Can the advice of a 4th century desert monk be relevant to someone in the 21st century marketplace? At first, the following bit of practical advice from Evagrius Ponticus doesn’t seem to make much business sense: When buying or selling you can hardly avoid sin. So in either case, be sure you lose a little […]
In the folktale Stone Soup, a hungry travel-worn boy comes to a big house and asks the old woman who lives there for something to eat. The old lady says she has nothing to give him. Little does she know that this is a “trick or treat” scenario. The boy replies that if she gives […]
Independence can be deadly. Yet even with poignant stories like that of Chris McCandless, it’s easy to get caught up in a perpetual pursuit of independence—especially if you’re an American who hears this siren song every 4th of July. Since there is no wax with which to stop our ears from hearing this enticement, let’s […]
Charlie Brown’s teacher is everywhere. There are lots of people who claim to have answers—and who are quite eager to share them with you. The minority on the other end of the spectrum, who have far more questions and who exercise reserve in asking them, can be paradoxically powerful problem-solvers. We assume that telling has […]
The speedometer gets more attention than any other indicator on my car’s dashboard. I generally want to get to my destination as quickly as possible without compromising safety or getting a speeding ticket. Focused as the workplace is on speed and productivity, it’s not surprising that businesses have adopted the dashboard metaphor to track the […]
Some processes are better than others. Take the process of spring cleaning for example. In time for yesterday’s vernal equinox, I read Marie Kondo’s book on tidying for some inspiration. I certainly found it, but I also couldn’t help noticing that this inspiration came wrapped in process. Kondo’s approach to tidying is energizing, motivating, and […]
In a memorable scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Black Knight, who has just lost both of his arms, replies quite matter-of-factly to King Arthur that his traumatic injuries are “just a flesh wound.” It’s the knight’s absurd denial of reality that makes the scene so funny. In real life, it’s not funny […]
Purpose can supercharge an individual or an organization. This has been well documented. Unfortunately, “purpose” can seem like a vague thing, something abstract and philosophical that we’re supposed to grasp through some sort of contemplative process. But it’s really much simpler than that: Purpose is first and foremost something greater than any one person, something […]
Conflict is part of our experience from the earliest years. Consider sibling rivalry, a reality so ingrained in human nature that the story of Cain and Abel appears in a text nearly three thousand years old. And interpersonal conflict continues throughout our lives—at work, at home, and elsewhere. When we grow up a little, we […]
I want to be like Mike. No, not Michael Jordan. There’s another Mike I know, who also happens to be a fierce competitor on the basketball court. He’s more than a few years older than me but plays—and works—with greater intensity than people half his age. He also happens to be one of the nicest […]