Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The notion that raw intelligence alone might not only be insufficient to predict success, but also an insufficient indicator of a person’s overall ability, effectiveness, and influence has actually been around for a long time. It has been suspected, faintly perceived, and cautiously hinted at for millennia. But people would listen to pithy quotes on the topic, nod their heads in recognition, and then, when push came to shove, make selection and promotion decisions on the basis of traditional intelligence assessments. For the past quarter of a century, though . . .
Friday, September 4, 2009
Our relationship with work is peculiar and complicated. We work to maintain ourselves, of course, but that maintenance is at least as important psychically as it is physically. Unfortunately, much of the advice offered by management – and, it must be said, especially “leadership” – gurus over recent decades has distorted the psychic element, turning it back in on itself. It is possible, for example, to read much of this material and conclude . . .
Thursday, September 3, 2009
On occasion we reflect on our lives and wonder who we are, how we can define the kind of person we have been, what we have contributed, what we amount to. Not a bad exercise – and all the better for the doing of it. The thing is, we will probably get the sums all wrong no matter how many times we go back and do it over, but we sure stand to learn a lot from the exercise. One thing we should learn is . . .
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
There appears to be a lot of excoriating of liberal free-market capitalism going on lately. And not just on a macro-level. The presumption that the supposedly inherent evils of this philosophy have been exposed by the current financial crisis is being reflected at various levels and in sundry spheres of society – and even in our workplaces. . .
