I’m continually impressed at how many people, when shopping for ice cream, have to stand directly in front of the door window, with their faces inches away from the glass, to see the selection. If they stood back, they’d find that not only can they see the selection, but anyone else also shopping for ice cream can, as well. Life is better for everyone when you consider others. If you’re doing a simple thing like buying ice cream, just stand back so that others can see, as well. Similarly, it’s not necessary to open a door with a window…
Which is more powerful: A bad CEO or a great idea?
Over the past few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some companies that were founded on great ideas with an infrastructure that had them poised to be successful. Unfortunately, each one of these companies also had leadership (usually the CEO) that was, for various reasons, not at all up to the task of realizing that success. There were many reasons the leadership couldn’t get it done: unfamiliar with the space, too reactive to the data from the last hour without regard for the performance of the last week, thinking in tactics instead of mission or strategy, didn’t…
People always fill in the blanks (and are almost always wrong)
Perspective comes with age, and one observation that has become clearer as I’ve gotten older is that in absence of knowledge, people will fill in the gaps. And they will almost always be wrong. The current President Trump Twitter storm is just the latest example. On Sunday, July 14th, President Trump sent the following three tweets: Technically speaking, only a few hundred thousand people read the tweets. That means most of the people talking about it have gotten their information from either a news outlet, or word of mouth (friends, relatives, overhearing conversations, etc.) I first heard about these…
The gap between Dick Tracy and the Apple Watch
The kids these days don’t remember, but Dick Tracy had a great wristwatch that rivaled the Apple Watch. He could have video conversations, get breaking information, and probably keep track of his steps… But a lot of time passed between the popularity of Dick Tracy and the arrival of the Apple Watch. I’m afraid during that time, I got used to people looking at the time when they look at their wrist. Now, it takes me a minute to figure out why it’s taking them so long to figure out what time it is.
Bag your own groceries
One theme that should be coming through loud and clear is the idea that you should do what you can to get out of everyone’s way. Whether I’m driving, walking, or just standing and having a conversation, I always try and be conscious of the people around me and make sure I’m not in their way. And so it is in the grocery line. It’s all too common to be stuck in the cashier line at the grocery store behind someone just standing there with their hands in their pockets watching the cashier check the groceries and then have…
Advice for parents
Aside from being a parent myself, I’m old enough to have known many parents with kids already out of the house, teenage kids, and relatively young or newborns. Being one to do a lot of research, I read quite a bit about parenting and child development – especially when I was new to it. Through all of that advice, there’s one thing I never heard or read anywhere, but I wish I had: Your kids don’t leave the house at 18. They leave the house at 13. That’s a five years difference. If you’re at all like me, you…
Sandals: The thinking man’s shoes
I’ve never understood why anyone would wear sandals. If you wear shoes, they’re secured on your feet. You put them on and you don’t have to think about them anymore. They just do what your foot is doing. When wearing sandals, you have to crunch your toes, arch your foot, turn your ankles, and any number of machinations to make sure your shoe doesn’t come off. Wearing sandals just seems like too much thinking that I just don’t want to do. The constant flapping as people with sandals walk around the office is also really distracting. People should wear…
“Must be nice” isn’t very nice
In the last week, I was with a co-worker when we heard that one of our other co-workers went to Monacco. Later that week, I was driving with a friend when we passed a really nice house in a local, upscale neighborhood. In both cases, the person I was with responded by saying, “Must be nice.” I got to thinking about that saying. It’s fairly common. Certainly not the first time I’ve heard people say it. But it’s nothing I’ve ever said or would be inclined to say. Some would tell you it’s a way of acknowledging someone having…
Solving the gender pay gap
Like everything that’s fun or good, the U.S. women’s soccer team’s victory has evolved from a quick moment of pride to a political issue. In this case, the women’s team is suing because they get paid less than the U.S. men’s team, even though the revenue generated, in total, by the women’s World Cup is a fraction of what the men’s version creates. I think there’s an easy solution to the entire gender pay gap issue that should put it to bed once and for all. Just have the entire women’s team identify as men, and they’ll get paid…
If a tree falls in a forest, who has the greatest interest in planting another?
No one plants more trees than the people who cut them down. Deforestation has been an issue for a number of decades, but it really started taking off as a popular concern in the mid-1980s, when organizations like Greenpeace and Earth First!, along with Al Gore, started gaining media coverage. Earth First!, in particular, initiated tactics like blocking logging roads, tree-sitting, and tree-spiking, to stop logging and raise awareness. People who tend to take things at face value, isolate their thinking to the “fact” they’re given, and shy away from critical analysis will hear something like “there are 8…