Andy Unedited
Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
We’ve all seen it at work, at church, in families, or in other groups. Conflict, gossip, territoriality, defensiveness, and withdrawal. Patterns of dysfunctionality like these persist often because we just don’t have the skills to deal with them or we are afraid that confrontation will just make it worse. The Drama-Free Office considers four common …
When employees are unhappy with a decision that leaders have made, often they don’t react against the decision. Instead they complain long and loud about the process. “All sides were not heard adequately.” “There wasn’t enough time.” “We didn’t know how the decision would be made.” “Key discussions were behind closed doors.” “The right people …
“Meetings don’t get work done. Meetings create work.” I’ve said that so many times I’ve almost convinced myself that I originated the aphorism. But probably it came from my predecessor, Jim Sire. (Unless he stole it from someone else.)
My wife, Phyllis, was assigned the task of giving a talk on professionalism. She asked me, “What would you say?” Professionalism can have negative connotations–being artificial or phony. I suppose for some that’s what it is. But that’s not how I think of it.
This week we hold our annual off-site, all-day meeting for everyone in the company. It’s something we’ve been doing for almost twenty-five years. We close down the reception desk and warehouse, shut off the phones, put emails on automatic reply, and bring in employees who work in other parts of the country. What do we …
When I read a business book, I’m often looking for the hot, sexy idea that puts a new spin on things, the innovative perspective that helps me see things in a new way, the dead-on research that makes a compelling case all by itself. Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at …
Back in the day I was a competitive, wide-ranging, young trivia nerd. (Now I’m a competitive, wide-ranging, old trivia nerd.) So I became a contestant on a local TV quiz show for area high school teams based on the then popular TV show College Bowl. Creatively enough, our competition was called High School Bowl.
Senator Joe Biden famously monopolized the time allotted to him in the 2006 confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. In the fifty minutes allotted to Biden, he spoke about 5,600 words to Alito’s 2,000. Biden was not alone. Of the fifteen senators questioning Alito at the hearing, only two (both Democrats) let …
“Show, don’t tell.” That advice has been given to writers as often as laptops have been turned on. Robert McKee repeats the advice in Story, his classic text on writing screenplays. Following Aristotle’s advice in Poetics, he says, “Why a man does a thing is of little interest once we see the thing he does. …
A couple of weeks ago the fire alarm went off in the office. Last year when we were doing some construction, the alarm went off frequently because of electrical work being done. But we were always given warning a day ahead of time. So this time when the alarm went off I tried to remember, …