February 2012

Crit Happens

02.16.2012 Art

My youngest daughter, a freshman at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), gave me a t-shirt for Christmas. It’s emblazoned with one of the more popular sayings around campus: “Crit Happens.” It does indeed. RISD embraces criticism from the top to bottom. It’s a regular part of daily life there. It can be brutal [...]

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Required Listening: Music For Airports

02.15.2012 Uncategorized

I find this album difficult to write about. It is, essentially, an experience. It is very much music, and yet, it’s also about the act of listening. Brian Eno was the person who coined the term, “ambient music,” and this was the first album of its kind. I know that for many, ambient music has [...]

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Management Essentials: How To Address A Performance Problem

02.14.2012 Business

Managing is an important skill, but too often it is thrust upon the unsuspecting and unwilling. I’ve learned a lot about managing others though hard knocks, but also by making mistakes. Here’s the most importing thing I’ve learned about being a good manager: it’s not about being “the boss.” It’s helping others and helping yourself [...]

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Management Essentials: How To Manage, Lead, and Succeed In Today’s Workplace

02.13.2012 Business

Here is a shameful truth about today’s business environment: the vast majority of the people who manage others and operate businesses have had no training and very little assistance in learning the basics of management. Good management skills are too often thought of as natural personal qualities. If you’re good at a job, you’ll be [...]

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Writing Assignment: Rhapsodize On A Simple Pleasure

02.10.2012 writing

There are few things in life as pleasurable as putting on a new pair of thick cotton gym socks. Actually, there are many things. They are typically simple, inconsequential things, but they bring us pleasure. They feel good to us, evoke memories, or alleviate a problem or pain we’ve endured. They make us smile because [...]

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