Business schools teach a lot of leadership. Other vocational schools do too. I don’t know them as well, but I bet the following pattern applies to them. Say someone gets their MBA and gets a job in finance. They don’t start at the top of a hierarchy. If they do well they get promoted to manage people like they were. Then they get promoted to manage yet more people. They[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been avoiding buying food with any packaging. I started April 20. I updated my progress with pictures in “Buying no food with packaging, eighteen days and counting“. Saturday evening I bought some onions in one of those net bags. Onions make you cry. Today I’m scheduled to get a shipment of vegetables from my farm share and that comes in a box so the experiment would have ended today[…] Keep reading →

If you can make yourself happy then you will. If you find yourself unhappy, doesn’t that then mean you don’t know how to make yourself happier? Doesn’t it mean you are lacking a skill to improve your life? You can blame outside circumstances but if you could make yourself feel better you would. You don’t because you can’t. So feeling bad tells you what to work on. Not being aware[…] Keep reading →

Continuing my series of alternative responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicists, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on others, here is my take on today’s post, ”What Should I Do About a Nanny Who Drinks?” Last April, I hired a woman to take care of my then-8-month-old daughter. The references she gave me all spoke highly of her, though only one family[…] Keep reading →

People often ask me if I use my physics education today. You face similar questions from others, I’m sure. You probably ask them of yourself. Nobody’s life follows a straight path from birth to where they are. I loved the field, but I don’t publish or do physics experiments. I still love the field and can’t believe everyone doesn’t study it more in school. But I teach and coach leadership[…] Keep reading →

Spring came late this year to New York City. Two days ago the weather was beautiful enough I had go running. I ran down to the Hudson and turned north, usually about a five-mile run when I turn around at 45th Street. The weather was so beautiful I kept going. Figuring out how much farther makes you balance enjoying the outdoors, risking being too tired to get back too far[…] Keep reading →

Two-and-a-half weeks ago I decided to avoid buying any food with packaging for a week. I’m on eighteen days and counting. I didn’t try to come up with a perfect rule because trying for perfection kept making me delay trying. I settled on the rule that I wouldn’t buy food that had any packaging or get food at a restaurant. I’d figure out on the fly what to do in[…] Keep reading →

This morning I read New York magazine’s weekly listing of bars and restaurants, describing fun places in the city to go to. They have a section listing some activities called “The Cut,” which I think means these are the activities that “make the cut” of their curating. I used to read the listings to find things to do. The section is for that, and I presume many people use it[…] Keep reading →

Following up yesterday’s post, “The basics: more simple and valuable than you think” about how the masters tend to focus on basics, I found a series of videos made by a great basketball player, Michael Jordan. He’s made few instructional videos. He could do things no one else could and made them look easy. He can teach anything he wants. So what does he teach? Simple basics. Things like getting[…] Keep reading →