Author: Colleen Newvine Tebeau


Can people change? Part II, with input from friends

Can people change? Part II, with input from friends

My recent post on whether people can change generated a nice conversation over on Facebook, so I’m bringing those comments in here to share other perspectives: Margaret Yang I voted yes. People can change. The thing is, most people don’t want to! Don’t we all think we’re just dandy the way we are? Jeffrey SaugerPeople can change their synapses. They’ve…

Can people really change?

Can people really change?

Reading NPR’ s app on my way to the office recently got me thinking about one of my favorite questions — whether people are really capable of change. Terry Gross on WHYY’s Fresh Air did an interview about the new HBO series called “Enlightened,” and talked about that, among other things: Can people really change? That’s the question Laura Dern…

Amanda Hirsch's easy 10-step plan to being an artist

Amanda Hirsch's easy 10-step plan to being an artist

Earlier this week I shared advice Ira Glass gave to beginning storytellers. Here’s a follow up from my Brooklyn pal, Amanda Hirsch, who wrote a tongue-in-cheek 10-step plan to being an artist. You get the idea when you read Step 1: Refuse to do the work. Avoid it at all costs. If you want to write, you should instead check…

Deepak Chopra shares the equation for happiness

Deepak Chopra shares the equation for happiness

Deepak Chopra doesn’t seem to think happiness is all that complicated. In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Chopra said happiness comes down to generosity, and that attention, appreciation and affection are the keys to generosity. Chopra is the author of numerous books including “Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,” “Creating Affluence” and “The Ultimate Happiness Prescription,” as well as…

Chris Brogan's story of a builder and a shaky foundation

Chris Brogan's story of a builder and a shaky foundation

If you’re a social media geek like I am, you might know Chris Brogan as the intensely prolific oracle on all things new media. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sVVdAB41Zg&feature=player_embedded] But his wide-ranging blog also tackles issues about living life, and recently, my friend Scott Daris pointed out one of Brogan’s posts — the story of a builder. Brogan tells the tale of a builder…

Measure your success by more than your title and pay

Measure your success by more than your title and pay

You might not go to Harvard Business Review expecting a long, personal tale of faith, morals and values — but I love HBR for knowing success means so much more than increasing profits. Clayton M. Christensen wrote a powerful essay called, “How Will You Measure Your Life?” Not to spoil it for you, but one of the more moving parts…

On embracing your fabulosity, even when it's impractical

On embracing your fabulosity, even when it's impractical

If you have not read The Bloggess, you are missing out on some of the best writing I’ve found online. Her genius post “And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles,”  follows the kind of mundane argument most married people can relate to, except that most married people don’t buy a five-foot metal chicken to make a point.…

Half a lifetime ago, back to school time

Half a lifetime ago, back to school time

Twenty years ago this week, I started my senior year at Central Michigan University. Half a lifetime has passed since that last fall I spent in Mount Pleasant. And though I got another run at buying notebook paper and folders for business school, there’s something special about that undergrad experience — moving away from home, living surrounded by thousands of…

Money can buy happiness, says MP Dunleavy

Money can buy happiness, says MP Dunleavy

Money can’t buy love. Money can’t buy happiness. We hear these clichés frequently, but I loved this article from investment firm Vanguard that suggests you can, in fact, buy happiness — if you spend your money on the right things. A snippet from a Q&A with MP Dunleavy, author of “Money Can Buy Happiness: How to Spend to Get the…

Going to agriculture summer camp, talking "agvocacy"

Going to agriculture summer camp, talking "agvocacy"

I feel a bit like I’m off to summer camp to meet my pen pals. Every Tuesday night, a diverse group of people participate in a Twitter chat using the hashtag #agchat — it’s a moderated online conversation of usually about a dozen questions on a focused agriculture topic, ranging from use of smartphones to farm regulation. Here’s how the…