[Early Spring 2015] The Envelope, Please

It’s a time of year when even the most distant observer notes that winners are separated from something referred to as losers. Who you are can be confused with what you’ve won (lately).

College bowl games, Super Bowl, Golden Globe, Writers Guild of America, Grammys, Oscars – all proclaiming who is/was hot, and maybe by inference, who is not.

Barack Obama got into the act with his January State of Union address noting that his campaigning days were over – eliciting cheers from Republicans – followed by a telling tally – “I should know because I’ve won both of them.Read the rest

RIP Walter Breuning: Smarts & Wisdom – and Why You Need Both

The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions” suggested Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Holmes, one of the 20th century’s most influential public figures, was on to something.

While youth (and fresh eyes) serve well with certain types of situations – think Emperor’s New Clothes, quant analysis, or the brilliance behind the Apple’s designs –  wisdom from elders is something that you can’t find anyplace else.… Read the rest

Your Goal? Good Stories About Tough Times

Wendy Mogel, author of New York Times bestseller The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children was in the City this week. I caught her presentation at the Hamlin School along with a bevy of parents from various independent schools.

Mogel has great on-stage presence and funny charm, fitting for someone whose father published the National Lampoon.… Read the rest

The Myth of Talent & Achievement Takes Another Blow: San Francisco Giants Win World Series

The myth that talent leads to achievement took another hit to credibility this week. The San Francisco Giants –  a crew of “misfits and outcasts” –  brought the ultimate symbol of North American professional baseball achievement and winning in the form of a World Series pennant back to the City by the Bay.

Talent, it turns out again, is overrated.… Read the rest

Your Career: How to Make a Comeback

Comebacks, from Carly Fiorina (and Jerry Brown), to Mickey Drexler, Henry Blodget, Martha Stewart, and even Steve Jobs, are in full form and fashion these days. What do all these people tell us? They tell us that you can make mistakes, get sacked, and like the nine-lived cat still return to center stage another day.

Hit a career bump (or mountain) or two?… Read the rest

[Life Back West] December 2009 – The Darkest Days

In earlier times, people in the northern hemisphere marked the winter solstice – the time of the year when daylight for the hemisphere is at its shortest – with rites and rituals. Even today those traditions live on with things like the California Revels and their event productions held in Oakland.

This time of year was regarded as marking the sun‘s ebbing presence in the sky, and the deepest moment of the cold winter’s dark.Read the rest