are succeeding in everything you do, then you're probably not pushing yourself hard enough.  And that means you're not taking enough risks.  You risk because you have something of value you want to achieve."
- John Maxwell, Failing Forward

Leadership without leverage

In his book "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership," John C. Maxwell shares that influence is the key to great leadership.

Dan Gilbert on YouTube: Why We Make Bad Decisions

Thought you might enjoy Dan Gilbert's 2008 TED Talk on why we make bad decisions.  The full video is about 34 minutes long.  If you're short on time, jump in at about the 18:20 mark.




Best,
Bryan

Make meetings matter

"I can't seem to get anything done because of all of these meetings!"

Fiscal cliff coverage: Zero Hedge, others

The fiscal cliff talks in Washington, D.C. affect all of us:  as managers, employees, and entrepreneurs.  Not offering a play-by-play here, but if you're keeping up with the fiscal cliff talks anyway....

Finding the right person to hire should be easy...right?

"Why is it so hard to find qualified candidates with such a high unemployment rate??"

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Does intelligence equal performance?

Intelligence.  So often it's treated as a fixed asset that an individual either has or doesn't have.  Intelligence that is particularly high is considered by some to be a wonderful gift.  If it is particularly low, some would have you believe it's a loathsome burden to be carried throughout life.

Crazybusy - take a moment

I've been getting back into the physiology and workings of the brain lately, especially around the ideas of intelligence, working memory, and the way our minds react to stimulus.  More in the coming days on those, but wanted to share the opening words of Crazybusy, a book by Edward Hallowell, M.D.  It's an 11-second vignette describing his reaction to an old rotary phone, and a nice reminder that our brains sometimes take the quick and easy path.

Career Tips from Bob Pozen

Bob Pozen, author of Extreme Productivity and Too Big To Save, shares three important career tips in a recent Fast Company article entitled "Bob Pozen, Master of Extreme Productivity, Shares His 3 Most Effective Career Tips."  One of the great things about Fast Company is that you'll always know the content by its title. :)  Here's a quick overview

A favorite quote: Carol Dweck

A favorite quote from Carol Dweck, author of Mindset:  the New Psychology of Success:

"It's tempting to create a world in which we're perfect.  (Ah, I remember that feeling from grade school.)  we can choose partners, make friends, hire people who make us feel faultless.  But think about it - do you want to never grow?  Next time you're tempted to surround yourself with worshipers, go to church.  In the rest of your life, seek constructive criticism."

Spinning up work

A quick and silly story.