Following up on Vietnam, leadership, and the War Remembrance Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, I wanted to include some quotes by Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam war. As the BBC’s obituary noted, To anti-war protesters at the time, McNamara became something of a hate figure, an arrogant ultra-hawk responsible for escalating the war. He fully supported, Johnson’s decision to put ground troops into Vietnam in[…] Keep reading →

I came across the online notes of a symposium mentioning me at the Tate Modern on “Pervasive Animation” by George Griffin, who lives around the corner from me and whom I met in person a couple years ago. Okay, he mentioned me only briefly, but it’s the Tate Modern and he’s important. So there!

I enjoyed a show by an artist named Xu Bing at the Shanghai Gallery of Art. He created a book using only symbols so that anyone could understand it, no matter what language they spoke. The show showed the book and the four-year process he took to create it. The simple, blocky images telling a story suggested to me that taking simple, direct pictures of them would tell the story[…] Keep reading →

Within its borders, especially during an election year, the U.S. has an overwhelming voice of “we’re number one.” Outside its borders, I feel like within my lifetime the world’s perception of the country has declined significantly. You feel that loss poignantly in a country like Vietnam, which can claim having defeated the U.S. against overwhelming force. Effective leadership, I believe, has to understand other voices, even those it disagrees with.[…] Keep reading →

The number one defining property of leaders Defining property number one about leaders from leadership guru Michael Feiner (and my professor) is leaders ship. They get the job done. Nobody I know of whose paycheck doesn’t originate with fossil fuels or fundamentalist religion believes we are heading in a healthy direction for our environment. But we all respond to incentives and the incentives of our system — huge roads, low[…] Keep reading →

If you live in New York City or many other places, you’ve doubtlessly gotten used to restaurants and bars having no smoke in them. Perhaps, like me, you’ve come to find the idea, or experience, of smoke around you when you eat or drink or in any public space you can’t avoid barbaric. Does “barbaric” overstate things? I used to consider myself tolerant of smoke in bars and clubs. Actually,[…] Keep reading →

Life is full of difficult decisions. People struggle over them, sometimes for years, even people living great lives. You probably have one or two or more. I’ve had my share. A couple questions people asked me recently got me to figure it out. If your questions are reasonably similar, read on. Typical life questions “Which job should I take?” “Should we become boyfriend and girlfriend?” A couple friends asked me[…] Keep reading →

My recent trip revealed a distinction about North Korea I now believe likely drives its decision-makers’ behavior. I consider the following important enough to incorporate into my book. Founding Myths Every country has its founding myths and stories. They help define its values and culture, motivating people’s behavior, relationships with each other, and relationships abroad. Who divided the Koreas and how — founding North Korea in the process — explains[…] Keep reading →

Somebody showed me yet another artistic representation about discoveries about nature and the people who made the discoveries. I think she expected that since I like science I would like those representations. I saw them as new age-y. For a long time, since I never knew a concrete definition of the term new age, though the Wikipedia page seems to describe it well, I substituted the words “feeble-minded” every time[…] Keep reading →