The Harvard Business Review (HBR) recently had an article on its web site titled, "Why Compassion Is a Better Managerial Tactic than Toughness" by Emma Seppälä. The main question the article attempts to address is "How should we react when an employee is not performing well or makes a mistake?"  Seppälä notes that frustration is of … Continue reading Why Compassion Is Better than Toughness →

The Wall Street Journal had an editorial piece today about how weak and biased summer reading lists for high school students are these days. He relates the story of a friend who was dismayed to see contemporary writers such as David Eggers, Malcolm Gladwell, and Barbara Ehrenreich on his daughter's reading list, with Tobias Wolff’s … Continue reading High School Summer Reading List →

My students went on a little field trip yesterday. As part of Villanova's Summer Business Institute, which enables non-business students to earn a business minor in one summer, we focus on one company throughout the program to use as a point of reference for many of the concepts. This summer, the company is Wawa, a … Continue reading Door Etiquette: Wawa and My Wife →

While freelancing has been around for a long time, the Internet, like it has done for many things, has opened up a world of opportunities for freelancing, both in terms of those looking to do freelance work, or those looking to hire a freelancer. Hand in hand with the notion of freelancing is outsourcing, particularly … Continue reading The World of Freelancing and Outsourcing →

While I was looking for a commercial to feature on today's blog, I decided to take a look back at some really old commercials. While there were a lot of web sites that offered a look back at such commercials, one of the best sites I found was the Internet Archive, which can be found … Continue reading Some Old (Really Old) Commercials – Are We Any Better Off Today Than 1958? →

Today was one of the best experiences I have ever had with a doctor, and I wasn't even the patient. My mom is 89 years old, and getting somewhat frail and forgetful. Another doctor had suggested that perhaps a geriatrician would be the most appropriate type of doctor to monitor her health and to coordinate … Continue reading Kindness in Action →

Somehow I missed this one; this past Thursday, May 21 was the first Red Nose Day. Red Nose Day is a campaign dedicated to raising money for children and young people living in poverty by simply having fun and making people laugh. The inaugural Red Nose Day will be held in the US on May … Continue reading Red Nose Day and Childhood Poverty →

Today's Wall Street Journal had an article written by Dan Buettner, author of "The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People". Buettner found that the keys to longevity in these blue zones were diet, community, family, and exercise. The cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world was the humble bean. … Continue reading Some Keys to Longevity →

A few years ago I read the book "The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work" by Ted Leonsis. Leonsis was an early executive at AOL, and is currently the owner of the Washington Capitals ice hockey team and the Washington Wizards basketball team. What I found so fascinating about the … Continue reading The Start of My Bucket List →