I attended an evening business event last week, primarily because one of the featured speakers was my friend and fellow consultant, Steve. (Not his real name. His real name is Nick Miller, but I’m calling him Steve to protect his anonymity.)
Anyway, I went to see “Steve,” and as always, he was impressive. I’ve seen him speak several times over the last few years, and every time I do, I walk out of the room newly energized and eager to jump back into my own work. Read More »
I have a confession to make — I’m not here right now.
But wait, it gets better. Not only am I out of the office, I’m not even working today. I decided yesterday to take this sunny, 80 degree day off and spend it wandering around downtown Boston. Read More »
Several years ago, the company I worked for was purchased by a telecom giant whose name I won’t mention, other than to say that it kind of rhymed with “Hey Tea & Tea.”
A few weeks after the announcement, we got word that the CEO of our new owner was coming to town to speak on a panel. Hoping to get a first hand look at him, a bunch of us drove into Boston to see the event. Read More »
My wife Linda gave me Steve Martin’s book, Born Standing Up, as a gift last week. I finished it the same day.
I’m fascinated by “behind the scenes” stories, particularly when it comes to hearing about the early years of people who went on to become famous or successful. The book doesn’t disappoint in this regard. Read More »
“Who was that?,” my son Evan asked. We were standing out on our front lawn, throwing a football, and Evan had just seen me smile and wave to a passing minivan.
“I have no idea,” I said. “I don’t have my glasses on, and I can’t see through the tinted windshield anyway. I wave at everyone who drives by.”
Evan gave this some thought, and then, with the precise blending of disdain and amusement that teenagers reserve exclusively for their parents, said, “So, are you getting to be an old guy now?” Read More »
It all began innocently enough. My brother-in-law Holly was over at the house a couple of Sundays ago, when he overheard my wife Linda talking about how much she hated the flowered wallpaper border in our family room – something we inherited when we bought the house four years ago.
Holly pointed out how easy it would be to just pull the whole thing off. Sure enough, the next thing I knew, my entire family was tugging on flowered wallpaper from all directions.
Personally, I had no objection to the death of the flowered wallpaper. Not because I hated it, but because in four years of living here, I’m pretty sure I never noticed it. Read More »
I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Last week, in no uncertain terms, my daughter, Emily, told me that I was cut off. Done. Finished…
…No longer would I be permitted to borrow her iPod when I went to the gym.
First of all, according to Emily, I was “getting it all sweaty.” Second, and much less disgustingly, I was “running down the battery life,” a phenomenon which was apparently wreaking havoc on her finely tuned listening schedule. And while I considered pointing out that she had been running down my battery life for the previous 12 years, I had to admit that Emily had a point. Read More »
May I speak frankly? I’ve been on crutches for three weeks now and have come to one, simple conclusion: There’s nothing very convenient about it.
You can’t carry anything; you can’t find a good place to put the crutches when you’re sitting in a restaurant, or a movie theater, or an airplane; and you may as well not even bother trying to take care of business in a public restroom.
No, my friend, I’m sorry to say that crutches add nothing to your overall speed and mobility, a fact that explains why so few land mammals have evolved to the point where they are born with these appendages already attached. Read More »
With all the examples of modern technology surrounding us today – e-mail, iPods, toaster waffles, etc. – I have to say that the one I find most amazing is the cell phone.
It’s incredible enough that you can make a call from any place at any time to anyone else in the world. But to me, what’s most remarkable is that someone can dial your number, and no matter where you are, the system instantly finds you and puts the call through. (Unless of course, you’re in the supermarket and your wife is calling, in which case it waits until just after you’ve gone through the checkout line.) Read More »
“I write to find out what I am writing about.”
— Henry Miller
One question that comes up often when I speak to business people about E-Newsletters is, “How important is it for us to write original content?” I’ve been fielding this particular question long enough to know that what’s really being asked is, “Can we just get somebody else to write this for us?”
Much to the disappointment of the questioners, my answer has always been a resounding, “No!” Read More »
