This is the second installment of a new occasional series on writers — how and why they write, what inspires them and how they overcome challenges like writer’s block and rejection. Today we get a baker’s dozen of questions and answers with Jim Ottaviani, who writes graphic novels about complex scientific concepts like the space race and the development of…
Earlier this week, I wrote about how love at work can help leaders succeed. It’s Friday in August so I’ll give you a nice, easy post to help that message sink in — a sampling of love-themed songs from YouTube. Nat King Cole gets us started by spelling L-O-V-E [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JErVP6xLZwg] A snippet of the sweet Beatles-themed musical Across the Universe,…
As a precursor to this post, can we first agree that Harvard Business Review is not some crunchy granola publication that wants you to be more self actualized by hugging and meditating? No, Harvard Business Review is the well-respected publication that speaks to the pressing issues of business leaders who want to be more successful. That’s important because I think…
If you’re looking for some good beach reading in the dog days of August, look no further, my friend. Three posts in the works you won’t want to miss: A profile of multi-instrumentalist Clint Maedgen, front man for New Orleans Bingo Show and sax player for Preservation Hall Jazz Band A Q&A with Jim Ottaviani, the second installment in a…
South by Southwest Interactive has a great way of selecting speakers and panels for its schedule — it includes expert review, staff consideration and the will of the people. SXSWi Panel Picker crowdsources the decision of who should speak. Voting started this week and I’d love your support in getting on the roster. Here’s my pitch: Explore how you might…
If you’re wondering if a vision board or a spell painting can influence the direction of your life — and you weren’t convinced by reading The Secret — then here’s another blogger’s tale of feeling good energy coming from a vision board. And by the way, if you need a spell painting to help visualize your life goals, John’s available…
My dear friend Lara Zielin is an incredible role model for creatives — she works all day, then comes home and cranks out her own personal writing AND maintains two blogs. Lara has sold two young adult novels and is working on a third. She’s learned a lot about writing and the publishing industry and is sharing that wisdom on…
My blog post earlier this week on saving for retirement prompted passionate discussion when I posted the link on Facebook, so here’s a follow up to keep the conversation going. On this blog about retirement (see below), the author not only discusses the sources of funding you might have for retirement but also talks about what your expenses are likely…
Without statistics to back me up, I’d hazard a guess that millions of Americans with full-time jobs fantasize about becoming self employed. Maybe the dream looks like being a wildly successful author, maybe it’s opening a restaurant or starting an independent legal practice. Whatever that daydream is, many people never pursue it because it can feel like a giant leap…
Nobody has to convince me of the power of relationships in our lives. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a job by applying for a help wanted ad — it’s always been through a personal connection. And when I reflect back on my mom’s death, some of the strongest emotional memories come from the many ways our friends…
A former colleague of mine at University of Michigan, Tony Collings, brought an amazing reporting resume to Ann Arbor– he was a CNN correspondent for 16 years, following time as a Wall Street Journal reporter in New York, an AP reporter in Moscow, London and Bonn, and the Newsweek bureau chief in Bonn and London. I learned how to do…
There’s a remake out of the 1980s iconic movie Karate Kid. It’s hard to imagine anyone my age who doesn’t have a mental picture of Ralph Macchio doing karate moves he learned from Pat Morita in the original. As any Gen Xer can tell you, Mr. Miyagi’s teaching style is a little sneaky. Daniel wants to learn karate but instead…
Or: Lessons learned the hard way from ideas that sounded good at the time When I use hair driers in hotels, I’m frequently hypnotized by the giant warning tag they all have. You know the one — it warns you in bold red letters not to immerse your blow drier in a tub of water. For years, I’ve stared at…
When I talk to people about social media — one of my geeky interests — the two objections I frequently get are: How am I supposed to find time for that? I’m already too busy. What would I say? Who cares if I had a ham sandwich for lunch? This post nicely addresses both, and breaks down a regular commitment…
My piano lesson this week was pretty frustrating. I felt overwhelmed as I tried to manage doing one thing with my left hand and another with my right, all while staying on the beat. My patient piano teacher reminded me that being overwhelmed is all in your head, and that it’s natural to have some confusion when you’re learning something…
It’s not like being a TV star is new for Betty White — by the time she won a role on the Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s, she’d already been on television for decades. But I don’t recall hearing much from Betty after the Golden Girls ended. Until a few months ago. Then it seemed pop culture couldn’t…
If you wander past an Apple store these days, you’re likely to see huge crowds eager to play with the latest tech novelty, the iPad. But in the media business, it seems there’s a different question than just “how does it work?” It’s wondering — or maybe hoping — if the new Apple device can transform the media business. An…
More magazine has an article in its April issue headlined “The power of micro change.” I just returned from a work trip and one of my guilt airplane pleasures is photo-heavy women’s magazines. Glamour is a go to, and I try to mix it up with some others I wouldn’t typically read at home: Vogue, O, Real Simple or anything…
Tiger Woods returned to golf this week, reigniting the discussion about whether his sexual exploits are his own personal business or whether his behavior off the green should play a role in his (previously) lucrative career as a corporate spokesman. Having lost several sponsorship deals in recent months, Tiger appears to be looking for a way to position himself as…
David Brooks at the New York Times asked a tough question this week in his column: Two things happened to Sandra Bullock this month. First, she won an Academy Award for best actress. Then came the news reports claiming that her husband is an adulterous jerk. So the philosophic question of the day is: Would you take that as a…
