The Manager’s Stone
We have seen that philosophers of all ages have sought both to understand how the world works, and to discover the key that explains it all – better yet, that unlocks it all; that enables us to manipulate the laws of physics at will. We seek the secret core at the center of all the complexity, the buttons we can push that will unfailingly produce the results we want, so that we can go back to ignoring all the impossibly convoluted unfolding of events between the pushing of those buttons and the emergence of the consequences we desire.
These instincts run so deep in all of us that we typically either pursue them or cheer on those who do. The truth is, actually, that they run even deeper than that: we are so anxious to believe in the veracity of our world view, so eager to see everywhere evidence of it, that we can sometimes deceive ourselves with the most extraordinarily self-manipulative glibness – often reinforced with subtly oppressive intimidation – for generations or more.
Eventually, the evidence just becomes too much to resist. We are forced to revise our world view. And then we start all over again.
We certainly aren’t immune to that sort of thing in management, are we? We want desperately to see the organizational world one way or another, and we endeavor desperately – even artfully – to interpret or create facts that support our view. Those apparent facts that don’t do that – well, we say dismissively, everyone knows they’re irrelevant; essentially just background noise struggling vainly to obscure the signals only we have the wit and insight to make out.
It surely can easily be said, though, with respect to the physicists, that however much like the rest of us they ultimately are revealed to be, they have done much real, measurable good.
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Top 5 Companies in the Application Software Industry With...
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Lack of Use
It’s been a while since I was on a bike. All for good reasons, I haven’t actually been home in about 3 weeks. I mean, you do need to have a bike available to you and decent roads to go for a ride. I’m not sure that 3 weeks in NYC qualify. First, I’m afraid of the incredible dust in the city – while I’m not afraid of traffic, I am extraordinarily afraid of dust and allergies that stay with me for days. Back to the point though. This morning, I went on my first bike ride since May 15 when I rode a meager 52 miles. (yes, I have a diary of all this stuff, and yes, it’s fully GPS’d) Just 3 months ago, I was riding about 80-90 miles without really suffering too much. But this morning, I rode an easy 48 miles, and I swear my legs were about to fall off. In what amounts to about 3 weeks, I have gone from barely competent to completely incompetent. What is worse, in about 3 months, I have gone from decent to my current state. There is good news though. With hard work and
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Why absence figures may not show the full picture
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my coworker has a lecherous and creepy interest in our...
At this point, I feel like talking to her and giving her a heads up that this guy's interest in her is anything but innocent. I feel like I am watching a slow-moving train wreck, and do not want to have to bear witness to this. I do believe that this is a one way obsession, and that the woman may be naive to this man's true intentions. Any insight would be appreciated.
What you described is unnerving, although it's worth noting that we don't actually know whether the woman might in fact return his interest, married or not. Either way, though, the lewd remarks behind her back and the aggression toward others who interact with her are alarming -- and those are also the two elements that indicate to me that you should say something. Otherwise we might just have a douchey guy with an inappropriate crush, but those elements elevate it to objectively creepy.
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Fireside Chat with @EllenFWeber - Brains and Breakthroughs

Would you like to learn how to use your brain's natural functions to help generate progress and a breakthrough? Check out this podcast!
During this 25 minute podcast, I chat with Dr. Ellen Weber, author of several books and the amazing Brain Leaders and Learners Blog. Ellen is the President of the MITA International Brain Center and is an expert on all things BRAIN and how to apply brain science to improve our lives. I have been following Ellen's work for years and we recorded a podcast several years ago that ended up never getting posted due to technical problems.
If you are a regular reader of mine, you know that I am passionate about helping people generate breakthroughs in results. During this podcast, we bring these two topics together to discuss easy and practical ways (easy but DEEP and PROFOUNDLY transformative) we can generate more breakthroughs and progress and put the amazing power of our brains and our body's electrical circuitry to work for us. I think you will really enjoy it. After the podcast, Ellen and I had a wonderful conversation where she recommended the following book,
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Think a Little Change a Lot: 59 Seconds
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Challenges With Dress Codes?
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Employers Underwhelmed By Candidates Despite High...
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SuccessFactors Inc. (SFSF) CEO & PRESIDENT Lars Dalgaard...
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