Category: career


Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science!

Jim Ottaviani, graphic novelist, on how and why he writes. Science!

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…

Expressing my love in song

Expressing my love in song

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,…

What leaders need at work — and it starts with love

What leaders need at work — and it starts with love

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…

Coming attractions: three excellent profiles

Coming attractions: three excellent profiles

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…

Please vote for my panel for SXSWi

Please vote for my panel for SXSWi

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…

My Spooky Vision Board  (via Anashay's Story)

My Spooky Vision Board (via Anashay's Story)

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 guest post on Help For Writers

My guest post on Help For Writers

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…

Corporate job vs. entrepreneur isn't an either-or choice

Corporate job vs. entrepreneur isn't an either-or choice

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…

Tony Collings on his days in international journalism and change

Tony Collings on his days in international journalism and change

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…

Sometimes we're learning lessons even when we don't know it

Sometimes we're learning lessons even when we don't know it

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…

Blow drier + bathtub does not = Jacuzzi

Blow drier + bathtub does not = Jacuzzi

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…

Social Media Time Management 101  (via Sugarsmash Creative)

Social Media Time Management 101 (via Sugarsmash Creative)

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…

Do you know the way to Carnegie Hall?

Do you know the way to Carnegie Hall?

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…

Betty White's second career act as cult star

Betty White's second career act as cult star

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…

Will the iPad transform the media?

Will the iPad transform the media?

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…

Micro change that's actually pretty darned big

Micro change that's actually pretty darned big

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…

Can Tiger come back? Will he have to reinvent his image?

Can Tiger come back? Will he have to reinvent his image?

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…

Would you trade misery at home for success in your work?

Would you trade misery at home for success in your work?

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…